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JamesSavik

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  1. JamesSavik
    Today a judge fined a local environmental activist $500 for dumping.
     
    July 28, Jeremy C. of Brandon, MS was confronted by a Rankin county sheriff's deputy dumping trash in a rural area that local residents had been complaining about for months. Items dumped were old pesticide, car batteries, old paint cans, mattresses and furniture.
     
    What made it even better was that Mr. C. was driving his Chevy Taiho with tons of edgy "Green" stickers like save the whales, Greenpeace and Green Day.
     
    Mr. C was fined the maximum because he lied to the officer claiming that he was not dumping at the dump site despite the old magazines in the pile with his name and address on them.
     
    With retards like this looking out for our environment, we're all doomed.
     
    On the upside, with retards like this committing environmental crimes, our impending doom is canceled out.
     

  2. JamesSavik
    This film featuring Mulla Omar and Bin Laden was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001. Bin Laden likes to tape his "high level" meetings. 

    as reported by Fox and CBS. 
    NBC reports suicide attack plot a year in advance.
     
    The story is so fantastic that many people dismissed it thinking that Islamists were incapable of launching anything of that scale or sophistication. A suicide attack with an airliner was a key part of the plot of a popular novel by Tom Clancy and many people dismissed it as being a figment of popular culture inspired imagination.
     
    In fact, Bin Laden was behind
    and had long been obsessed with the structures as a symbol of America. 
    There are some mental people out there that would like for you to believe that 9-11 was an inside job. They were around in 1993 as well accusing the FBI of carrying out the bombing.
     
    I know that it is easier to believe that there are power hungry idiots in our government that would try to pull this off. The FBI? The CIA? The White House? FBI is one of the most politically polarized agencies in Washington and blew off major league clues that something was happening. CIA is so inept that's its embarrassing. The Bush White House was incapable of pulling off anything nearly this complex.
     
    What were the results? What was the payoff? Two expensive and unpopular wars. Balkanization of the United States and the alienation of her traditional allies. Exacerbation of the hatred and fear that exists between the United States and the Islamic World?
     
    Who profits? Nobody won. Everybody lost and we're still up to our ass in the fallout.
     
    Don't be a FOOL. Tell a "Truther" to put up or shut up. Their special brand of retardation is only making things worse.
     
    If you've got some evidence, bring it on. We need to see it. If there was a huge conspiracy, some people need to be taken out and shot.
     
    Otherwise- take your idiocy and get lost. PLEASE: it's time to get OFF.
     
    We've got to come to grips with the reality behind 9-11: there are indeed people out there that would do great harm to the West in general and the United States in particular. Ignoring them won't make them go away and we will hear from them again.
  3. JamesSavik

    BULLSHIT

    By JamesSavik,

    I just wasted 2 hours of my life watching a documentary about a whining, drugged out little bitch called Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
     
    It is about this freak of a producer that makes BULLSHIT, I mean art, that no one understands, cares about or wants to watch.
     
    He bitches and whines the whole time about the evils of capitalism through the entire documentry film while he makes this weird BULLSHIT that he calls art that no one wants.
     
    He talks about squeezing art out of himself, I'm sorry but it must have been his ass because it is SHIT.
     
    Depressed because he is such a shitty artist creating BULLSHIT that nobody wants, he intentionally infects himself with AIDS and dies.
     
    I hate this f**king bastard. I want to strangle this no talent piece of shit.
     
    Dude. Become a plumber. Maybe a long distance trucker. You are a no talent artist, your art is BULLSHIT and the reason you claim to be a socialist is the only way that your BULLSHIT, I mean "ART" will ever stand on its own is if some government jackass gives you a grant so you can buy better drugs and create more BULLSHIT.
     
    Of all the people that I know that got AIDS, this one is the only god damned one that I can say with conviction deserved it because he was a most complete loser, f**k up, jack ass and sorry excuse for a human being that I have ever seen.
     
    Just because someone calls a big reeking pile of BULLSHIT ART does NOT make it ART. It's just a huge reeking pile of shit. People with green hair and Mohawks can dance around it, worship it and call it "ART" does not elevate BULLSHIT from its humble station.
     
    It is drug babbling, psycho raving, dumbass rambling BULLSHIT. NOW, ONCE AND FOREVER.
     
    He was an artist all right. A BULLSHIT artist.
  4. JamesSavik
    September 8, 2001: Was an ordinary Saturday. I worked on my truck. I grilled some burgers and had some friends over for supper.
     
    My next door neighbor Lori and I sat on her front porch and talked about nothing until midnight.
     
    I went to bed and had one of the worst f*ing nightmares of my life. I still remember fragments of it.
     
    I saw a face I can only describe as cruel and hateful. His eyes were dark and the face was angry. I could see the eyes as two pinpoints of red light.
     
    Then I was with a crowd of people- I don't know where. I was surrounded by shining glass and people. Suddenly there was fire and breaking glass everywhere.
     
    There was blood and screaming and people were ripped to shreds.
     
    I woke up in a cold sweat at a quarter to five fighting the sheet that had wrapped itself around me. There was no going back to sleep after that.
    It was like no dream that I've ever had experienced.
     
    Later in the day I called Aunt Mae and went out to see her. She was still alive at the time but very old and wise in the ways of things that modern people such as myself like to think of as superstition.
     
    I told her about the dream and she closed her eyes and shook her head. She had it too.
     
    I asked her what it meant and she told me that the four horsemen were about to ride. War is coming.
     
    Things like this don't happen to me. I am a scientist. I believe in what I can see, hear touch and quantify.
     
    I told myself that it was just a stupid dream and that I should forget about it but that face gave me a cold chill. I had seen evil.
     
    I went about that Sunday in a daze. I couldn't concentrate. I tried to rest but every time I closed my eyes there was that face.
     
    When I went to bed that night I was scared. I didn't want to know jack about the horsemen or the maniac that I kept seeing. I drank Canadian Club until I passed out.
     
    Monday came and I was able to throw myself into the work. I had hardly a thought of what I had seen.
     
    Until Tuesday morning Sept. 11, 2001. I knew exactly what I had seen. When the face of Mohammad Atta was put on the screen of the television set in our office I nearly shit myself. That was the face that had been haunting me.
     
    I went home about 2:00 because I was so shaken I was afraid that I would make mistakes. I went home and drank myself into a stupor.
     
    I never talked about it. I locked it away in the back of my mind. It was something that I didn't want to know about. A nameless fear that sits waiting somewhere on the verge of your subconscious.
     
    There it has stayed for all of these years.
     
    Until a few minutes ago. The nightmare is back.
     

  5. JamesSavik

    Looking for a Gig?

    By JamesSavik,

    So what are you doing? Are you looking for a gig?
     
    I've been doing all right, always looking to upgrade.
     
    Well some guys I know have a big project that's about to kick off in South America..
     
    John, we've been there, done that. You know those coup d'
  6. JamesSavik

    Teaser: THOR

    By JamesSavik,

    THOR
     

     
    The cryo-chamber woke Colonel Anthony Webb two days early as programmed. Nobody really liked cryo-sleep but Webb hated it passionately. He always woke early on a mission so that he could clear his head and get his ducks in a row.
     
    He rubbed his temple in response to the throbbing headache that he always got in the cryo-chamber and slowly sat up. As he came back to life he dropped his feet over the edge and touched the cold floor of the deck. The shock of the cold made him jump.
     
    As usual his mouth tasted like he had been chewing on old sweat socks. He put his feet on the floor and stood up slowly, holding the edge of the freezer to maintain his balance. Once he was acclimated to standing up right, he shuffled over to the sink. He splashed some water over his face and took a drink from a paper cup.
     
    From there he walked over to the local computer console. "Computer: recognize Colonel Anthony Webb, Mission Commander, Colonial Marines."
     
    "Voice print confirmed."
     
    "Computer: power up my quarters, the flight deck and the common areas."
    "Acknowledged."
     
    Webb looked outside the door of the compartment that housed the Officer's Cryo-tubes and saw the lights coming on. He took on last look at his officers who were still sleeping, left the room and headed to his quarters. He took a shower, shaved and put on a fresh uniform.
     
    He stopped by the galley and got a cup of coffee and headed up to the flight deck. As he walked through everything looked fine. The ship was performing well.
     
    Webb was proud of his new ship. Twice as large as the old Conestoga class, the Inchon was better in every way: faster, tougher and much more capable. He had four combat platoons, a dozen pilots, 24 support specialists and a flight crew under his command. He was confident in his commands ability to cope with any mission that command could throw at them.
     
    Once on the flight deck, Webb made his way to the Master Computer room. He swiped his key card and entered the room as the lights were coming up.
     
    He sat down at the master terminal and logged in.
     
    "Computer: mission brief."
     
    Background: In 2355 a consortium of universities and major corporations established the Rho Andromeda research facility for high energy physics known as CENTER or Cooperative ENergy TEchnology Research. CENTER's primary mission is to develop advanced power systems.
     
    Twenty-two days [40 days corrected] ago CENTER activated a research reactor code named THOR (Twin Hadron Reactor) and went off the grid.
     
    Your mission is to appraise the situation at CENTER, rescue any survivors and retrieve research data from the facility mainframe.
     
    Webb sat back in his chair.
     
    He said, "Computer: describe the THOR reactor."
     
    THOR is an experimental high yield reactor that creates power by streaming plasma onto a forced singularity.
    "Oh sweet Jesus! They are sending us to a black hole!?" Webb instinctively backed away from the console.
     
    That code was not understood.
  7. JamesSavik

    Company Promo

    By JamesSavik,

    USS Sulaco, Colonial Marines
     
    The Sulaco is a Conestoga class Marine Assault ship typical of the ships used by the Colonial Marines as they patrol the outer rim and respond to crisis. She is equipped to cope with land, air and deep space threats. Sulaco can combat land two platoons of Colonial Marines and provide air support with everything from laser guided smart munitions all the way up to W-2000 variable yield fusion warheads.
     

     
    Schematic of a Conestago class Marine Assault Ship (MAS).
     
    courtesy Weyland-Yatani Military Technologies Division
     

  8. JamesSavik

    A Message from PETA

    By JamesSavik,

    While you are out there exploiting new worlds, please don't wipe out the native wildlife. That's sooo 20th century.
     
    There are unique species and ecosystems that took eons to evolve. It's a crime against nature and science to destroy them.
     
    Besides- you never know what creature may become the next Siamese Cat or Golden Retriever and have great value. Here's a little pup I found on a survey in the Rho Andromeda system.
     

     
    I found this cute little fellow on a survey of an ugly little moon called LV-426 and boy has he grown! You wouldn't believe how affectionate he is. He follows me everywhere. Of course I have to feed him a few under-performing middle managers a month. I call it a performance incentive.
     

     
    Don't be short sighted. We can profit without destroying native ecosystems. You never know where you'll find the next profit center.
     
    PETA- People for the Ethical Treatment of Aliens
  9. JamesSavik

    August 9, 1942

    By JamesSavik,

    Aug. 9, 1942
     
    The United States and her Allies are on their heels in the Pacific. Japan looks invincible. From December until June, Japanese forces had over run Wake, Guam, the Philippines, Java, Malaysia, the Caroline Islands, the Marshall Islands,
     
    Everything had been going Japan's way up until they were turned back at the Battle of the Coral Sea and were defeated soundly at Midway on Jun 4th.
     
    The United States and her allies Great Britain and Australia decided on a time and place to launch their first offensive. The time: August, 1942. The place was an island that no one had ever heard of in the Solomon Islands called Guadalcanal.
     
    Nimitz staff called it Operation Watchtower. The men of the 1st Marine Division called it Operation Shoestring: everything was a mixture of WWI leftovers, troops and specialists gathered from as far away as British Isle and a collection of aircraft that were overdue for retirement for the most part. The navy put together the best cruiser/destroyer force that it could and gathered up as many transports as they could find.
     
    On August 7th, the Marines landed on Guadalcanal. They surprised a small Japanese advanced force of engineers that had already landed on the island and were preparing an airfield. The land battle for the island was joined. The Marines were equipped with old WWI era Enfield rifles and were under-strength in machine guns.
     
    Guadalcanal, like most of the Solomon Islands is a rugged and dominated by thick jungle, miserable swamps and malaria carrying mosquitoes. Over the years it had been home to an aborted sugar plantation, a way station, a mission, a trading post and finally an Australian cattle ranch.
     
    When the Marines landed they found themselves in a fast moving fire fight with an enemy that was not prepared or dug in. Both sides found themselves short on supplies. They raided the barbed wire fences of the cattle plantation for materials to build their perimeter with. In a series of actions, the Marines and the Japanese fought a number of small unit battles- and one that both sides had to call off because of a cattle stampede.
     
    Over the next day the Marines continued landing troops, supplies, artillery and combat engineers. They established a firm bridgehead and formed a firm perimeter around the unfinished airfield.
     
    The Japanese were not sitting on their hands. The same day of the invasion, area commander Admiral Mikawa dispatched two fast transports with crack Naval Special Landing Force but recalled them when reconnaissance determined the scale of the allied incursion. Frustrated, he had to wait a day to fuel his ships and gather his forces to attempt to repel the invasion.
     
    At Guadalcanal the US Navy continued with support activities and continued to unload transports onto the beachhead. At night on August 8th, Admiral Turner's Task Force 62 and Australian Rear-Admiral Victor A.C. Crutchley's combined support/escort force broke into three groups: a Northern force to cover the pass north of Savo Island, A Southern force to cover the pass south of Savo island and a pair of destroyers to cover to Weatern approaches.
     
    Northern Force: cruisers USS Vincennes, USS Astoria and USS Quincy, and destroyers USS Helm and USS Wilson
     
    Southern Force: cruisers HMAS Australia and HMAS Canberra, cruiser USS Chicago, and destroyers USS Patterson and USS Bagley
     
    Western Screen: destroyers USS Talbot and Blue
     
    Mikawa set sail from Rabaul in the heavy cruiser Chokai, light cruisers Tenryu and Yubari and the destroyer Yunagi. They rendezvoused with Admiral Goto's Cruiser Division 6 composed of heavy cruisers Aboa, Kinugasa, Kako and Furutaka. Their goal: to take on the US Navy in a night action.
     

    Mikawa's Approach.
     
    The US Navy was just deploying radar on their ships but the first generation sets were unreliable and there were few technicians and no experienced operators.
     
    Mikawa's run down the body of water that would come to be known as "the Slot" was undetected- or at least unreported. Australian seaplanes spotted the ships as did the US sub S-38 but this information did not make it to Admiral Turner's staff.
     

    US Navy identification page for Mikawa's flagship the Chokai.
     
    The Japanese arrived just before midnight and slipped past the destroyer Blue and savaged the Southern Force, turned North and savaged the Northern force and left the area the way that they arrived.
     

    The Battle of Savo Island
     
    Japanese long-lance torpedoes destroyed the USS Vincennes, USS Astoria and USS Quincy and damaged the HMAS Canberra so severely, she had to be scuttled. The Chicago was severely damaged but she would fight again.
     

    The USS Quincy (CA-39) days before the battle.
     
    The submarine S-44 exacted a bit of payback sinking the cruiser Kako as she retired to her home base at Kavieng.
     
    It was the worst defeat in US Navy history in a stand up fight. The Navy lost 1,207 men: more men than than the Marines lost during the entire 6 month campaign.
     
    This battle was the beginning of a six month long air, land and sea campaign that turned out to be a meat grinder for both sides. The body of water around Savo Island was nicknamed "Ironbottom sound" and would be the scene of several pitched naval battles. The Guadalcanal campaign became a battle of attrition and by the time Japan gave up on recapturing the island in early '43, much of her naval power, best commanders and army units had been expended.
     
    In 1943 the US Navy court of inquiry was held called the Hepburn Investigation. Only one officer was singled out for offical censure- the captain of one of the cruisers. He killed himself when he learned of the boards results.
     
    The board stopped short of calling for action against Admirals Fletcher, Turner, McCain, and Crutchley who went on to perform brilliantly later in the war.
     
    The board of inquiry determined that US ships required more training in night fighting and training and standardization of radar equipment.
     
    Both radar picket ships (radar range about 10 miles) were at the extreme ends of their patrols sailing away from the Japanese fleet. San Juan had modern search radar, but was at the other end of the Sound.
     
    After the war, Admiral Turner wrote:
     
    The (U.S.) Navy was still obsessed with a strong feeling of technical and mental superiority over the enemy. In spite of ample evidence as to enemy capabilities, most of our officers and men despised the enemy and felt themselves sure victors in all encounters under any circumstances. The net result of all this was a fatal lethargy of mind which induced a confidence without readiness, and a routine acceptance of outworn peacetime standards of conduct. I believe that this psychological factor, as a cause of our defeat, was even more important than the element of surprise.
     
     
    __________________________________________________________
     
    The Battle of Savo Island, Wikipedia entry.
     
    Guadalcanal Frank, Richard B., Penguin, 1993. 0140165614
     
    The Two Ocean War Morrison, Samuel Eliot US Naval Institute, 1963. 1591145244
     
    History of US Navyal Operations in World War II: Volume V. The Struggle for Guadalcanal Morrison, Samuel Eliot US Naval Institute, 1949. 0785813063
  10. JamesSavik

    Gay Challenged

    By JamesSavik,

    How can I say this without being offensive?
     
    If gay people went to gay school, I would ride the gay short bus.
     
    I must be the most incompetent gay man in North America.
     
    I would rather hunt than shop.
     
    When I'm in a new city, I check out the hardware stores to see if they have magical kung-fu tools that I've never seen before.
     
    My wardrobe has more in common with Walmart and Target than Pierre Cardin or Brooks Brothers.
     
    I drive a truck with a big steel toolbox that has everything in it that I would need to build a space shuttle in the field out of spare parts.
     
    I'd rather watch Monday Night Football than Desperate Housewives. If forced to watch Desperate Housewives or any musical, I would probably chew off an arm or a leg to escape.
     
    My GayDar is a defunct East German model that Boy George wouldn't set off.
     
    I hate gay bars because they play music that makes me want to hurl and I've got better in my truck. *listening to Stone Temple Pilots*
     
    Several Home Depots and Lowes have my picture in the back and send me Christmas cards.
     
    I would be more likely to decorate your house with a potato gun than track lighting.
     
    When I'm bored, I take my tools out, clean, oil and organize them.
     
    Mexicans don't like it when I'm on a construction site because I work too hard and make them look bad.
     
    If I don't show up at my local Borders at least once a month, they call my house to make sure I'm all right.
     
    One of my favorite possessions is a Makita Reciprocating Saw I call Shiva, destroyer of worlds.
     

     
    I like cats buts it's because they have enough attitude to draw blood and don't brown-nose.
     
    I cook but if I did not, I wouldn't eat. Who would feed me? Yo mama? *laughs hysterically at cleverly inserting a yo mama joke*
     
    I cruise Home Depot.
     
    Who needs to work out when you work hard?
     
    I got carded when I bought smokes last week.
     
    I get cruised by "old men", get annoyed and realize that we're the same age.
     
    I am in no shape, form or fashion what some people might call fabulous.
     
    I am in the best shape of my life while people that I went to high school with look like shit.
     
    I declare myself the winner. :king:
  11. JamesSavik

    Overbooked

    By JamesSavik,

    *Coming up for air*
     
    Holy crap- months of not much now they can't get enough of me:
     
    2 new contracts
    3 beta readings
    9 chapters of Twilight
     
    AARGH!
     
    Please be patient. I'm working my way through the pile.
     
    I'm paying special attention to Twilight right now. It's at a turning point and I want it to go just right.
     
    I'll crawl out as soon as I can.
  12. JamesSavik

    Feeling Good

    By JamesSavik,

    Today I completed the last site on my list (of 30 statewide). I came in WAY under budget, 30 days early and am looking at a sweet bonus.
     
    The HOT, HARD work had an unintended but welcome side effect: the hot Mississippi sun burned off about 30 pounds. I'm trimmer and bulging in all the right places. There's even less gray in my hair.
     
    Who needs a health club when it's 150 degrees in an attic?
     
    I haven't told the story of the good looking Air Force guy I fraked in Bay St. Louis Thursday. I will only say that I bask happily in the afterglow.
     
    Once I bank my change, I'll start thinking about taking a little vacation and the next contract.
  13. JamesSavik

    Gumbo

    By JamesSavik,

    There are hundreds of recipes for gumbo but I thought I would share an easy one that produces good results.
     
     
    Ingredients:
     
    * 1 1/2 cups crabmeat
    * 2 pounds shrimp, in shells
    * 3 quarts water
    * 2 small bay leaves
    * 1 teaspoon lemon juice
    * 1 small onion, cut in wedges
    * salt and black pepper
    * parsley
    * 1 pounds okra, sliced
    * 4 tablespoons bacon grease, divided
    * 2 tomatoes, peeled & chopped
    * 2 red onions, finely chopped
    * 2 green peppers, finely chopped
    * 1/2 teaspoon crushed cayenne pepper, or to taste
    * 4 tablespoons brown roux
    * reserved shrimp stock
    * salt, pepper, thyme, parsley, to taste
    * hot cooked rice
     
    Preparation:
     
    In a large Dutch oven boil the water with bay leaves, lemon juice, onion wedges, salt, pepper, and parsley. Wash shrimp and add to pot; boil for 2 minutes. Peel shrimp and return shells to the stock for later use. Put shrimp and crab meat in refrigerator until ready to add to the gumbo.
     
    Saute okra in 2 tablespoons bacon grease in large heavy skillet. The okra will turn darker as it cooks. When okra is soft, transfer to a stew pot and add tomatoes. Stir and mix together well. Clean skillet and heat remaining 2 tablespoons bacon grease. Saut
  14. JamesSavik
    I was pleased to land the contract: 30 stores from July to mid-August. As far as contracts go it was modest but for a solo operator like me it was just right.
     
    I got the package in the last week of June that covered the stores and the scope of work. I was expected to come up with a schedule. The contract was administered by a nation-wide systems integrator that I had worked with from time to time. They would be skimpy on the hours but as long as I was good about documenting the expenses, things would work out just fine.
     
    I wanted to do a couple of the closest stores first to get an idea of what was involved so I scheduled Jackson for Monday, Pearl Tuesday and Yazoo City for Wednesday. After doing three, I would know what to expect. I scheduled Biloxi and Gulfport for Thursday and Friday so I would have an excuse to spend a night on the coast.
     
    Monday morning I showed up at Graybar Electric and purchased the supplies that I needed and headed off to do the Jackson store. It turned out to be a wiring nightmare. Whoever had set up the network had either been on acid or just planned on making a mess. I spent three hours fixing the mess and finally got down to installing the new equipment and upgrades. Total time on sit: a little over 8 hours. It was hard, physical hot work. A lot of the cabling is done in the attic or crawl spaces. I got everything working and discovered that the sites could be a real mess.
     
    The Pearl store was easy. It was under good management and wasn't nearly the mess that the Jackson store had been. I got 5 1/2 hours.
     
    Yazoo City was difficult because of the building. Pulling wire through that monster solo was like trying to use dental floss on a Saber toothed tiger. I got 8 hours and felt like the building had fallen on me by the time I was done.
     
    I was looking forward to Thursday. I hadn't spent any real time on the coast since Katrina and I wanted to see how things were. I left my home in Byram at 6am, had breakfast in Magee and arrived in Biloxi a little before 10:00. The Biloxi store turned out to be a piece of cake. It was newly rebuilt since the hurricane and I was able to get the wiring and equipment in four hours.
     
    After I finished up, I grabbed a late lunch at Lil Ray's Po-Boys in Gulfport and checked into a hotel north of I-10 to avoid the beach front premium. When I arrived I stowed my gear in the room, cleaned up and drove around Biloxi and Gulfport to explore.
     
    Keesler Air Force Base sits right in between Biloxi and Gulfport and Thursday they were putting on quite a show. I saw F-15 Eagles, F-16 Falcons and A-10 Warthogs flying over all day.
     
    Both towns took a horrible beating during Katrina. There are still a lot of empty spaces on the beach where hotels, resterants and amusements used to be and have not returned. Many of the places that I remember are just gone. What is there is brand new and the areas off the beach are growing wild. Pass road which runs parallel and a quarter mile off the beach is wall to wall business.
     
    I ate supper at Claw Daddies in Gulfport and had Cajun styled crawfish for supper. It was great.
     
    After supper I went back to the hotel room and did paperwork for a while. I put on my swimsuit and decided to cool off in the pool and sit in the hot tub for a while. When I arrived at the pool it was obvious that the Air Force had landed. They were all over the place hanging out. I turned out that they were performing manuvers that day.
     
    I got out of the pool and sat in the hot tub for a while. The Air Force guys were talking about the days work. They were working on SAM suppression and everything was electronic. By 10 most of the Air Force had vanished. I went to the room and went to sleep.
     
    The next morning I packed my gear and got to work on the Gulfport store. It was new too and I was done by 2. After I was done, I packed the truck and headed home. I stopped for a sandwich in Hattiesburg and was home by six.
  15. JamesSavik

    Rebel Kitty

    By JamesSavik,

    This is my new kitten Havoc. He plays all the time: we are his human cat toys. He runs, he jumps, he bites, he claws and climbs me causing many lacerations.
     
     

     
    In trying to figure out how this spoiled kitty is so rough, I noticed these strange markings on his head.
     

     
    Coincidence? I think not.
     
    ____________________________
     
    PS- I'm back after a cooling off period but II'm not going anywhere NEAR the soapbox.
  17. JamesSavik
    I may be evil but I do have standards.
     
    Knowing that nobody has actually bothered to read the Pork, I mean Stimilus Package, I would insert the following clause:
     
    Amendment 301.23.451 All states and municipalaties that accept stimilius funds are required to have all of their citizens renounce their faith and begin to worship the evil goddess Globulus. In early April, 100 of the nations best basketball players must be sacrificed to Globulus to avoid a plague of boils and rats.
     
    Amendment 301.23.452 In the event of a plague of boils and rats, the federal goverenment will send 10,000 cats and 10,000 liters of hydrogen peroxide to the afflicted region.
     
    Amendment 301.23.452 In the event that Globulus is further angered, citizens are advised to put their heads between their legs and kiss their ass goodbye because after we've paid for all this bullshit we'll be so broke that we couldn't afford a firecracker much less fight off an evil diety.
     
    Hail Globulus! Give her your children because they annoy the shit out of me in restaurants and on airplanes.
     
    Ah the peace of Globulus the Child-eater. Boy are the right to lifers going to be pissed! Not only are millions of kids going to be eaten by a dusty Babylonian diety, they've got to give up Jebus too!
     
    Just remember- it's a change. Maybe not the one you were looking for but you didn't read the fine print did you?
     
    Bu-wah-hah-hah-hah
  18. JamesSavik

    Innovation

    By JamesSavik,

    Innovation
     
     
    System: Sol
    Saturn's moon Titan
    Barlow Heavy Industries
    April 10, 2681
     
    As the Grayhound class executive transport jumped into the Titan system, Commander Rutledge felt a bit of regret. It wasn't often that he got to travel in such luxery. Grayhound series ships usually shuttled Admirals around to useless meetings but today it was taking his team to do something useful.
     
    Rutledge and his team of five naval archictects and engineers were members of the Fleet's Design Bureau. They were assigned to develop the Fleet's next generation of ships on an impossible schedule and Barlow Industries might have just the edge that they needed.
     
    The Grayhound's pilot activated the PA system in the passenger cabin and said, "We have arrived at Titan and will be landing momentarily. We are cleared directly to the Barlow Naval Yard. Eveyone please be seated and prepare for landing."
     
    Rutledge looked out his window at Titan but he couldn't see very much. Everyone else was looking at Saturn- the ringed gas giant that still intrigued humans after centuries of space travel. Titan's soupy atmosphere obscured all but the most basic details of the surface. The surface of Saturn's largest moon was a key industrial facility and Titan Station in orbit was the largest Fleet installation in Earth's solar system.
     
    The pilot skillfully landed on a waiting pad at Barlow Industries sprawling complex. An eight-wheeled utility crawler attached itself to the hook on the nose of the Grayhound and pulled her into a nearby hanger. Even through the hull they could hear the hiss as the hanger was pressurized and finally an ear rending pop and the ship equalized pressure with the hanger.
     
    Rutledge and his team debarked the ship into a clean, brightly lite hanger and were greeted by a delegation from Barlow Heavy Industries.
     
    A man wearing a lab coat approached Rutledge and extended his hand, "I'm Dan Barlow. Welcome to our facility. I hope you had a good trip."
     
    Rutledge took his hand and said, "We got to fly on a Grayhound. The trip was gravy. We're looking forward to seeing your work with ceramics and advanced composites."
     
    Barlow beamed. "Then lets get to work."
     
    He lead them to a subway car and when everyone had piled in he programmed the car to take them to the R&D center within the complex.
     
    Barlow began speaking as the car got underway. "Pratically every sub-system within star ships is modular these days. Engines come as pre-fabed modules. Power plants come as pre-fabed modules. So do computers, life support systems, weapons- the whole bit. With conventional ship construction, the only thing that is fabricated by hand is the hull."
     
    "We realized in our own yards that if we could pre-fabricate the hull in modules, we would cut construction time for ships of all sizes, lower our labor costs and dramatically reduce the time it takes to build ships of all classes. What our company has been working on for several years is the right mix of technologies to make this happen."
     
    The car came to a stop and Barlow said, follow me to the conference room and I'll show you what we've got."
     
    Rutledge and his team followed Barlow's men up a flight of stairs to another level. He brought them into a nicely appointed conference room where he got down to brass tacks about his new process.
     
    "To make this happen we had to get the right materials, machinery and the technology. First we looked at materials. We experimented with a number of metal alloys and they all had the same problems. Metal components require welds and that creates a structural weakness from the very start. Metals are heavy and they make bright sensor contacts. When we looked at ceramics and carbon composites and realized we had exactly what we needed."
     
    He passed around four samples. "These are the materials that we are plan to use. Two are ceramics and the other two are carbon composites. All four are harder than any metal but have very special properties. Before they are heated, they are more or less a goo and are easily worked by our machinery."
     
    "The second part of our process involves the casting of components.We have created a very special casting machine that is controlled by computer. We put the blueprints in, the computer programs the mold and then we put in one of our four materials and within five minutes we have a cast module that is perfect down to the millimeter and ready for installation."
     
    Jerry Nash, Rutledge's composites expert asked, "How do you eliminate the need for welds?"
     
    Barlow smiled and replied, "Nanotechnology. We put nanites into the material matrix in the casting machine. Once the cast is done, the nanites begin doing their work. They actually knit the material of the hull together in the strongest possible molecular configuration down to the atomic level. They even vary the density of the material to provide radiation protection for the crew that would take inches of highly dense metals like iron or lead. When we put the modules in place, we program the nanites to knit the hull modules together without welds. Its like one very strong whole without seems or welds. The nanites remain in place for the life of the vessel and can perform modifications to the hull or repair damage."
     
    Barlow said, "For military applications I think you'll like the carbon mix. It has the same blackbody curve as carbon and would be hard as hell to pick up on sensors- very stealthy. Enough sales talk. A prototype is worth a thousand words. Let's have a look at a ship built with the carbon composite I like for your ships."
     
    Again the delegation followed Barlow to hanger where a crew was finishing up work on a sporty looking black scout.
     
    Barlow said, "This is my prototype for the Scout-62 contract. We cast its hull this morning, installed the systems and it's ready to fly this afternoon. My cost per unit is less than any conventional shipyard in the Alliance and I can build thousands of them."
     
    Rutledge ran his hand over the smooth hard surface of the scout. He looked at Barlow and he looked at his team and said, "Mr. Barlow. I think we can do business. We need to talk to our superiors but we want to leave you some our designs for your consideration..."
  19. JamesSavik

    Ironman Stirs

    By JamesSavik,

    Ironman Stirs
     
     
    In 2660 Dr. Dylan Yarlburo published a 15,000 page volume with the ponderous title Ironman: A Survey of 100 Years of Study. It was met in the academic world with deafening silence. Ironman had become junk science. Its study had occupied many careers and had banished many promising scientests to obscurity.
     
    Ironman simply defied the best minds in in the Galactic Aliiance. Even after 100 years of constant surveillance with the best technology the dark hulk was as big a mystery as ever.
     
    The consensus of scientific opinion was that Ironman was a very powerful alien device constructed for an unknown purpose. An artifact of an ancient race whose purpose and motives humanity could only guess about.
     
    By 2677 the Alliance senate questioned the need to continue funding ongoing scientific and military surveillance of the object. The military was able to stave off cuts because of their considerable investment in support installations in the system.
     
    The study of Ironman had become the academic graveyard. Only underacheiving grad students or scientests trying to resurrect flagging careers could be recruiting to man the research station that monitered the hulk.
     
    On April 3, 2681 a graduate student named Carl Grant was dozing while sitting at the main console of the research station located on the moon simply known as 11-C. The instruments came to life starting him. Ironman's power generation went up 11,000%.
     
    On the surface of Ironman a huge ice flat vaporized in an instant and a tight blue beam reached out to the gas giant below.
     
    Over the next few hours Grant watched as Ironman greedily devoured several hundred billion liters of liquid hydrogen from the gas giant below.
     
    Three hours and twenty-two minutes later, the beam ceased almost as suddenly as it began.
     
    A thick cloud of foggy gas covered Ironman making it look even more mysterious than ever.
     
    Nervous calls went out. The fleet base went on alert and all available ships slipped their moorings and took up position several million kilometers from Ironman. Someone on Admiral Jamison's staff orddered a news blackout after the research station had already begun transmitting data to the various institutes in the Alliance that still had research interests in Ironman.
     
    Despite the communications blackout, the news of Ironman's awakening spread like wildfire. The military's blackout fueled rampant speculation by conspiracy theorists across the Alliance. Rumors began to spread about military leaves being cancled and ships unexpectedly moving out. Galactic News reported that the Alliance Fleet had been mobilized for wargames.
     
    After Ironman fed on the gas giant, it began to do things that no one had seen it do over the century that it had been under close observation.
     
    Whole regions of ice vaporized. New features began to appear on its surface. Rows of blue, green, red and white lights appeared. After spiking during those first four hours, the objects power output came down but stabilized at a much higher level than had ever been observed.
     
    Ironman began to emit a powerful regular pulse in the subspace communications bands.
     
    Special teams of first-contact specialists tried desperatly to communicate with Ironman. They sent prime numbers. They sent mathematical symbols. They sent everything they could think of. Ironman may have been talking but he wasn't talking to anyone human.
     
    Alliance Fleet Intelligence identified the signal. It was a beacon.
  20. JamesSavik

    Invasion

    By JamesSavik,

    Ironman
     
    In 2531 the galactic survey cruiser Cabot entered CYG 035-4122 on a routine mapping mission. There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary about the system. CYG 035-4122 was ordinary in all respects with a dwarf star and an average planetary system. It was merely one of thousands charted during the First Galactic Survey. What the Cabot found there would have profound implications for humanity.
     
    The Cabot entered the system and began a routine scan of the single class K4 dwarf star, 6 terresterial planets, 5 gas giants and discovered a mysterious energy reading from one of the six moons around the last gas giant. After charting the system, the Cabot approached the "moon" to get more detailed scans. Even from millions of kilometers away, it was obviously very different from the typical icy, rocky moons usually found around gas giant planets.
     
    On their approach the science officer first noticed the eccentricity of the orbits of the planets six major moons. He ran some calculations on the mechanics of the moons orbits. The sixty kilometer moon was massive and extremely dense effecting not only the orbits of the moons but the planets orbit around its sun.
     
    The Cabot took up a high orbit of the mysterious moon. On the outside it was covered with several meters of hydrogen-methane ices. Just under its icy crust, it was a solid, metallic perfect sphere. It could not be a natural object.
     
    The Cabot stayed on station studying the object for a week. Her crew could find no access or portal into what could only be described as a massive structure. The sphere gave up none of its secrets.
     
    Frustrated by what the crew knew must be a great oppertunity for discovery, they left a long term monitering satellite and continued their survey.
     
    Two standard Later later the sceince ships Niels Bohr arrived at CYG 035-4122 and began a long term study of the object. Eventually a research station was established on one of the other moons of the gas giant.
     
    Papers were written, theories were forwarded but the sphere yielded none of its secrets with the exception of one: from its particle emission profile, it could only have a point singularity power source at its core. The object was a gigantic sleeping titan with a beating heart of raw, unlimited power.
     
    The object made some people very nervous. In all of the millions of charted star systems in man-kinds ever growing databases, nothing had ever been found even remotely like it. Scientests, the military and corperations throughout the galaxy desired its secrets but no one could could unlock the enigma that the military codenamed Ironman.
     
    By 2540 CYG 035-4122 was home to three research stations and was the Galactic Alliance's largest fleet anchorage for 400 light years in any direction. Study of the IronMan became an industry of its own.
     
    After years of fruitless study, Ironman became something of a scientific white elephant. Its study was put on the backburner and all but one of the research stations closed. There was talk of closing IronMan Anchorage but there were those in the Admiralty who made keeping their presence in the system a priority.
     
    Rumors and legends swirled around Ironman. For decades it was a favorite of tabloids and conspiracy theorists. Every decade or so interest in Ironman was revived in popular culture. It was the topic of numerous holo-books and movies and finally a footnote in the history of the fast growing Alliance that was quickly populating the galaxy.
  22. JamesSavik
    Part 2 - The Lessons of Sheba
     
     
    As I spent more and more time with Sheba, I was amazed at how smart she was. While some people think that cats are dumb, Sheba possessed a great wealth of what most of us consider common sense. The more time you spend around people, you quickly discover how uncommon this virtue really is.
     
    Sheba's lessons were easy, they always made sense and they have served me well when I was smart to apply them. To this very day they are relevant and keep me grounded.
     
    1. Eat when you are hungry, drink when you are thirsty, sleep when you are tired and always play a little bit every day.
     
    2. Play with reckless abandon and for the simple joy of it.
     
    3. Even a rainy day can be improved by a nap.
     
    4. Curiosity is a virtue that delivers new wonders every day.
     
    5. Practicing caution is easier than growing new fur or healing cuts.
     
    6. Never sniff a bee.
     
    7. Nothing is improved by worrying.
     
    8. Avoid things that smell bad.
     
    9. Don't drink or eat anything that doesn't smell right.
     
    10. Fighting is to be avoided but if you must, you will find that your spirit, the fire inside, will make you bigger and stronger than you know.
     
    11. There is no disgrace in climbing a tree to avoid a fight that you can't win.
     
    12. Always keep your head because you only have one and you don't want to lose it.
  23. JamesSavik
    Part 1 - Sheba
     

     
    When I was almost six I wanted a dog. I didn't want just any dog. I wanted a big fraggin' dog. Big enough to eat bad kids and ride to school.
     
    On my sixth birthday I got a surprise. It wasn't a dog. It was a cute little black kitten with a fuzzy tail. I didn't really want a fuzzy tailed kitten but this one kinda grew on me. And climbed on me. And ambushed my ankles. Stood on her back feet with paws extened like a boxer to challenge me. It didn't take long for her to win my heart.
     
    We named her Sheba because it didn't take long for her to assert her royal birthright as queen of the household. While Sheba was jett black, she had quite a lot of Siamese in her. She had the intelligence, the loud, demanding voice, strong will and indomitable spirit that characterize the breed. In bright light, you could see her brown "points" on her face and paws.
     
    It didn't take too long for our roles to reverse. I was no longer a kid raising a kitten. I was a kid being raised by a cat.
     
    In those days my Dad's job kept him on the road 4 days out of five. My mom was a teacher who didn't get home until 5:00. When I got home from school at 2:30 Sheba was always glad to see me. She would purr real loud and do little figure eights around my feet. She was great company. She always liked to watch TV and, unlike other people, she never insisted on changing the channel.
     
    Over the next year or two Sheba and I both grew and regardless of bad weather, bad moods or bad luck I could always count on Sheba to be waiting for me beside the door.
  24. JamesSavik

    A cat named Hitler

    By JamesSavik,

    You probably won't believe this but it's true.
     
    A few weeks ago, I started noticing that my otherwise fearless Black tomcat Fast Eddie and his mate Sweetie were hiding in the garage. Not only were they hiding, they were a mess: Fast Eddie had notches in his ears and poor Sweetie was missing a big tuft of furr out of her tail.
     
    It's unusual for Fast Eddie to lose a fight. He's a huge Tomcat that could easily be mistaken for a panther.
     
    Over the next few days I noticed:
    piles of bird feathers
    Other cats from the neighborhood missing
    Other dogs from the neighborhood missing
    Fast Eddie and Sweetie roughed up a little more every day

     
    I made a point to find what it was that was giving my cats such a hard time.
     
    About 2:00am last night, I heard a cat fight so I took the old mag light a looked out the back door.
     
    I spotted the culprit immediatly: it was a HUGE white cat with medium length furr. His most striking characteristic a spot of black furr under his nose that made him look like he had a Hitler mustasch.
     
    I told him to scram. Unlike most cats he just looked at me... as my two cowardly cats ran inside so fast they looked like two fuzzy streaks.
     
    My two cats will be staying inside recovering from their wounds until Hitler-cat finds a new territory.
     
    I'll be feeding my cats inside so Hitler-cat will have to look elsewhere for a free meal.
     
    Maybe he cat eat the noisy pit bull next door.
  25. JamesSavik
    That's not much these days since everything sucks and the world is circling the bowl.
     
    My library is bad assed. It gives me something that I can get lost in for days.
     
    There's a web site called Library Thing that lets you build a a online database of your books cross linked to user reviews.
     
    You can gaze upon my library in all its glory and despair here.
     
    Everyone should have a database of the contents of their library. It's good to have over and above the insurance purposes. It's important to know what you have. It prevents duplication when you go on a Barnes & igNobles frenzy and face it- who doesn't go nuts when there are piles and piles of books that you haven't read and there's earth shaking knowlege to be had. Who hasn't impaled their Visa card at Borders or Books-a-million.
     
    I confess: I have a club card for all three.
     
    There is power in knowlege and I am powerful. Now if I can just stay sane, I might just amount to something more than the angry depressed web guy that I've been lately.
     
    The holidaze are over so things are looking up. trying to end on a positive note: when you don't have any friends, you don't spend to much on Christmas.
     
    L8er
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