Looks like Rand wanted Fawcett to play Dagny; as well, Rand was a huge fan of Charlie’s Angels. Who knew?
Archive for the 'Heroes' Category
A Rand-Fawcett connection?
26 June 2009Dear idiot with a Microsoft parking pass,
8 March 2009While we spent our hours together this evening on top of Snoqualmie Pass, I felt a bond of the beset between us.
You and I had waved while wandering the pavement, waiting for traffic to move and free us from our sunny bond.
When everyone skittered to vehicles and began to move over to the right, you saw your chance. Surely the fates favored you, leaving an open lane off the mountain! I gestured as you moved to pass me; momentarily, you lifted your gaze to your mirrors and saw in waning seconds an opportunity to do the right thing. That you did so is to your credit. Next time, when everyone else on the roadway is suddenly moving to get back into vehicles and moving them to the right, perhaps you could look around and see what all the fuss is about.
Robert Holland dies
4 February 2009I wrote last year about a day trip I took to Phoenix. My uncle Bob was in hospital; I hadn’t seen him since 1991 or 1992. Dad called last night to let me know Bob had died; apparently, he had a stroke during the superbowl and didn’t recover. I had been planning on making another trip to Phoenix in March (after my contract ends), but it looks like the reason to do that just evaporated. Best wishes, Bob.
More videos of USAir
17 January 2009CNN has a great compilation of videos. Let it play through the first couple; the 911 audio/video compilation is the last interesting one. Good on the 911 caller that said it was an Airbus 320; boo to the caller who said DC9 or DC10.
Plane landing on Hudson
17 January 2009The Gandhi Quote
29 November 2008Somehow, this evaporated from my blog, so I’m reposting it to make searching for it easier.
The Gandhi Quote
For a year or so now I’ve had this quote as my .sig:
"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest." — Mahatma Gandhi
I have been asked many times for the source, and just as many times I have been challenged on the accuracy of the quote. Surely this is taken out of context, people ask. To end the debate once and for all, here is the complete quote:
GANDHI: An autobiography. The story of my experiments with Truth
Page 446, on which Gandhi is relating his struggles raising volunteers to fight for the Crown in World War I:
I used to issue leaflets asking people to enlist as recruits. One of the arguments I had used was distasteful to the Commissioner: ‘Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act of depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest. If we want the Arms Act to be repealed, if we want to learn the use of arms, here is a golden opportunity. If the middle classes render voluntary help to Government in the hour of its trial, distrust will disappear, and the ban on possessing arms will be withdrawn.’ The Commissioner refereed to this and said that he appreciated my presence in the conference in spite of the differences between us. And I had to justify my standpoint as courteously as I could.
In this wonderful book (go and buy it now, it covers everything from gun control to home schooling to constipation (a lot on this last topic, actually) Gandhi repudiates his views when they have changed, and calls out very clearly even minor errors he has made. Never in this book does he step back from condemning gun control; in fact, on page 477 he touches on the classic "when is it time to shut up and shoot the bastards" argument:
As I proceeded further and further with my inquiry into the atrocities that had been committed on the people, I came across tales of Government’s tyranny and the arbitrary despotism of it’s officers such as I was hardly prepared for, and they filled me with deep pain. What surprised me then, and what still continues to fill me with surprise, was the fact that a province that had furnished the largest number of soldiers to the British Government during the war, should have taken all these brutal excesses lying down.
Pictures for Band of Brothers / Day of Defeat fans
11 June 2008Quote
22 April 2008“When my wife was cleaning the blood off, she said ‘I think it’s all his,’.” Kieta said.
Matthew Croucher: Hero
30 March 2008Commando Matthew Croucher threw himself on a grenade, saving his squad mates from injury or death. Price he paid? A bloody nose. He may be awarded a Victoria Cross, which would put him in rare company. One nit to pick with the coverage: I don’t think you “win” the Victoria Cross any more than you “win” the Medal of Honor.
Using mirrors to combat pain
19 March 2008Sometimes, advances in medicine don’t cost millions of dollars and have dangerous clinical trials. In this case, a doctor is using mirrors to treat phantom pain. I wish I could use a mirror to dull the pain of losing my mind; I try every morning, and it doesn’t help. Maybe I’m doing it wrong.
