DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (movies that is)!

Found via LewRockwell:

The Biology of B-Movie Monsters

BY | Michael C. LaBarbera

SESSION 1: Biology and Geometry Collide!

Size has been one of the most popular themes in monster movies, especially those from my favorite era, the 1950s. The premise is invariably to take something out of its usual context--make people small or something else (gorillas, grasshoppers, amoebae, etc.) large--and then play with the consequences. However, Hollywood's approach to the concept has been, from a biologist's perspective, hopelessly naïve. Absolute size cannot be treated in isolation; size per se affects almost every aspect of an organism's biology. Indeed, the effects of size on biology are sufficiently pervasive and the study of these effects sufficiently rich in biological insight that the field has earned a name of its own: "scaling."

In the cube on the left, length = 1 and volume = 1 (L x L x L). The cube in the middle, where L=2, has a volume of 8. And in the cube on the right, L=3 and V=27.

The conceptual foundations of scaling relationships lie in geometry. Take any object--a sphere, a cube, a humanoid shape. Such an object will have a number of geometric properties of which length, area, and volume are of the most immediate relevance. All areas (surface area, cross-sectional area, etc.) will be proportional to some measure of length squared (i.e., length times length); volumes will be proportional to length cubed (length times length times length). Equivalently, lengths are proportional to the square root of an area or the cube root of a volume.

I do not think that this is his real goal, and most will appreciate his usage of great B-Movies for examples, but for some, the results will be as my title states- nevertheless, it is an enjoyable read about science.

Now, if we could just stop the Monsters of the "The Swamp", and I mean all of them...

WP

October 3rd, 1993

Remember- then remember this:

"On August 29 Task Force Ranger flew into Mogadishu. They were led by General William Garrison and consisted of 440 elite troops from Delta Force. Their mission was to capture Aidid. But, at the same time, in September 1993 the Clinton Administration began a secret plan to negotiate with Aidid. U.S. military commanders within Somalia were not apprised of this. U.S. Defense Secretary Les Aspin denied a request for armored reinforcements made by General Montgomery."

WP

Come And Take It!

From October 2, 2004:

Today is a great day in Texas History. It's the day the first shots in the successful Texas revolution were fired. In a surprise attack at dawn October 2nd, 1835 outside Gonzales under the "Come and Take It" flag a band of noble Texicans took the Mexican force which had been sent to seize their cannons.

"When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted, and so far from being a guarantee for the enjoyment of those inestimable and inalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression."

Unanimous Declaration of Independence
March 2, 1836
Washington-on-the-Brazo, Texas

I must point out those reasons sound very much like things happening today...

--WP

Col. Jeff Cooper 051020-092506

Colonel Cooper is cutting a new trail now, and my deepest respects and condolonces to his family.

For those wanting to read more, go here.

WP

Secretary Michael Wynne- you go first.

Air Force chief: Test weapons on testy U.S. mobs
POSTED: 7:56 p.m. EDT, September 12, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before being used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday.

The object is basically public relations. Domestic use would make it easier to avoid questions from others about possible safety considerations, said Secretary Michael Wynne.

"If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation," said Wynne. "(Because) if I hit somebody with a nonlethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press."

So Asshat Wynne, you are more concerned about what the World thinks of you than those that not only pay your salary, but are your fellow citizens? So it is only proper and just that we think you should be the first, and probably the only one who is shot with this thing, and then instead of turning the damn thing off, they should just leave it running...

--WP

Goodbye Sweet Girl

--WP

Americans do not want them "rehabilitated."

Inside the Beltway

By John McCaslin
September 7, 2006

Dusty trek

Who would have thought the day would come when a leading U.S. senator, while seeking advice on combating terrorism, would travel deep into Libya's desert to huddle with Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi in his tent?

By golly, Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican, has just returned to say he's witnessed a remarkable transformation of Libya and its leader, "where they have moved from being the world's leading terrorist state in very heavy competition."

He says he embarked on a several-hour plane flight from Tripoli into the "middle of the desert, met with him in his tent, and had a discussion with him looking for some guidance as to how a major world terrorist could rehabilitate, pay compensation, as to whether there could be any insight as to what we might do with North Korea and Iran today."

Regrettably, he said, Col. Gadhafi couldn't offer a definitive solution, "but the rehabilitation of Libya and Gadhafi showed that there is some hope to turn major terrorists into a rehabilitated situation."

Hey asswipe! Yes, you Arlen! Did you read the title? Good. Now let me explain in plain English and not any other language- WE WANT THEM DEAD!

What is this you say Alren? You do not know where to start? We do it and here it is- start with the House of Saud. If you have to ask why, then let me remind you- fifteen, yes fifteen of the nineteen hi-jackers came from Saudia Arabai, and the bastard who paid for it is from where? Pronounce this slowly:

S A U D I A A R A B I A

Now go on you weasel and do your job, go and start talking to that fellow Republicrat you stabbed in the back, go on now, we told you where we should have been bombing, go on now.

Bleh! You won't do a damn thing will you, you weasel piece of shit!

--WP

Point One

Police property: It?s finders keepers in NH

Thursday, Aug. 24, 2006

The state Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the government can keep and destroy more than 500 CDs taken from Michael Cohen, owner of Pitchfork Records in Concord, in 2003 even though the state failed to prove that a single disk was illegal.

Cohen was arrested for attempting to sell bootleg recordings. But the police case collapsed when it turned out that most of the recordings were made legally. Police dropped six of the seven charges, and Cohen went to trial on one charge. He beat it after the judge concluded that the recording was legal.

However, the police refused to return Cohen?s CDs. In the state Supreme Court?s Tuesday ruling, Chief Justice John Broderick, writing for the majority, reasoned so poorly that it appeared as if he?d made up his mind ahead of time.

Dissenting, Justice Linda Dalianis wrote, perceptively, that ?the majority does not explain how statutes prohibiting the production, publication, or sale of certain works render possession of such works unlawful.?

Further, Dalianis concluded that ?the state?s failure to establish in any way that the seized property constitutes contraband? made it impossible to justify keeping Cohen?s property.

Indeed, the majority?s reasoning is chilling. The majority concedes that no crime or illegal act was proven, but allows the confiscation anyway by concluding that a crime might have been committed. The majority used words such as ?apparently,? ?likely? and ?would have? to describe the alleged illegal activity.

It should go without saying that speculation by a few judges that a crime might have been committed is a frightening basis for taking someone?s property.

Earlier this year, Nashua police confiscated video recordings of two officers being rude to a citizen at his own home. Though police dropped all charges against Michael Gannon and admitted they could not prove the recordings were illegal, they still kept the tapes.

If someone is found with cocaine or any other item clearly illegal to possess, confiscation is easily justified. But the illegality of these items was never proven, and mere possession was not itself illegal.

If the government can seize and keep a citizen?s property by simply asserting that it is contraband, even when the assertion is unsupported by the facts, then we have entered into dangerous territory.

More to follow...

--WP

Lon Horiuchi - Assassin

To remind everyone, Lon Horiuchi has never been prosecuted for either the murder of Sammy and Vicki Weaver, or for his participation at Waco, Texas a few months later.

Yes, yesterday marked the fourteenth annivesary of Ruby Ridge and suggest that you revisit last years posts here and here.

It has only become worse since then...

WP

Remembering

Today marks the sixty-first (61) year since the dropping of the A-Bomb on the Jap's at Nagasaki and I think this appropriate.

Thank you men...

--WP