Impacted Wisdom Truth

Musical Monday #86

2011-01-17T05:00:00.000-08:00

This is wonderful, American music...

Musical Monday Saturday

2011-01-01T08:01:00.000-08:00

I like this song by Clazziquai a lot...

Emily June Hanke 1937-2010

2010-12-14T20:34:00.000-08:00

Miss you, mom.

Mom's obituary is here .

Musical Monday #84

2010-11-15T15:29:00.001-08:00

Saw John at the Hollywood Bowl last August. Great show, great guitar playing. Yeah, he has had his public peccadilloes, but he is a great artist. To me, the thing that shows an artist's true ability is how well they perform live. Mayer sounds as good or better live than he does recorded, where the bag of tricks is much larger, and can be employed at leisure. The immediacy of a live show limits the gloss one might apply. And he sounded great. The song below is from a show recorded live in 2007, I have not seen any video of the Hollywood Bowl show.

I also would like to give a thanks to Tay Kewei for posting John's winter tour video. That is the video that caused me to discover his music. Kewei is also a singer/songwriter, and her blog is here.

Musical Monday #81

2010-09-27T05:00:00.001-07:00

Tay Kewei and Lee Ein Ein in their first music video together.

Update: I should add, this is the first video they made professionally; they have been a YouTube staple for a while now. You can check out some of their YouTube videos here, here, and here, among others.

Musical Monday #79

2010-06-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

Removed the embed. Click here to watch.

Musical Monday #78

2010-06-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

Updated to resize video.

Musical Monday #76

2010-05-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

Musical Monday #75

2010-05-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

Musical Monday #74

2010-05-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

Monday Can't Wait

2010-04-17T11:54:00.001-07:00

Eight shades of awesome, this...

Happy Mao, Sad Mao

2010-04-04T14:31:00.000-07:00

Shuo Cheng has a cute post and a bit of fun with a 100 Yuan banknote.

Musical Monday #72

2010-03-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Props: ESWN

Musical Monday #71

2010-03-22T05:00:00.001-07:00

Perhaps this is just as appropriate for March 21...

Musical Monday #70

2010-03-08T05:00:00.000-08:00

Musical Monday #69

2010-02-22T18:37:00.000-08:00

Musical Monday Tuesday

2010-02-09T21:49:00.000-08:00

The amazing Mr. Tommy Emamnauel.

Props: Tay Kewei

Musical Monday #68

2010-02-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

Props: Boing Boing, or somebody :)

Musical Monday #67

2010-01-25T05:00:00.000-08:00

Tay Kewei and her sister Kexin.

Nolan's Cheddar

2010-01-24T21:42:00.001-08:00

Highfall

2010-01-23T12:43:00.000-08:00

Seeking to break a record set in 1960.

Props: Fark

Update: Check out the 1960 jump here

Musical Monday #66

2010-01-18T05:00:00.000-08:00

Musical Monday #65

2010-01-11T05:00:00.000-08:00

And now for something completely different.

Props: The Other McCain

Musical Monday #64

2010-01-04T05:00:00.002-08:00

ISS On The Fly

2009-12-17T20:40:00.000-08:00

Astronaut Jeff Williams flies through the ISS in this great video.

Props: Jeff Williams

Musical Monday #63

2009-12-14T05:00:00.000-08:00

Not the usual music video, just too cute to pass up :)

Props: Althouse

Musical Monday #62

2009-12-07T05:00:00.001-08:00

Singapore artist Tay Kewei performs this song. The chord progression is gorgeous.

UPDATE:

The embed did not seem to be working, so I removed it. Please click here to hear the song.

Japanese Shadow Promo

2009-12-06T12:08:00.000-08:00

Via Dark Roasted Blend comes this nice play on camera perspective. I also like the song.

What Communist Slogans?

2009-11-30T05:01:00.000-08:00

Joel Martinsen of Danwei takes a look at the slogans on the famous Tiananmen Gate.

Musical Monday #61

2009-11-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

Musical Monday #60

2009-11-16T05:00:00.001-08:00

Musical Monday #59

2009-11-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

Musical Monday #58

2009-11-02T05:00:00.000-08:00

Musical Monday #57

2009-10-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

(The song starts at about 1:54, if you want to jump ahead)

The female singer is Evonne Hsu. Though the show appears to be from Taiwan, she was born in Texas.

That's Cold

2009-10-17T22:41:00.000-07:00

Props: Dark Roasted Blend

Musical Monday #56

2009-10-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

Musical Monday #55

2009-10-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

Musical Monday #54

2009-09-28T05:00:00.001-07:00

Lyrics and meaning here.

My Favorite Commercial

2009-09-26T13:11:00.001-07:00

As I recall, I saw this commercial while on a business trip to Singapore in January 1997. One does not need to understand the language to get the meaning.

Update: found a version that looks clearer to me--replaced the first one

Musical Monday #52

2009-09-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

This song is beautiful enough to make one weep.

Explanation and lyrics here.

Musical Monday #51

2009-09-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

A coworker (a Vietnamese gentleman) mentioned this song to me, describing how it touched him. It touched me too.

The sehnsucht is strong with this one.

Props: Tri L.

[Post Updated to add Props and comments]

Big Bucket O' Space Stuff

2009-09-05T15:12:00.000-07:00

This article has a huge list of links to space imagery, probes, and other space stuff. Indulge your inner space geek.

Props: Instapundit

Musical Monday #50

2009-08-31T05:00:00.000-07:00

Ever Wondered How A Differential Gear Works?

2009-08-25T18:26:00.000-07:00

Now you can know. I enjoy vintage films like this.

Props: Dark Roasted Blend

Musical Monday #49

2009-08-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

How Great Is Our God

Musical Monday #47

2009-07-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

Tenor Philip Webb singing How Great Thou Art with the Grace Community Choir and Orchestra.

Update: Video sized to fit

Musical Monday #45

2009-06-29T05:00:00.002-07:00

Must be seen to be believed.

Yes, that is Buzz Aldrin of Apollo 11; behind the console is Snoop Dogg, urging him on.

Buzz Aldrin's Rocket Experience from Buzz Aldrin

Props: KisP

Musical Monday #44

2009-04-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

Musical Monday #42

2009-03-09T05:00:00.000-07:00

Yo-Yo Ma & Bobby McFerrin

Musical Monday #41

2009-02-23T05:00:00.000-08:00

Ryuichi Sakamoto-Energy Flow

Musical Monday #40

2009-01-19T05:00:00.000-08:00

Glad - Be Ye Glad

Musical Monday #39

2009-01-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

Sumi Jo - Caccini - Ave Maria

Musical Monday #35

2008-12-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

Anne's Song - Will Ackerman

Musical Monday #28

2008-09-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

God of Wonders-Third Day

Musical Monday #27

2008-08-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

Blossom Dearie - Tea For Two

Props: SondraK

Musical Monday #26

2008-08-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

Ode To Joy

Props:FAZED

The girl in the window

2008-08-04T05:01:00.000-07:00

"The authorities had discovered the rarest and most pitiable of creatures: a feral child." Read this incredible story here.

Video Here

Props: Fark

Musical Monday #24

2008-08-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

Amazing Grace (starts at 1:39)

Props: Fark

Musical Monday #23

2008-07-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

Michael Hedges and Will Ackerman - Hawkcircle

Musical Monday #21

2008-07-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

My favorite Paul Simon song--American Tune

Musical Monday #19

2008-06-09T00:01:00.002-07:00

Vintage & rare Phil Keaggy, Time, from 1980.

The 101 most useful websites

2008-04-09T03:38:00.000-07:00

Impacted Wisdom Truth may not be the most useful website, so here is a list that supplies that lack.

Musical Monday #9

2007-12-10T19:54:00.000-08:00

This one has to be seen to be believed. It is not what the picture seems.

BONUS: What if this song were done by The Doors?

Props: Fark

UPDATE: A cordial welcome to readers of EdDriscoll.com, and thanks to Ed for the link!

Musical Monday #7

2007-11-26T20:00:00.000-08:00

The Late Eva Cassidy

Musical Monday #6

2007-11-12T17:41:00.000-08:00

John Michael Talbot

Musical Monday #5

2007-10-29T22:27:00.000-07:00

Musical Monday #4

2007-10-22T19:04:00.000-07:00

Musical Monday #2

2007-10-08T19:21:00.000-07:00

This classic from the Lawrence Welk show is not for the faint of heart. You have been warned.

Musical Monday #1

2007-10-01T22:49:00.000-07:00

I have decided to dedicate Mondays to music. This is two great guitar players, Les Paul and Chet Atkins.

Lileks on Negativism

2006-09-08T00:01:00.000-07:00

James Lileks has had enough. Today's Bleat is a classic knockdown of the naysayers; scroll down past his tale of the carpet cleaners, if that part of the Bleat does not tickle your fancy. James is spot-on, as usual:

It takes an adolescent to think that people who believe in nothing are the best judges of those who believe in something.

and

Look: there’s always a place for the bitchers, the carpers, the griefers, the snipers, the angry marginal sorts flinging poo from the cages of their own beliefs. But it’s not the pessimists who will save the West. It’ll be those who believe the West is worth saving, and not because it is the least horrible option whose defense must be prefaced with endless apologies, but because it really is the best hope we have. Would you rather be a libertarian in China? A Christian in Sudan? A Zoroastran in Iran? A lesbian in Saudi Arabia?

Read the whole thing.

Lennon's Blues

2006-09-01T02:15:00.000-07:00

In 1968, John Lennon performed a song from the "White Album" with bandmates from other groups of the era. He band was called "The Dirty Mac" and featured bandmates from The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Rolling Stones, and Cream, viz., Eric Clapton and Keith Richards. Richards looks normal, amazingly. Also note the man speaking with Lennon during the video intro is, of course, Mick Jagger.

BTW, a "Mac" is British slang for a raincoat.

OK Go - Here It Goes Again

2006-08-08T15:06:00.000-07:00

I am late to the party for this viral video, but why not.

Dancing. On treadmills.

The More Things Change

2006-06-23T03:47:00.000-07:00

...the more they stay the same. Jonah Goldberg explains why the Internet is restoring America's historical relationship with the news media, and why the status quo of the last fifty years has not been the historic norm.

As Jonah says,

Boosters of the brave new World Wide Web and mourners of “traditional” media alike share a common view that the way the news media has operated over the last half-century is the “normal” way. Both sides think the Internet is more unprecedented and revolutionary than it is. In reality, the crumbling status quo was always an aberration.

Read the whole article.

Props: Lucianne

A Proper Thanks

2006-06-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

Soldiers return to a town that helped them when their bus broke down. A truly heartwarming article.

Props: MsPfieffer

The Times They Are A-Changin'

2006-06-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

It wasn't too long ago that the story was all about this:

Now it seems it is all about this:

Something strange is going on.

Days Gone By: Part 2

2006-05-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

Had to share this photo of Dad (on the left) from his Air Force days in the mid 1950s. I do not know who his fellow airman is. Men such as this kept the Soviets in their lairs in those critical years when American children were being taught how to "duck and cover" under their desks to "protect" themselves from nuclear blasts. Thanks, men, and well done.

You Know You've Had A Bad Day When...

2006-05-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

...Shamu drops in. Click the pic for video.

Spocksarappin

2006-05-20T16:56:00.000-07:00

Check out this video; you Star Trek TOS fans might want to put down your coffee first. Click the picture below to start the video.

Fred Hanke: Cold Warrior

2006-02-28T00:01:00.000-08:00

Recently my Aunt sent me some old family pictures. The pictures are mostly ones that my father sent to his brother over the years. When my Uncle passed away a few years ago, my Aunt began to give them to me as she sorted through things. In this most recent group, I found this gem:

I had never seen my dad in such a pose as that. The pose immediately reminded me of Gregory Peck in Twelve O'Clock High.

Dad was a crypto/radio operator in the Air Force, stationed in France in the mid 1950s. Thus the bomber jacket, white scarf, and radio handset. One other note: the insignia on his hat is one of my prized possessions. Here is a closeup of that insignia:

It is made of cast metal, not plastic, and is heavy for such a small object. They made men and metal of the right stuff back in those days. For comparison, here is his official Air Force portrait:

I like to think of dad as a Cold Warrior, in some small way. He was, in fact.

Swingin' Pop Standards

2006-02-24T00:01:00.000-08:00

My friends know me as a lover of music. Lately my tastes have run to vocal jazz, trio and quartet, from about 1950 to 1965. Often I find my music while watching television, hearing some snippet of a song and Googling the lyrics to find the artist and the album.

Another place I find great music is at Accuradio. This site plays pop standards and swing. It is customizable so you can eliminate artists you do not wish to hear from the rotation (Streisand always gets the boot when I listen).

Check out the site and listen to great music in streaming audio at your computer. You will be glad you did.

The Vincent Voice Library

2006-02-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

Visit this site to listen to your history. The Vincent Voice Library at Michigan State University [go Spartans!] archives one of the world's best collections of recorded voices and historical events going as far back as 1888. Have you ever actually heard a recording of Teddy Roosevelt? You can here. Check out the site and see how history comes alive when you can hear it for yourself.

The Northridge Earthquake

2006-01-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

The Northridge Earthquake took place twelve years ago today. Has it really been that long? Tempus Fugit.

Rather than rehash things in this space, permit me to link to my previous post about the event. I updated the post with several more photos not previously included. All the photographs linked in the post are ones that I took the following Sunday after the quake. Notice the Kaiser Permanente picture in the post.

While taking that picture, I ran into Phil Johnson of Pyromaniac. Phil and two of his boys were also out taking photos that day, and I accidentally encountered them as we were both taking photos of the Kaiser building at the same time. Our vantage point was the parking lot of a McDonald's restaurant at the corner of Devonshire and Balboa. That McDonald's no longer exists there, and the place where the building stood is now an empty lot.

I hope you click over to my earlier post, click through to the photographs and read my personal experience of that day. And be glad if you do not live in earthquake country.

The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal

2006-01-15T00:18:00.000-08:00

If you are as great a history buff as I am, you will love this website: The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal.

I have been interested in America's space program since the mid 1960s. Of course, I was just a little kid then. But that only made the accomplishments of these extraordinary men, our astronauts, all the more magical. This site gets into the nitty gritty of actual flight transcripts, details about the spacecraft, and boatloads of high-resolution pictures. I have been to this site dozens of times and have only scratched the surface of what it has to offer. If you love history, and especially the history of America's space program, I am sure you will agree that this site is one of the best.

As a bookend to the above NASA photo of Buzz Aldrin, taken by Neil Armstrong during Apollo 11, here is a photo of me taken at the Kennedy Space Center in January, 1971. We took a tour of the facility including the vehicle assembly building where we saw components for an Apollo spacecraft being assembled. I particularly liked the tour of the blockhouse from which "the button" was pushed that actually fired the Apollo Saturn 5 rocket. Here I am, eight years old, standing at the foot of the ladder of the Apollo Lunar Module mockup.

Buzz Aldrin photo: NASA

Lunar Module mockup photo: Dad

Days Gone By

2006-01-14T02:13:00.000-08:00

As part of my ongoing project to electronically archive my old family photos, I offer this from 1937. The man in the middle is my paternal grandfather, Glen Hanke. On the left, the younger boy is my father Fred, and on the right is my uncle Glen Jr.

It is easy to be wistful about such pictures as this. What happened to that car? I wonder what the dog's name was. You did notice the dog, didn't you? I missed the dog the first time I saw the picture. The location looks like Michigan sometime in the spring, where the snow has started to melt and make a mess of things. All three have passed away from this life. Only our family's love for them and a few photos remain of them all.

Which Celebrity Do You Resemble?

2006-01-12T00:57:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago I ran across this interesting site. For free, one can upload a picture of a person and search their database to see which celebrities bear a resemblance to the person in the uploaded picture. Yesterday I revisited the site, and I uploaded this picture of me with two of my friends.

On the left is Scott, I am in the middle, and Fred is on the right. This picture was taken during the final meeting of a church group where we were the sound team (hence the cables we are clutching). The group was dissolved a few years ago. By the way, both gave me their permission to post the picture. The results were quite interesting.

After uploading the picture, all one has to do is click on "Run Face recognition" and the website handles the rest. The software dutifully found all three of our faces, and placed a rectangle around them. Then the site generates three of what I will call "celebrity boxes" and displays them at the bottom of the screen. Within the "celebrity box" are left and right arrows that are used to scroll between the matches found in the celebrity photo database. Each box will show about eight different possible matches. The pictures below are screencaps, so of course the scroll arrows will not work. Upload a picture and run it to see how they really work.

I scrolled through all the matches for each of us and found it very interesting. Scott's face was the only one of us that generated exclusively male matches. Mine generated some male, some female, and interestingly, several African-American matches. Fred took the female matches with a total of five women in his match list.

The color of the rectangle framing our faces corresponds to the color of the border on each "celebrity box." For the first screencap, I chose what I thought was the most flattering matches for each of us. Click the pictures below for larger version.

Not too bad, I guess. The men that matched Scott and Fred are famous race car drivers, Formula One drivers I think. Gary Cooper of course is an American film star. Perhaps my current profile pic had some influence. Anyway, I continued to scroll through the possible matches for each of us. Things got strange.

Scott was now matched to one of my favorite singers, Roy Orbison, of "Pretty Woman" fame. Fred matched...Kate Winslett? Must be those high model's cheekbones of yours, Fred. And I matched...Beyonce'. I have been called many things in my life, good and bad, but "bootylicious" has never been among them. Then I scrolled to a different combination:

Scott now had Kevin Costner for a match, Fred had Uma Thurman (cheekbones! cheekbones!), and I had...jazz artist Nina Simone for a match. Hmmm. Maybe if I had enough hair to pile on top of my head like that...

Anyway, the final screencap was the one that I thought was the most interesting:

Well, Scott was the leader of our team. Yeah, that's why he matched Kim Jong Il. Fred matched British comedian Rowan Atkinson, and I matched...the Dalai Lama.

I hope you enjoyed this little foray into "Which Celebrity Do You Resemble," and I hope Scott and Fred are still my friends.

Ommm....Ommm...Ommm...

Whales in the Clouds

2006-01-05T00:24:00.000-08:00

Every now and then someone does an original Photoshop that really catches my eye. This is one of them:

Click the picture for larger version.

Photoshop by Spiffyandredhot.

One Shot, One Kill

2006-01-03T02:49:00.000-08:00

This report in the Telegraph (UK) caught my eye. An American sniper exacted revenge for the killing of an American serviceman with a single shot from a distance of 1,250 meters (4101.04 feet).

The shot was the longest confirmed kill in the Iraq war. Snipers are a little-known tool in the US war effort, largely due to the fact that stealth is their modus operandi. They do not operate in such a way as to generate photos or exciting video.

This particular sniper, Staff Sgt Jim Gilliland, has between 55 and 65 confirmed kills. And that in a period of only five months. He might soon reach the record by a Marine sniper, 93 confirmed kills held by the late Carlos Hathcock. You can read Hathcock's Washington Post obituary here.

Aim true and be safe, men.

M24 Rifle photo from Military.com

Florida Teen Travels to Baghdad--Alone

2005-12-29T16:41:00.000-08:00

A Florida teen of Iraqi parents decided to travel to Baghdad--without telling his parents. This Associated Press exclusive is one incredible story, and the boy is very fortunate to be alive.

His name is Farris Hassan, which immediately brings up the comparison to "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." He was taking a class in school in "Immersion Journalism" and decided to put it into practice, telling only two high school buddies of his plans. Photo of Farris here.

The money quote:

"There is a struggle in Iraq between good and evil, between those striving for freedom and liberty and those striving for death and destruction," he wrote.

"Those terrorists are not human but pure evil. For their goals to be thwarted, decent individuals must answer justice's call for help. Unfortunately altruism is always in short supply. Not enough are willing to set aside the material ambitions of this transient world, put morality first, and risk their lives for the cause of humanity. So I will."

"I want to experience during my Christmas the same hardships ordinary Iraqis experience everyday, so that I may better empathize with their distress," he wrote.

Foolish or not, the kid sure has moxie.

UPDATE: Hassan's essay is here.

Props: KisP and Lucianne

Iraq Map: CIA World Factbook

Christmas 1968

2005-12-25T11:04:00.000-08:00

This year I am staying put; it is one of the rare Christmas days I am not spending with my family. We are all scattered now, and spending Christmas together means that two of us must fly to be with the others regardless of whom is hosting Christmas. I have a sister in Chicago, whom lives with her husband and daughter, and a mother in Florida. We are all staying in our respective states this year. So I decided to get out some old photo albums and take a look at Christmases past.

The pictures below are from Christmas 1968. They were taken in the basement of our family home in Michigan. The basement was furnished, as you can see, and functioned as an entertainment room and a family room. I have great memories of good times in that basement. Everything from my dad's work buddies coming over to play poker, to the times we spent together as a family watching television, and everything in between. On this particular occasion, we stood one by one by the tree to commemorate the occasion. Photos with all four of us are rare since either mom or dad had to be the one behind the camera.

First, Mom:

And then, Dad:

My Sister, whom is four years older than me:

And finally, Me:

My parents usually hosted a Christmas party at some point during the season. I often ended up being the one to fetch the beer. Since it is cold in Michigan, our back porch would be the auxiliary freezer and refrigerator for beverages and food. The porch was carpeted and screened. In the winter we put plastic sheeting over the screens to keep out the snow. If there was not enough room in the fridge or freezer to store food during the winter, just cover the dish and set it on the porch. The porch was actually colder than the fridge or freezer anyway. Those that live in warmer climates do not have the luxury of a carpeted walk-in freezer! At least for a few months out of the year, anyway.

So to all I wish a great Christmas day. And I hope you have lovely memories like the ones I have that the pictures above represent.

USA Today Sneaks A Change

2005-12-20T12:38:00.000-08:00

USA Today has changed yesterday's editorial entitled "Hard to be humble" to get rid of an apparently erroneous reference to the Second Amendment.

Yesterday I was reading "Hard to be humble," which to me seems to be a cynical take on President Bush's recent "communications offensive" to garner support for the Iraq war. The dateline of the editorial I read says "Posted 12/19/2005 8:35PM."

I ran across some wording that seemed very strange to me in the sixth paragraph. Sensing that someone at USA Today would catch that and change it, I saved the article as a PDF file so I could compare it today. Below is a screencap of the fifth, sixth, and seventh paragraphs from the PDF file, originally "Posted 12/19/2005 8:35PM." Click for larger version:

Strangely, the first version of the USA Today editorial says that President Bush claims his wiretapping authority comes to him as part of the Second Amendment.

I couldn't believe what I was reading. Where in the world did the President claim that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms has anything at all to do with authorizing wiretapping and surveillance? Obviously, it was a mistake. As mentioned before, I saved a PDF of the editorial, and a link to check back on the editorial at a later time.

Then I read today's version of the editorial, which now has a dateline of "Posted 12/20/2005 12:51PM." Seems that someone caught the error. Below is a screencap of the fifth, sixth, and seventh paragraphs from the PDF file, from the changed editorial, "Posted 12/20/2005 12:51PM." Click for larger version:

The new version simply refers to "the Constitution" and the specific reference to the Second Amendment has been removed.

The question is, how could such an obvious error make its way into an editorial? Surely USA Today has editors, don't they? Moreover, there is no mention at all about the fact that the editorial was changed.

The editorial concludes with the words

So far, though, his [Bush's] style mainly reminds us of the lyrics from the old Mac Davis song: "Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doing the best that I can."

How about showing us a little humility, USA Today, by acknowledging and explaining the change. It may be hard, but just do the best you can.

Presidential Jams

2005-12-15T16:08:00.000-08:00

No, not political jams or the type spread on toast. In a snippet of unrehearsed candor, President Bush describes the musical choices he keeps on his iPod.

Props: Nealnews

iPod photo: Powerpage.org

UPDATE: The link seems a bit dodgy. You might have to try a few times to make it work.

State of Louisiana Emergency Operations Plan

2005-09-06T21:40:00.000-07:00

For those of you that want to dig into the minutiae of the matter, here is the State of Louisiana Emergency Operations Plan Supplement 1A: Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Evacuation and Sheltering Plan. It covers the mass evacuation in the event of a Hurricane. Last revised, January 2000.

A few quotes from the emergency plan:

A catastrophic hurricane is defined as a hurricane in Category 3 Slow (5 mph or less forward speed), and categories 4 or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale of hurricane strength (See Annex A). Hurricanes in Category 1, 2 and 3 Fast, are considered less destructive and can be met through the use of normal emergency preparedness procedures on the part of the Parish and State governments.

The overall strategy for dealing with a catastrophic hurricane is to evacuate as much of the at risk population as possible from the path of the storm and relocate them to a place of relative safety outside the projected high water mark of the storm surge flooding and hurricane force winds.

The Southeastern Region is generally defined as those parishes which have all or a large part of their population east of the Atchafalaya River Basin and south of a line drawn along Interstates 10 and 12 from Baton Rouge, through Hammond to Slidell. The Region includes the parishes of Ascension, Assumption, Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, and Terrebonne (A map is included as Annex B).

The plan prescribes an orderly procedure for the parishes to follow in response to a catastrophic hurricane. It does not replace or supersede any local plans, which are incorporated by reference, nor does it usurp the authority of any local governing body.

and...

The Area is protected by an extensive levee system, but above-normal water levels and hurricane surge could cause levee overtopping or failures.

and...

Many of the Region's emergency shelter facilities may be inundated by floodwaters when threatened by a slow moving Category 3 or above hurricane. Sheltering of evacuees outside of the Region becomes necessary.

and...

The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating. [emphasis added]

and...

Parishes: Conduct and control local evacuation in parishes located in the risk area and manages reception and shelter operations in parishes located in the host area.

School buses lay in flooded areas in Buras, La., on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2005. Hurricane Katrina has caused massive flooding throughout the region. (Gannett News Service, P.C. Piazza/The (Lafayette, La.) Daily Advertiser) [source caption]

Want to bet this emergency plan will be pored over with a fine tooth comb during any investigation?

UPDATE: Captain Ed has more here.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin dreads the idea of another commission

Props: SondraK (pdf), WKYC (pic)

"Totally Incompatible"!

2005-09-06T14:43:00.000-07:00

James Taranto at Opinion Journal has an interesting post regarding the fetid leftist reactions toward a Christian publishing house that wants to donate Bibles to displaced persons from the Hurricane Katrina tragedy.

The post is entitled The Book the Angry Left Loves to Hate (scroll down). The fact that the left hates Bibles is not a surprise to any Christian. Says Taranto: "...it's quite astonishing that the Bible would inspire such hatred, especially from people who supposedly don't believe in it."

Well, that is precisely why it inspires such hatred. Here is a personal anecdote that further illustrates that fact.

Many years ago (about 1988) I went out to Hollywood Boulevard with some friends to share religious tracts. I approached a man carrying an armload of communist party newspapers he was selling. I said to him, "I do not want to buy one of your papers, but I would like to give you this" and I held out a tract to him.

He eyed it warily and asked, "what's that"?

I said, "it is the gospel of Jesus Christ."

He jumped back (both of his feet literally left the ground) and he shouted, "NO! NO! The ideologies are totally incompatible. TOTALLY INCOMPATIBLE!"

Perhaps that can explain the harsh leftist reaction to distributing free Bibles? Unbelief is easy, but denial is hard work.

You can read more on leftists and the Bible at my earlier post on the subject.

Props: Lucianne

The (political) Dating Game

2005-09-04T03:59:00.000-07:00

"Why The Katrina Coverage Made Me Switch To Fox News!" is the title of this article by Lee Ellis of The Post-Chronicle.

In this article, Lee relates a point of law I did not know previously:

"It is against the law for any President to order troops into a city or across state lines without a request and permission from the Governor of that state.

John Armor, a First Amendment lawyer and one of my favorite writers, told me, "Federal law prevents the President from sending in the National Guard until the Governor gives the order. It is little known, but the Commanding General of the National Guard in every state reports to the Governor, not the President, until the Governor says otherwise. U.S. military units (regular Army, not the Guard) cannot be used because of the Posse Comitatus law, until the Guard has been authorized.""

So was it President Bush's fault the troops were not deployed as some feel they should have been?

If your want to see slow, visit this site and check out the dates on the documents at the bottom of the list. Check out the the dates in the documents themselves, not just the date in the links.

The earliest official date on the two Louisiana Governor's Emergency Evacuation by Buses orders. is August 31, 2005. This is apparently an order to move those at the Superdome, as well as other places.

The hurricane hit NOLA on August 29.

Seems a tad late for an emergency order, no? Why wasn't a similar order put into effect before the disaster? It may have prevented this.

More can be found here at Bryan Preston's post on Michelle Malkin's blog.

UPDATE: RightWing Nuthouse has assembled a timeline of events. Check it out.

I swear, if President Bush had shown up like Moses, parted the waters and led the people to safety, the liberals would have sued him for violating the separation of church and state.

UPDATE: Drudge is reporting that, seven weeks prior to the hurricane, Ray Nagin and other officials had ~~warned~~ prepared to warn residents of New Orleans that in the event of a hurricane they would be "on their own" and that the city did not have the resources to "move out of harm's way an estimated 134,000 people without transportation."

UPDATE: The Indispensable Mark Steyn weighs in here on the bus issue, et al.

UPDATE: This is what should have been done witht he buses in New Orleans--before it was too late.

UPDATE: Mayor Nagin praises Bush, Blames Gov. Blanco for Failures in New Orleans. Check out the CNN video link at the bottom of the post at Newsbusters. Seems Bush and Nagin were ready to roll, but Blanco insisted on having an additional 24 hours to make a decision.

UPDATE: Check out this post to see excerpts from the State of Louisiana Emergency Operations Plan. There is also a link to the PDF of the plan.

UPDATE: I would like to extend a cordial welcome to readers of Power Line, and many thanks to Scott for the link.

Props: Lucianne, Drudge MsPfieffer, and Nealenews.

Do You Know This Man?

2005-09-02T01:35:00.000-07:00

When my father passed away in 1990, my mother gave me a large envelope of old family photos. Those photos have languished in a closet until last night when I started scanning them into my computer. Below are two scans of an old photograph from 1955, front and back.

My father wrote on the back of the photo, "This is Wayman Branton with me. He plays quarter back. A good boy! 1955." The front of the photo shows two young men, apparently on a street somewhere in England in 1955. The man on the left is Fred Hanke, my father. The man on the right is identified as Wayman Branton. My father was in the US Air Force at the time, and the photo looks like two Air Force friends in civilian clothes on leave in England. Click on the photos for larger versions.

The front of the photo:

The back of the photo:

I became curious as to whether Mr. Branton is still alive so I can send him a scan of the photo. If you know him or know of him, please contact me at:

impactedwisdomtruth -at- dslextreme.com

Thank you.

UPDATE:

Incredible! While searching for Mr. Branton on the Internet last night, I came across an email address that potentially was a relative of Mr. Branton. I emailed a link to this post to that person, and she responded.

It turns out she is Mr. Branton's granddaughter. I have emailed her two high-resolution scans, one of the front and one of the back of the photo, along with my contact information. She has promised to forward it all to her grandpa. I am truly amazed and incredibly glad. Thank you, Stephanie!

Photos Copyright 2005 by Impacted Wisdom Truth.

Hurricane Katrina Blogburst

2005-08-31T20:39:00.000-07:00

Several blogs are dedicating Thursday to sharing links and information about Hurricane Katrina. Follow the links below to find places to contribute to the relief effort, and post for relatives unaccounted for.

I recommend donating to the Salvation Army

OTHER BLOGPOST DONATION LINKS:

Hugh Hewitt

Instapundit

Michelle Malkin

Craigslist Donations

MISSING PERSONS LINKS:

Craigslist--Post Missing Persons Here

Find Katrina--Post Missing Persons Here

WWL TV--Post Missing Persons Here

ALSO CHECK: WWL's ''I'M OK'' List to search for loved ones

National Next of Kin Registry

Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network

NowPublic Missing Persons Board

CNN's ''Reported Safe'' List

OTHER RELIEF AGENCY CONTACT INFO:

Hurricane Katrina Telephone and Web Resources from WLOX (Mississippi)

BLOG AND NEWS LINKS FOR UPDATES:

Interdictor's Liveblogging from New Orleans

Terry Teachout's Roundup

WWL News Blog--Updates as they come in on Katrina

USA Today Interactive Damage Map, Photos, Videos

WWL LIVE FEED (somewhat intermittent)

Live Scanner Feed (props to Farker MaritimeGirl)

PRAYER REQUEST:

Two friends of mine, Jeanne and Alex, have relatives missing in the region. Jeanne's mother and grandmother are missing in Mississippi, and Alex' grandmother is missing in the New Orleans area. We covet your prayers for the health and safety of those missing family members, and for them to have an opportunity to communicate with their family members here in California.

UPDATE: Jeanne has contacted me to tell me her family is now all accounted for. Please keep praying for Alex' maw maw.

UPDATE2: Saw both Jeanne and Alex last night. Jeanne's family, though all survived, have lost their homes. Alex still has not heard new of his family. This weighs heavily on their hearts, as anyone can imagine. Please keep them in your prayers.

Technorati Tags: flood aid, Hurricane Katrina

AP: Major Developments in Katrina's Aftermath

2005-08-31T16:59:00.000-07:00

From the Associated Press comes this roundup of major developments in the Hurricane Katrina tragedy.

Links in Strange Places

2005-08-26T22:22:00.000-07:00

I periodically check my Site Meter account to see where my visitors come from. Lately I have gotten most of my visitors via Instapundit. In the past few weeks I have received two Instalanches. One was on the topic of Christopher Walken's purported bid in 2008 for President, and the other on President Bush's popularity.

But today I think the reach of Impacted Wisdom Truth reached its apex. I am linked on a comment thread at Air America! Click here to behold this honor. Poster thesnotgreensea posted the URL to my Walken post.

Oh, the glory.

Slam That Spam

2005-08-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

Take control of spam!

For my fellow Blogspot bloggers who are experiencing spam in your comments, a question: do you know about the feature in Blogger known as "Show Word Verification For Comments"?

This blog was getting spam until I enabled the “Show word verification for comments” feature. This Blogspot feature helps eliminate spam.

To enable the feature, go to your Blogger Dashboard>Settings>Comments> Show word verification for comments (dot the “show word verification…” option). Also, make sure you have the "only registered users" option selected for the "Who Can Comment"? option, found on the same page as the "show word verification" option. Allowing anonymous comments is of dubious value and is only an invitation for spam.

Then republish your whole blog.

This adds a feature that requires commenters to type in a string of letters they see displayed in a distorted JPEG of those letters. The spam-bots can read text but cannot read the distorted JPEG. If you want to see what I mean, go to any post on this blog and click on the comments link. Then click “post a comment” and you will see what I mean about the distorted JPEG and the requirement to type in the letters to add a comment.

I have not had one instance of spam since I enabled that feature. Consign that spam to the infernal regions where it belongs.

Singapore Swing Part XII

2005-08-24T01:26:00.000-07:00

The last night I was in Singapore I decided to get lost. No, really--I intentionally got lost.

Singapore is a relatively small island and I felt safe there, so I decided to get away from the hotels and shops. One can take the subway/elevated train to almost anyplace on the island. I had spent the past several days dealing with our customer, eating in the hotel, walking near the hotel, and saw very little of the island itself. So off I went.

I had no plan other than literally to get lost. Oh, I knew I would be fine as long as I stayed within walking distance of the subway/elevated train. I say "subway/elevated train" because the station next to my hotel starts as a subway. Then the train climbs out of the ground and becomes an elevated train where one can view the countryside.

The point is, I had spent all my time around the business district, and saw nothing of the country at large. The hotel, restaurant, and shop personnel in the business district are unfailingly kind to visitors such as myself. But they all knew I was there to spend money. Not to impugn them in any way--that is what they are supposed to do. But I had not rubbed elbows with anyone outside of that bubble. All the pictures in my previous posts, with the exception of Sentosa Island, were all taken within a mile or so of my hotel; places I could get to on foot.

So I jumped on the subway and just let my whims take me to places and off of the subway/train. I achieved my goal, something that I had never experienced before that time, and have never experienced since: for four whole hours, I was the only Caucasian within range of my own eyesight.

Here is a shot of the subway station (click for larger):

The subway stations are kept immaculate. Like, eat off the floor immaculate. The green tint in the photo is caused by the fluorescent lighting in the station.

As I traveled on the train, I was the recipient of many, many stares. Two reasons:

1) Singapore is not America. In America, kids are taught that it is rude to stare at people. Not so in Singapore, apparently. Not that there is any moral absolute governing that particular behavior; it just took me a while to get used to it. As an American, when people stare at me, I wonder what is wrong. Check the front of the shirt and fly; and think, what are they looking at?

2) What they are looking at is a white man out and about where they do not normally see any. I was an oddity. What is he doing here? I had a related experience in Michigan many years ago. I moved to California in 1988, and had spent very little time with people outside my own race. A few years later while visiting my family in my hometown of Battle Creek, Michigan, I made a trip to Meijer Thrifty Acres. I was standing in the dairy section of the store, when I had a sudden strange feeling: something is wrong.

I stopped, looked about, and realized what I was sensing. I was surrounded by people and everyone was Caucasian. After spending a few years in multicultural Los Angeles, I was used to being surrounded by Hispanic people, Asian people, and people of many other different races and cultures. Being in that store surrounded only by Caucasian people felt strange.

But I digress. Here is a picture of the interior of the train on which I made my excursion (click for larger):

I had been traveling for about an hour, just drinking in the sights. The train arrived at one of the main hubs of the subway/train system, and I disembarked there, at a large substation. I had decided to get off the train and follow the crowd to wherever they wandered.

The crowd led me to a bazaar, about a quarter-mile away. The physical arrangement of the bazaar was unlike anything I had seen in America. One walks down a paved sidewalk and then between buildings. On the other side of the buildings is an open courtyard. There were two rows of buildings, with roll-up doors. I would liken it to a self-storage facility in America. Picture two buildings facing each other, with a row of roll-up doors along each building, with a courtyard in between the buildings. The doors were all open, and each "storage space" had a small shop plying various wares.

One shop was selling incense; some selling food; about everything one could think of was available. On my way out of the bazaar, I stopped at a booth near the entrance. There were three teenage kids manning the booth, which was selling good luck charms for the upcoming Chinese New Year. They got quite a kick out of me being there. They were amazed, as were the people on the train, that a Caucasian man was in their neighborhood. The kids spoke perfect English, so communication was not a problem.

I purchased about twenty small trinkets, and they are in the bag that the girl in the photo below is holding. They were inexpensive; I think they were less than twenty-five cents (US) each. I am holding a larger charm, which cost about eight dollars (US). I love the look on the girl's face, with the thumb pointing towards me. You can see the laughter on the faces of her brothers in the background.

The photo:

(I had to host that last picture outside of Blogger. The first two I uploaded to Blogger directly and I apparently exceeded some limit).

Anyway, click here to see a larger version of the picture with the kids at their booth.

The charm that I am holding is below. Click for larger version.

After I made off with my goodies, I returned to the hotel via the train. I slept my last night in Singapore, grateful for the experience. The next morning, I packed, boarded a taxi to the airport, and flew home to Los Angeles by way of Taiwan. I was glad to be home, but the memories of that trip bring a smile to my face to this very day.

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All photos Copyright 2005 by Impacted Wisdom Truth

Updated 1/15/06 to embed charm photo.