Updates from October, 2008 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • adam 11:16 on 2008/10/16 Permalink
    Tags: , , , blink, , , , john, johnmccain, , morse code, morsecode, , , , pow   

    Morse code, anyone? 

    I don’t recall why or when, but I used eBay to sell off my Bakelite Morse code telegraph key (very much like this one). I honestly don’t even remember WHY I had it – I just did. It was cool, especially since it also had the Morse code “key” right on it – making it easy to learn.
    I regret never learning Morse code. Sure, I know SOS (… — …) but that’s it. It was like French in high school – seductive, alluring, but out of my reach for reasons I didn’t understand. I understand now, but thanks to the internet, I don’t need to learn it.
    .- … -.- / .- -. -.. / –. — — –. .-.. . / .– .. .-.. .-.. / .–. .-. — …- .. -.. . .-.-.-
    But the point of this post? John McCain. If you’ve watched him in the debates recently, you might have noticed the same thing I did: he blinks. A lot.
    If you think about John’s service to this country – something that might have come up at some point in this election season – you’ll find that he was a POW. And one of the things that POW’s were often made to do – by coercion or even by simply breaking them – was to record a propagandized “confession.” In some cases, such as Jeremiah Denton, they were able to use Morse code to send a message to people watching the video. John McCain made one such message, although it apparently didn’t include a “secret” message.
    I bring this up because of the blinking. Is John McCain sending us all a message? There’s hours of footage of him talking, both at debates and just doing stump speeches and campaign stops. Does anyone have the time to look at a video or two and see if there’s a pattern? If we can get a “transcript” of his blinks, perhaps we can figure out his message to his “friends”….
    Interestingly, when I was writing this, a Google search on the terms “morse code pow film” and the first result was “Film Shows McCain’s Release as POW.” There is also a forum post on Snopes that discusses McCain possibly using Morse code during his propaganda film – apparently he didn’t.
    Over on Democratic Underground they discuss his blinkiness – and someone mentions Morse code there. They seem to be joking about it, but I don’t see any evidence out there that anyone has done any actual checking on this.
    Leaving the politics out of this for the moment, I think it’s an interesting challenge: look at his blinks and see if he’s sending a message – consciously or sub-consciously. While we’re at it, we could take a look at Barack Obama’s blinks, just to make things far.
    Anyone up for the challange?

     

  • adam 23:24 on 2008/10/03 Permalink
    Tags: 06460, , el tigre, house, nature,   

    Unlike my children I have no problems with… 

    eltigre.jpgUnlike my children, I have no problems with bugs – if they’re outside, I’m in their space, if they’re inside, their in mine. In the first case, I swat to get away, in the second I seek and destroy.
    Spiders, on the other hand, are another issue. When I can, I escort them out of the house, and if they’re outside then I leave them be. Except for El Tigre.
    I had seen this abnormally large spider around the back yard for a few days in various spots – by the swings, by the small kids toy shed, and then most recently – and in his current spot – by the back porch light. His position was actually pretty good – not in my way, and since I knew he was there, I could try to not disturb him. And that was fine.
    Until I realized he was right underneath the porch light. The night I noticed him, I decided to throw him a bone in the form of leaving the porch light on longer than normal. Like for six hours. The moths loved it, but not as much as El Tigre – he had quite a feast that night. As you can see from the photo there, he’s in the middle of working on a little snack.
    I took this photo about two weeks ago, and since then his web has been destroyed and then recreated more than a couple of times – mostly due to varying bits of rainfall.
    When my sons Cub Scout Den came for our first meeting, I made a point of bringing them outside to check him out – they all got a kick out of him. Abby doesn’t like him too much, but Ethan likes to take a stool to the back door and try to look out and see what he’s doing – I think he considers El Tigre to be like the puppy that we refuse to buy him…

     

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