Sixty Years

A WWII soldier frozen in the Sierra Nevada...

Earlier this week, a couple of hikers on Mt. Mendel (in the Kings Canyon area of the Sierra Nevadas) found the frozen body of a soldier in the ice just below the peak. Mt. Mendel is the righthand peak in the photo; click on it for a larger view. From the San Jose Mercury-News:

A glacier-encased body believed to be a World War II airman who crashed into the Sierra Nevada in 1942 was flown off the mountain and into a Fresno laboratory for identification, the county's deputy coroner said Thursday.

Blustery conditions kept rangers at Kings Canyon National Park from reaching the frozen remains for two days after two ice climbers reported last weekend they had seen a man's head, shoulder and arm protruding from the thick ice. About 80 percent of the body was buried in the glacier on the side of the 13,710-foot Mount Mendel. The remote wilderness area can only be reached by hiking two or three days, or by helicopter when the weather allows, rangers said.

More information on this unusual event here, here, and here.

A Little Girl and a Bullet

One of the infinite ways that war is hell...

Thunder6 at "365 and a Wakeup" is always a powerful writer. Recently he posted about a little girl accidentally shot in a battle. An awful thing, and reading the beginning of his story you'd think that it would have a dismally sad ending. But it does not — not only is the ending a happy one, but it illustrates the best of our soldiers. An excerpt from the middle, where we pick up the story right after the little girl is struck by the wayward bullet:

But she wasn’t left alone. Instead her father picked up his beloved daughter and carried her trembling form out into the dusty street. As he stumbled outside the door, blinded by the agony only a parent can know, his movements were tracked by two sets of practiced eyes. Those eyes belonged to our two battle seasoned medics, who had heard the painful cacophony and leapt to action as surely as if someone had bellowed out their names. The medics assessed the situation in less then a second, and then without pause they both set out at a dead sprint. In those first terrible seconds they recognized how grave the girls condition was, and passing the information to one of our platoon sergeants. While they struggled to stabilize their patient the little girl continued emptying her precious life into the street. As the medics labored under the harsh light of their LED flashlights, SSG Rock was making coordinations with a MEDEVAC helicopter for immediate pickup. Fortunately they didn’t have to wait long.

Read the whole thing; bring some kleenex with you, though. Do we have a wonderful bunch of soldiers or what?

Winning Pictures

Prize wildlife photos...

In a British Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest, the photo at far right has won the overall prize. The photo to its left, and several others at the link above, are the winners in several categories (in this case, "Animals in Their Environment").

The BBC's article starts with this:

A swirling image of a peregrine falcon sweeping into a flock of starlings has won Manuel Presti this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year award.

The Italian caught the action scene, titled Sky Chase, high above a city park in Rome.

"Sky chase is a powerful image and, like it or not, it's one that you will never forget," said Mark Carwardine, one of this year's judges.

The competition has become one of the most prestigious in world photography.

It is organised by BBC Wildlife Magazine and London's Natural History Museum. This year brought 17,000 entries from over 55 countries.

Wander on over there and gaze at the pictures of some really talented photographers. Click on either of these photos for a larger view.

The Statue

Unfortunately, yet another "urban legend"...

The photo at right has been widely distributed by email; I've received several copies of it from various people. The accompanying text makes a compelling and moving story, calculated to get you all riled up about the mainstream media:

This statue currently stands outside the Iraqi palace, now home to the 4th Infantry division. It will eventually be shipped home and put in the memorial museum in Fort Hood, Texas.

The statue was created by an Iraqi artist named Kalat,who for years was forced by Saddam Hussein to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam that dotted Baghdad.

Kalat was so grateful for the Americans liberation of his country;he melted 3 of the heads of the fallen Saddamand made the statue as a memorial to the American soldiersand their fallen warriors. Kalat worked on this memorial night and day for several months.

To the left of the kneeling soldier is a small Iraqi girl giving the soldier comfort as he mourns the loss of his comrade in arms.

Do you know why we don't hear about this in the news? Because it is heart warming and praise worthy. The media avoids it because it does not have the shock effectthat a flashed breast or controversy of politics does.

Trouble is, it's just not true. At least, it's not true in some of the important details. Here's a couple of excerpts from the Snopes article, but do read the whole thing:

Origins: The sculture pictured above is real, and it was indeed crafted by an Iraqi sculptor from bronze recovered by melting down statues of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, but the explanatory text accompanying the photo is quite misleading: The Iraqi sculptor was not "forced by Saddam Hussein to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam," he did not produce the memorial shown because he was "so grateful that the Americans liberated his country," and the monument was not his idea. Members of the U.S. Army paid the sculptor, who had previously worked on a few other Saddam statues, to create the work pictured according to a design of their choosing.

The officers didn't question Mr. Alussy further about his political views. Had they pressed him, they might have learned that he's harshly critical of the U.S. and bitter over an American rocket attack during the war that killed his uncle. In an interview, he says he thinks the war was fought for oil and holds the U.S. responsible for the violence and unemployment that have plagued Iraq since.

I wish I understood why people feel compelled to twist reality in this fashion. There are more than enough real reasons to be contemptuous of the mainstream media; there's no need to make them up...

Time to Duck

A big city lawyer went duck hunting in rural Tennessee. He shot and dropped a bird, but it fell into a farmer’s field on the other side of a fence.

As the lawyer climbed over the fence, an elderly farmer drove up on his tractor and asked him what he was doing.

The litigator responded, “I shot a duck and it fell in this field, and now I’m going to retrieve it."

The old farmer replied, “This is my property, and you are not coming over here."

The indignant lawyer said, “I am one of the best trial attorneys in the United States and, if you don’t let me get that duck, I’ll sue you and take everything you own.

The old farmer smiled and said, “Apparently, you don’t know how we settle disputes in Tennessee. We settle small disagreements like this with the “Three Kick Rule."

The lawyer asked, “What is the Three Kick Rule?"

The Farmer replied, “Well, because the dispute occurs on my land, first I kick you three times and then you kick me three times and so on back and forth until someone gives up."

The attorney quickly thought about the proposed contest and decided that he could easily take the old codger. He agreed to abide by the local custom.

The old farmer slowly climbed down from the tractor and walked up to the attorney. His first kick planted the toe of his heavy steel toed work boot into the lawyer’s groin and dropped him to his knees. His second kick to the midriff sent the lawyer’s last meal gushing from his mouth. The lawyer was on all fours when the farmer’s third kick to his rear end sent him face-first into a fresh cow pie.

The lawyer summoned every bit of his will and managed to get to his feet.

Wiping his face with the arm of his jacket, he said, “Okay. Now it’s my turn."

To which, the old farmer smiled and said, “Naw, I give up. You can have the duck."

Pumpkin Cat

The cat o'lantern...

But how did he get in there?

Sold!

What your cats do when you're away from home...

I can think of at least three of our cats who would do this if they could!