NWA Overflight

All of the possibilities of reasonable explanations for what happened on that flight deck that caused NWA #188 to abandon radio contact and fly out over 100 miles into the wild blue yonder seem to have been negated. Except one. Sleeping, arguing, playing with their private computers - all - seem to have been eliminated. The Doser wonders if one of the pilots said something very absorbing to the other pilot as their plane was flying west across Wisconsin. It could have been something like "Tim, there's something that I haven't told you. It's so hard to tell you but it's been just one of those unavoidable things.............."

Another amazing recent development.

There's this position called "positive thinking." The first time The Doser heard about it he thought the proponents were talking about belief in voodoo or magic. But, no, they are otherwise rational people who truly believe that positive thinking will cause "it" to occur. Wishing will make it so. They aren't really talking about prayer - they are talking about sending out good vibes and it will occur.

Slam-Dunk in Afghanistan

Kharzai has been induced to re-stage the Afghan presidential elections. We aren't told by what inducements he was induced. "Statesmanship and willingness to abide by the rule of law" don't seem that realistic. If his election de-frauders are a bit less exuberant, it appears to The Doser that he stands a good chance of being re-installed in the presidential seat.

A Tree-hugging Acorn

Andrew Schlafly, son of Phyllis Schlafly, (you know: anti-feminism, anti-ERA, anti-arms limitation,anti-teaching geography in public schools)has entered modifications to the impositions that he believes liberalism has imposed on reference literature and theology. He has published Conservapedia as a corrective to Wikipedia and is working on a new bible that cleans up the liberal tendencies of the existing Bibles.
The Doser learned about these absurdities from Leonard Pitts Jr's column.

To get an impression of the corrections Schlafly makes is in the long ending of Mark's Gospel, which includes the story of the woman caught in adultery. This incident is not found in most of the oldest Greek manuscripts used to translate the Bible. Schlafly says that the adultery story, in which Jesus says, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her," should be cut because it portrays Jesus as being soft on sin.
"It's a liberal addition, put in by people who wanted to undermine the reality of hell and judgment," he said.

When gas is $10 a litre.

Designed by the University of NSW solar racing team, the solar car Ivy will be a participant in the 3000 Km. Darwin to Adelaide event. There are several other Australian entries. The race will commence October 25th and there are a number of web-sites of participants that are telling, now, about the last-minute preparations of their teams. The Doser is following the University of Michigan entry.

Just a Delivery Glitsch

Nine decapitated bodies were found in an abandoned truck along a road in Guerrero State, Mexico. Casual explanation: murdered in a drug war in Guerrero. More realistic explanation: murdered to decide which criminal group transports our drugs to us. Basic explanation: our US determination to solve our drug problem by conducting a Drug War has resulted in a few more war casualties. The linchpin of the Drug War is Prohibition of Drugs. Yes, we are clinging, again, to the idea of "Prohibition of a Social Evil." This time, however, the absurdity of such a stance is being played out, additionally, in the bed of a pick up in Guerrero. The Doser.

Double crossers double-dipping.

The AIG big-wigs that led their company, and our country, into this economic mess are now double-dipping! They are providing themselves with additional large bonuses. What they are doing is paying themselves twice for contributing to our mess. Even The Doser, who got fairly calloused to nastiness during the George W. Bush administration, is outraged.

Unrelated events.

It appears the US troops have been experiencing weapon-failures - their own weapons. The Doser is not cynical enough to make the connection between the failure of our weaponry and the request by the military for additional troops.

What we are doing.

In better moments, The Doser is of the opinion that both the government and the military have had aims in Afghanistan/Pakistan. In moments of giddy elation, The Doser is of the opinion that each knew the other's aims. In his most uninhibited imagination state The Doser is of the opinion that they will, soon, share their aims with us folks. If part of that process is achieved, they, and we, will know what we are trying for and what it takes to succeed at it.

Untitled.

US forces in Afghanistan take a very heavy hit. The Doser admonishes: You are NOT to be that cynical.

What goes around comes around.

The ΠΑΣΟΚ party of George Papandreos II was just selected in an election which means he will hold the Greek prime ministry as did his father, Andreas Papandreos I, and grand-father, George Papandreos I. He replaces the scion of the Karamanlis political dynasty, Kostas Karamanlis, whose uncle Konstantine Karamanlis founded the defeated party. ΠΑΣΟΚ back "in" - replacing ΝΔ. Greece seems slow to bring fresh political figures into the arena.

Not obligatory to prove Mr. Bumble correct.

It is illegal in our Western Culture for a 46 year old man to have to do sexually with a 13 year old woman. (The reference being made is to the crime confessed to by Roman Polanski regarding his sexual conduct with Samantha Geimer.) Clearly there were places in the world where the age disparity between them was not considered a matter of illegality. Perhaps,also, her lack of consent was a legal and not an actual circumstance. It is therefore arguable that the act itself may not have been wrong in an abstract, non-legal, sense. "Wrong" is not as cut-and-dried as "illegal." In thinking it over, The Doser thinks it may well have been wrong because of the imposition implicit in the disparity of their social positions at the time. But, now, thirty years have gone by! Add to the passage of time the circumstance that the now-43 year old woman has been asking the authorities to drop the charges against the now-76 year old man. Ignore the make-weight issue that he's a very productive movie-maker. Putting aside the fact that many people do not agree with Mr. Bumble and believe that what is "illegal" is "wrong." The Doser asserts that a wrong is not made right by the passage of time - but, in this case, opines that it has been made ignorable.

Ardi

A new set of humanoid relatives has been found in Ethiopia! They were living there about 4.4 million years ago. The educated people of the world are awed - and exhilarated - by this find. The un-educated will simply add it, facilely, to their accumulation of disbeliefs. Amazing!

That War in Afghanistan

The Oregonian says * that a majority of the Pakistanis are not in favor of giving aid to the US troops fighting the Taliban, Al Quida, and others,in Afghanistan. Coupled with the fact that our expectation for assistance in that program from the Afghanis seems, justifiably, low. Add to that the fact that an understood objective (to catch Osama bin Ladin) is unlikely since he can slip over a mountain pass into a friendly area any time he's threatened. All in all, The Doser opines that it is time that we state more clearly our goals in that eight-year war and decide whether to do what is necessary to achieve our them, or to get out. (* You have to trust The Doser that it says that if you don't have The Oregonian in its concretized paper before you.)

Better way?

The Oregonian reports, this morning, * that bicycle delivery of packages and tools by some businesses is being done. How could this excellent principle be applied to broad-scale delivery of goods and packages? The way it is now, for example, UPS has a large number of heavy trucks with truck-drivers driving and delivering packages to individual addresses. The Doser wonders: What if zones about the size that could be covered (with average daily package transport into that area) by a bicyclist in, say, four or five hours? Trucks would deliver to depots in those zones during the night - when they can get around the city easily - and college student cyclists would deliver them in their local areas during the day. (* It did say that but you need a paper entry to read it for yourself.)