Brushfighters . . .

Let the Resource Wars begin

This little gem caught my eye the other day . . .

Putin signals end to overseas ownership of Russian energy

Foreign energy companies will be welcome in future as subcontractors but not as owners in Russia’s energy industry, the Kremlin signalled yesterday as Gazprom moved closer towards wresting control of Sakhalin-2, the giant Siberian gas project, from Royal Dutch Shell.

Taken from - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5-2499998,00.html

But the Russians are our friends, right? There's plenty of gas for everyone . . . right?

More to come, I'm sure . . .

They stole my idea - that never happens in Hollywood

Ok - so Cheese and I were driving around Austin, and I was trying to convince him that it would be a great idea to start some buzz with the swells, hire some ex-Hollywood talent (think 1970s TV stars - after all you can hire Pedro for your party for a mere $2k), and create a fake play, musical, etc. to raise some money for the cause (that is the cause of us not having to have real jobs).

I thought it would be a good idea - fake sell-out a few shows - and then have a "final performance" where you'd sell out the place and make off with the dough. It'd be a lot of effort on the front end (unless we could hire the homeless and/or disenfrachised to make all of the playbills), but there could be some money there. I'd just need to get my hands on one of those offshore accounts. Apparently, The Spanish Prisoner taught me that it really isn't that hard to do.

So what happens, but a few days later I am reading Drudge and I find this:

Producer Sentenced In Fraud Case Regarding Bogus TV Show

LOS ANGELES -- A sometime-producer who fleeced investors out of millions of dollars by claiming he was creating a television series based on the Department of Homeland Security was sentenced Monday to one year in prison.

The term imposed on Joseph Medawar, 44, is less than a quarter of what prosecutors had sought.

U.S. District Judge Manuel Real said the sentence was designed so Medawar -- who spent his victims' investments on such expenses as a $40,000-per-month rented mansion for the bogus series' supposed leading lady -- can begin earning the money he will need if he is to make the court-ordered restitution of $3.46 million to his victims. Under the judge's order, that amount could be reduced by roughly $1 million if the losses cannot be verified.

Taken from - http://www.nbc4.tv/news/10462291/detail.html?rss=la&psp=news

Ok - so not exactly the same idea, but close enough. And for $3.46 million dollars, I think he could have bought a nice villa somewhere sunny and quiet . . .

Hmm . . . maybe it would have been better as a screenplay?

Well Finally!

A few years ago I read an article (well, a graph if you want to be technical) in Wired Magazine about the plans NASA had made in the 1960s for the future missions of the agency. Needless to say, they may have been a little high on themselves coming off of the recent Apollo missions because it was being compared side-by-side to the actual accomplishments by the agency in the year's since we've had the right stuff.

I'll just say that it is about time we are seeing the word "Moon Camp" in the news without it referring to a mass wedding somewhere. Ok - I know, that was way too obscure.

NASA Says It Will Set Up Polar Moon Camp

WASHINGTON - NASA announced Monday it will establish an international base camp on one of the moon's poles, permanently staffing it by 2024, four years after astronauts return to the moon.

It is a sweeping departure from the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and represents a new phase of space exploration after space shuttles are retired in 2010.

After consulting more than 1,000 experts from 14 different countries, NASA decided on what deputy NASA chief Shana Dale called a "fundamental lunar approach" that is sharply different from its previous moon missions in nearly everything but the shape of the ship going there.
NASA chose a "lunar outpost" over the short expeditions of the '60s. Apollo flights were all around the center of the moon, but NASA decided to go to the moon's poles because they are best for longer- term settlements. And this time NASA is welcoming other nations on its journey.

The more likely of the two lunar destinations is the moon's south pole because it's sunlit for three-quarters of the time, making solar power easier, and has possible resources to mine in dark areas nearby, said associate deputy administrator Doug Cooke.

To get to the moon, NASA envisions an all-purpose lunar lander that could touch down anywhere and can be the first part of a base camp, said exploration chief Scott Horowitz.
"The nickname I use for the lander is, it's a pickup truck," Horowitz said in a Monday news conference from Houston. "You can put whatever you want in the back. You can take it to wherever you want. So you can deliver cargo, crew, do it robotically, do it with humans on board. These are the types of things we're looking for in this system."

Also - Why The Moon? - http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/mmb/why_moon.html

Taken from - http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/12/04/D8LQ8TKO0.html

Now let's dig-up that monolith and get going to Europa!

Anarchism is usually synonymous with atheism, of which, I am obviously very opposed. It's a fine line I walk.

- Citizen Cain

Man vs. Wild - To the Extreme . . .

Apparently Les Stroud's Survivorman was a little to tame (and honest) for the viewing public as now we have something to fill the needed gap between the hokey "Survivor" and Stroud's humble and realistic take on making it in the out-of-doors.

In Man vs. Wild, seasoned adventurer Bear Grylls strands himself in popular wilderness destinations where tourists often find themselves stranded or in danger. Once there, he finds his way back to civilization, demonstrating localized survival techniques along the way, including escaping quicksand in the Moab desert, navigating dangerous river currents in Costa Rica, building a snow shelter in the Alps and spearing fish in Hawaii.

Ok, so here is my problem - and don't get me wrong - I love survivial shows - I just don't like the whole idea of a person being "against nature" in some sort of struggle to the death.

Nature isn't cruel or out to get us. Nature just is. And in the end, nature always wins.

Among turn of the century naturalists there were two different schools of thought - the "let's cut it all down and make it comfortable" and the "let's learn from the Indians how to live gracefully off the land." I've read both kinds of books and though Francis Buzzacot's illustration of how to make a table out of the stump of a downed tree is indeed very clever, it is the later type of outdoors guides that we can really learn from.

"We do not go to the green woods and crystal waters to rough it, we go to smooth it."
- Nessmuk (George Washington Sears)

Go check out the Man vs. Wild site on Discovery.com -
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/manvswild/manvswild.html

Paintball this weekend at Miller Ranch - Saturday, December 23rd

I know, I know - it's Christmas Eve-Eve, but I wanted to get one last chance to play before we all get smacked by the Yule log of seasonal happiness.

Let me know who can play and also if you'll need to borrow gear. We have a few guests already signed up, so let me know very soon if you need a loaner marker.

We'll plan on getting started right at 10am, so arrive with the time you need to get set-up. We may try to do some campaign-style games, so make sure to bring a backpack/rucksack/duffle and portable water source(s).

This will be the last game of 2006. Our next game is likely going to be January 6th - but we'll discuss more as we get closer to 2007.

Why we don't let kids play paintball

We've caught some flak in the past for our "no kids" rule.

Some of it has to do with the maturity of the player.

Some of it has to do with the size of the impact in relation to overall body mass . . .

Oops - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5DQdxX6ttU

Paintball this weekend in Dripping Springs

We are playing this Saturday, December 9th at 10am in Dripping Springs.

We'll plan on getting started right at 10am, so arrive with the time you need to get set-up. We may try to do some campaign-style games, so make sure to bring a backpack/rucksack/duffle and portable water source(s).

For more info on campaign style, check out this blog from a previous game:
http://www.orionfoundation.org/2006/10/some-thoughts-on-campaign-style-games.html

Let me know who can make it out, especially if you are playing as a guest and you need to borrow gear - space is limited!

We got a little off schedule with the Thanksgiving weekend game, so I'd like to run the game this weekend and then maybe have the next game on December 23rd. I know that may be hard for some folks since it is so close to the holidays, but it would also give Stephen and Michael a chance to play since they'll both be in town.

So show the love and make it happen. :)