The one shown here has an optional light, for nighttime operations -- which could be very handy.

Records indicate Hasan bought the FN 5.7 at store called Guns Galore in Killeen, Texas, well before the attack that left 13 people dead. The pistol has been dubbed a "cop killer" by those who have tried to stop its use.

More at Wikipedia.

The Five-Seven is supplied with 20 round magazines, or 10 round magazines where restricted by law. A 30 round magazine (or 10 round magazine extension) is also available, protruding 1.75 inches from the base of the weapon. The Five-Seven magazine is constructed of polymer and contrary to conventional pistol magazines, feeds from double feed lips similar to the magazine of a submachine gun such as the Heckler & Koch MP5. This makes it very easy to load individual cartridges into the magazine.

That's a very pretty gun. I wouldn't mind getting one. Any idea how much they cost?

Being a big fan of R. Crumb, both as an artist and as a musician (I love the Cheap Suit Serenaders), I've been really anxious to pick up a copy of his recently published take on the book of Genesis. I got it last night, and I'm really enjoying it.

This morning, partly because it's what I listen to, and partly because it's what R. Crumb listens to, I started thinking of old time tunes that relate to the book of Genesis.

A few people contributed, including myself. Then I had a clever brainstorm and posted a second comment:

And then there's one tune that summarizes the entire book: "Fly Around My Pretty Little Myth."

It's only funny if you're familiar with an old-time tune called "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss." In any case, nine minutes later, a moderator closed the thread.

The Banjo Hangout doesn't allow religious posts, unless they are pro-religion. As an example, take a look at this one, about a tune called Baptist Shout. The original poster asked about the origins of this tune. The first reply was:

I love this tune as well. Great melody line and as believers in CHRIST, theres alot to "shout" about concerning this new life and the one to come.

I made this reply, and was accused of being intolerant:

C'mon Rob. Save it for church. I come here for banjos, not religion.

The Banjo Hangout is a great forum, but they sure don't enforce the rules consistently.

1. Paper money debt enslaves you to something other than God.
2. Valuing paper money is an act of idolatry.
3. "In God we trust" takes the Lord's name in vain.
4. The sabbath debt forgiveness times are ignored.
5. Lack of honest standards dishonors our parents.
6. Paper money has funded mass murder; two world wars.
7. Lenders, usurers, are committing spiritual adultery.
8. Paper money and banking is institutionalized theft.
9. Paper money requires a mountain of false testimony.
10. Paper money is supported by greed and covetousness.

So sayeth Jason Hommel who, coincidentally enough, deals in gold and silver.

Would you trust someone who wears an orange tie with a green shirt?

(via There, I Fixed It)

"We wanted to remind people how the soup they love more than any other is full of the stuff they love most," Eric Christianson, business director- Campbell's condensed soups, said in a statement.

Here's one of her creations, which can be yours for $36,000:

The bag of Oreo Cookies is carved out of Marble and hand painted. The oreo cookies are cast in resin and hand painted. Price includes a custom build pedestal with a rotating base and a lucite cover case for public display. Does not include, crating, shipping and sales tax.

If that's too expensive, perhaps you'd like this nice limestone boot (only $9,500):

A 22-year veteran kindergarten teacher in the Texas Bible Belt could lose her job for refusing, on religious grounds, to give fingerprints under a state law requiring them.

The evangelical Christian, Pam McLaurin, is fighting a looming suspension, claiming that fingerprinting amounts to the "Mark of the Beast," and hence is a violation of her First Amendment right to practice her religion. Her case is similar to a lawsuit by a group of Michigan farmers, some of them Amish, challenging rules requiring the tagging of livestock with RFID chips, saying the devices are also the devil's mark.

More:

Her attorney, Scott Skelton, said his client believes that the computerized fingerprinting, in which her fingerprints will be stored in a database, is the mark addressed in Revelation. The teacher does not believe that it is merely coincidence that Revelation says only those with the ‘mark on his forehead or on his hand' will be able to buy or sell, since only those teachers who comply with fingerprinting requirements will keep their jobs, he said.

This visage is the mask of the Albert Einstein robot developed by Hanson Robotics.

Watch a video of Einstein the robot.

Find out how people see your website, photo or ad and which areas are getting most of the attention. This artificial intelligence service simulates human vision during the first 5 seconds of exposure to visuals

(Thanks Mart)

Very nice music. Donations are accepted.

All proceeds from this CD will be donated by UR Music to Direct Aid Iraq -  - in support of its heroic efforts to restore hope for the tens of thousands of Iraqi children whose lives have been devastated by violence, whether through the loss of home or family or through injury and disability.

(Thanks Curtis)

It's a device used by the Alcor Life Extension Foundation.

Bigfoot Dewars are Alcor's primary patient care system. Dewars are stainless steel vacuum-insulated containers that hold liquid nitrogen (named after their inventor, Sir James Dewar, in 1885). Alcor's Dewars are called "Bigfoot" because of the large casters at the bottom. Each Bigfoot can hold four wholebody patients, or 10 neuropatients in each space that would otherwise be occuppied by a whole body patient.

A neuropatient, I think, consists of only a head.

Patients are maintained at a steady temperature of -196 degrees Celsius, immersed under liquid nitrogen, with no need for electricity. Approximately 15 liters of liquid nitrogen per day evaporates from a Bigfoot Dewar, which must be periodically replenished.

From their FAQ:

Q: Is it moral to deprive children of their inheritance?

A: A couple with two children that chooses cryonics is splitting their wealth four ways. A couple that chooses to have four children instead of cryonics is still splitting their wealth four ways. Since there is no moral outcry against couples having four children instead of two (thereby depriving their eldest children of a larger inheritance) there should be no moral concern about families choosing cryonics.

Q: What happens to the soul?

A: Humans have been successfully cryopreserved and revived as embryos. The state of the soul of a cryopreserved person would seem to be one of quiescent waiting.

Q: What is the Christian view of cryonics?

A: Cryonics is strongly consistent with the pro-life views of Christianity and other religions that value the sanctity of human life.

Mgr John Esseff, retired exorcist of the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, told an audience of 400 students at Bowling Green State University, Ohio that the power of Jesus within them was "enormous".

He said: "The devil is afraid of you - if you would just awaken to who you are."

Mgr Esseff said that each baptised person was united to Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. He read passages from the Gospels in which Jesus exorcised demons and then sent his disciples to do the same.

He said that Jesus ultimately defeated Satan through his death and Resurrection and then sent the power of the Holy Spirit to his Apostles at Pentecost.

"When God looks down, he sees Jesus in you," Mgr Esseff said. "Your soul is a battlefield because there is also someone who hates you," he said. "That one is the devil."

It's amazing how people just make stuff up. Even more amazing is the fact that others believe them.
Comments | Posted in Religion]]> 2009-11-06T14:25:15Z http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/posts/peace_prize_rules/ General A reasonable question:

Question: How many countries do you have to be at war with to be disqualified from receiving the Nobel Peace Prize?

Answer: Five. Barack Obama has waged war against only Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. He's holding off on Iran until he actually gets the prize.

(via Foolish Gadgets)

It appears to be an inside job -- shooters are victims are all military.

If anyone is interested, here are the details (left to right):

• 1880 H.C. Dobson Silver Bell
• No-name banjo uke
• No-name 1890s banjo, spunover rim
• Chuck Lee 12" Prairieville Vintage
• Jason Burns #11, with Dobson tone ring
• No-name banjo uke
• John Bowlin 1865 fretless
• Gourd Banjo #1 from Bisbee Banjo Works
• Ramsey Special 12"
• Jeff Menzies 14" Gourd
• Doc's Banjos 12" custom
• Jason Romero 11" custom
• Old Whyte Laydie 11" / Lo Gordon Neck

An Oklahoma couple driving home from church hit an animal - a really big one.

An elephant that escaped from a nearby circus collided with the couple's SUV Wednesday night when it ran across a rural highway in Enid, about 100 miles north of Oklahoma City.

Police say the 29-year-old elephant had escaped earlier that night from the Family Fun Circus at the Garfield County Fairgrounds. The couple weren't injured in the crash, but police say the elephant had a broken tusk and an injured leg.

That's the photo that accompanies the article. It might be the actual elephant, but that vehicle certainly isn't an SUV.
Comments | Posted in General]]> 2009-11-05T21:02:44Z http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/posts/two_million_attend_tea_party/ General Well, not quite two million, but it was a big tea party: Thousands rally against Dems' health insurance reforms.

Chanting "Kill the Bill, Kill the Bill," thousands of people are rallying this afternoon at the U.S. Capitol, protesting Democrats' health-care legislation and blaming Washington for a host of perceived ills from high taxes to government bailouts.

GOP organizers of the "Hands Off Our Health Care" rally planned the show of opposition hoping to diminish chances that Democrats can muster sufficient support in a vote on the long-debated legislation that could take place as early as Saturday.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., a rally organizer and crowd favorite, asserted that "Speaker Pelosi is poised with her health-care bill to take over 18 percent of the economy."

Actor Jon Voight, among celebrities on the dais, deployed strong language in rebuking President Barack Obama. "President Obama has his own obsession about trying to ram this health care bill through to create a socialist America," he said.

Jim Stevens says he's not particularly religious and is clueless about why an image resembling Jesus Christ keeps appearing on his pickup.

Stevens - of Jonesborough - says nearly every morning, an image that looks to him like the face of Jesus Christ has appeared in the condensation on the driver's side window of his Isuzu truck.

Stevens said when he first saw the image, he figured it would evaporate and not return. But it kept reappearing for two weeks now. Stevens said folks at the grocery store he goes to were amazed to see the image.

He says he isn't going to wash the truck for a while.

I wouldn't either.

(via Unreasonable Faith, where Daniel Florien posits a sticker residue theory)

For 27 months, Ian Fisher, his parents and friends, and the U.S. Army allowed Denver Post reporters and a photographer to watch and chronicle his recruitment, induction, training, deployment, and, finally, his return from combat.

There are 83 photos, and here's #12:

Ted Haggard, who started New Life Church in his Colorado Springs basement and built it into a megachurch with thousands of worshippers, said Wednesday that he is starting a church at his home.

"We wanted to do something in our house to connect with friends," said Haggard, whose ties to New Life ended in scandal three years ago with the revelation that he'd been involved with a male prostitute in Denver.

Haggard will hold his first gathering, open to the public, at 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at his house at 1865 Old Ranch Road. He referred to it as a "prayer meeting" but said it would also be correct to call it a church.

Some people are just born to be church leaders. They like those tax benefits.

Although Haggard recently indicated he had no plans to start a church, he said he changed his mind two weeks ago after talking to a friend in Florida who was involved in prayer meetings.

Note to Banjo Brad and wormpicker: From now on, our Wednesday night music sessions at my house will be known as "church service." You no longer need to tell your wives that you are going to a poker game.

Can you feel the excitement?