Land Leeches? Leeches on LAND?!

GAH!!

Once confined to mountainous areas that Japanese people had the good sense to stay away from, land-dwelling leeches are making their way into populated areas hitch-hiking on deer and wild boar.

Once there, the leeches, which measure in at about 1.5 cms before a meal, take to feasting on warm human flesh.

Warm. Human. Flesh.

If they go for the brains you've got yourself a real problem there Japan.

"Yamabiru will climb into people's socks and stay for about an hour, growing five to 10 times in size. Unlike with water leeches, people don't immediately realise they've been bitten. Only later when they see their blood-soaked feet, do they realise what has happened," said Shigekazu Tani, the institute's director.

The dreaded Yamabiru.

"The real problem is that the bleeding won't stop and the affected area swells up and really itches," he added.

GAH!!

Tani, the Director for the Institute of Environmental Culture suggests the best way to deal with the little suckers is to clear out kill zones around villages by cutting down trees and mowing grass, exposing them to sunlight and death.

Do whatever it takes to defeat this menace Japan. Whatever it takes.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 05:36 AM | Comments (42)
Post contains 215 words, total size 2 kb.

On Leno just a little bit ago. (Actually, hours ago.)

Someone was nice enough to upload the Leno appearance.

This next segment may seem screwed up, but it's how it played on TV. They broke out of commercials too late and the show was already running. So they start in the middle of this bumper sticker bit. I think the second bumper sticker could make an awesome slogan:

He looks kind of frail and is definitely not bringing the rock star quality I had hoped for. Too think, and the thinness ages him. If he lost weight to run for president, he might want to think about adding back a few gravitas pounds.

What's up with him nervously slapping his hand on his thigh? How can this guy not be comfortable in front of an audience yet?

On the other hand, just in a camera shot, he's a lot better.

Anyway, glad he's in. The race has been kind of frozen until now as people refrained from committing to another candidate to see about Fred. Now we'll see either way.

Incidentally, Frank Luntz's poll group thought overwhelmingly that McCain won the debate. And a lot of people didn't like Giuliani, though I thought it was a pretty good performance.

They knocked him for relentlessly touting the New York City renaissance. "What else is there?" one woman asked. Well, geeze, it is his biggest accomplishment and his tenure as mayor ended just six years ago. It's not like he's living in Vietnam like John Kerry.

Debate Summary: By Hollowpoint--

This was the best debate so far by a wide margin. Allow me to summarize:

Fred isn't here! Fred hasn't declared yet!

Rudy: New York City! 9/11! New York City! 9/11! New York City! 9/11! New York City! 9/11! New York City!

Romney: I don't know if the surge is working or not, but if it does I support it until I pull the troops out!

McCain: It's not really amnesty, its just sorta like amnesty!

Huckabee: Illegals are people too!

Brownback: You're getting sleepy. Veeery sleeeepy.

Ron Paul: I AM A RAGING MOONBAT LUNATIC! IRAN WANTS TO BE OUR FRIEND! THEY WILL PLAY NICE WITH ISRAEL!

Tancredo: I will eat the souls of our enemies, waterboard their children and illegals will be flogged, beaten, deported, brought back and beaten again!

That's about right.

JackStraw's pissed at people for not mentioning Romney. Well, look here Old Boy: What should anyone say? He didn't perform all that well I didn't think; he seemed pretty slippery on questions about Iraq. And not even gracefully slippery. Kind of clumsy and transparent about it. I always get the feeling he's trying to put one past me, and worse yet, he's not even clever enough to do a decent job of it.

If he wins, sure I'll support him.

Posted by: Ace at 08:13 PM | Comments (68)
Post contains 484 words, total size 4 kb.

Thanks to Johnny Goobers.

Posted by: Ace at 05:35 PM | Comments (9)
Post contains 22 words, total size 1 kb.

Remember, no matter what happens, none of this matters.

Posted by: Ace at 04:57 PM | Comments (147)
Post contains 13 words, total size 1 kb.

Here’s a little salad to chew on before tonight’s debate, which is of course just an appetizer for tonight’s main course of the Fred!:

Iraq's Interior Ministry is "dysfunctional," filled with sectarianism and corruption, according to an independent assessment of the Iraqi security forces to be published tomorrow. The report said that Iraq's national police force, controlled by that ministry, is "operationally ineffective" and should be disbanded and reorganized.

The report, by a congressionally-named commission of retired senior military officers, cites progress in the operation and training of the Iraqi army. But it estimates that "they will not be ready to independently fulfill their security role within the next 12 to 18 months" without a substantial U.S. military presence. Logistical self-sufficiency, which it describes as key to independent Iraqi operations, is at least two years away, the report says.

Eh, not good. Though as with everything in Iraq, the situation varies from place to place. The story is very different in Fallujah, not too long ago, one of the most dangerous places on Earth.

The last battalion of Iraqi soldiers with 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, withdrew from the Anbar Province city of Fallujah, Sept. 1, leaving the city’s security and stability in the hands of the local police and government.

Brig. Gen. Ali al-Hashemi, the brigade’s commander, said the time had come when Iraqi Police alone could handle law enforcement in the city.

I am guessing this will come up tonight in New Hampshire.

Of course, it could also be a shot at Gen Petraeus who was in charge of training the Iraqi Army and Police in 2004 ahead of his testimony before Congress next week.

Posted by: DrewM. at 04:08 PM | Comments (18)
Post contains 286 words, total size 2 kb.

HereÂ’s a little salad to chew on before tonightÂ’s debate, which is of course just an appetizer for tonightÂ’s main course of the Fred!:

Iraq's Interior Ministry is "dysfunctional," filled with sectarianism and corruption, according to an independent assessment of the Iraqi security forces to be published tomorrow. The report said that Iraq's national police force, controlled by that ministry, is "operationally ineffective" and should be disbanded and reorganized.

The report, by a congressionally-named commission of retired senior military officers, cites progress in the operation and training of the Iraqi army. But it estimates that "they will not be ready to independently fulfill their security role within the next 12 to 18 months" without a substantial U.S. military presence. Logistical self-sufficiency, which it describes as key to independent Iraqi operations, is at least two years away, the report says.

Eh, not good. Though as with everything in Iraq, the situation varies from place to place. The story is very different in Fallujah, not too long ago, one of the most dangerous places on Earth.

The last battalion of Iraqi soldiers with 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, withdrew from the Anbar Province city of Fallujah, Sept. 1, leaving the cityÂ’s security and stability in the hands of the local police and government.

Brig. Gen. Ali al-Hashemi, the brigadeÂ’s commander, said the time had come when Iraqi Police alone could handle law enforcement in the city.

I am guessing this will come up tonight in New Hampshire.

Of course, it could also be a shot at Gen Petraeus who was in charge of training the Iraqi Army and Police in 2004 ahead of his testimony before Congress next week.

Posted by: DrewM at 04:08 PM | Comments (18)
Post contains 294 words, total size 2 kb.

One Roman Catholic priest in the UK can see the writing on the wall, thereÂ’s a new God in town and he is going to get on board early:

Forgotten to recycle any newspapers or tin cans recently? Feeling guilty because you neglected to carbon offset your flight to somewhere, anywhere, outside England this summer?

The Roman Catholic Church is at hand with a new line in “green confessions” to help eco-sinners to find forgiveness.

Dom Anthony Sutch, the Benedictine monk who resigned as head of Downside School to become a parish priest in Suffolk, will be at the countyÂ’s Waveney Greenpeace festival this weekend to hear eco-confessions in what is thought to be the first dedicated confessional booth of its kind.

No word yet on how many Hail Marys or Our Fathers you have to say for a trip on a private jet.

Related: Apparently Leonardo DiCaprioÂ’s eco-doom movie may be the film equivalent of Hell on Earth.

His environmental documentary, "The 11th Hour," has been a total bust at the box office. After 18 days in release, the film has grossed only $417,913 from ticket sales. The 90-minute snore-fest is playing on 111 screens this week, but that number is likely to be reduced this Friday. The film will be sent to DVD heaven after that.

A Russian filmmaker told us afterward that she was the only person in the room who was awake at one point.

I wonder what the carbon emission damage was to make that piece of crap?

Posted by: DrewM. at 02:50 PM | Comments (34)
Post contains 267 words, total size 2 kb.

I'm just skimming, but it appears that if a team does poorly on third downs (on offense or defense) it's likely they'll rebound the next season, and if they do well on third downs, they'll decline.

Why? I think the idea is that third downs are both volatile and often very important, so pure luck plays a role in a team's third-down performance. If they did poorly on third down, it's not so much they're bad or specifically bad on third downs as they got unlucky throughout the season, costing them a few games along the way. Their previous record thus understates their actual strength.

Meanwhile, an above-average performance on third down indicates the opposite -- they won a few games by the luck of the breaks and their past record thus overstates their actual strength.

This site explains this and other beyond-the-raw-numbers analyses of team and player impact not in gaining yards but in actually contributing to wins.

Incidentally, that Tailgatepools pool seems hopeless fracked, but Mike S. is setting up a Yahoo pool for us. Hopefully we'll have that up soon.

Update: Mike set us up the pool. It's on Yahoo. Sign up info:

Group ID#: 62102
Password: scandi

Sorry about the problems with the other pool. Obviously we won't be going with that one, as it's just screwed.

This is a straight pick pool against the spread, all games need to be picked. No weighing of picks, though, which I personally found to be more of a headache than it was worth.

Posted by: Ace at 11:55 AM | Comments (51)
Post contains 291 words, total size 2 kb.

Well-played, Mr. President. Hiding in plain sight. They just keep misunderstimating you... except for the scary-smart braniacs at the New York Times.

Very first sentence:

Iraq is a long way to go for a photo op, but not for President Bush, who is pulling out all the stops to divert public attention from his failed Iraq policies and to keep Congress from demanding that he bring the troops home.

In related news, Bush likened a defeat in Iraq to the defeat in Vietnam to distract from comparisons of a defeat in Iraq to the defeat in Vietnam.

Remember, these are The Deciders. Their "news judgment" is more finely honed than yours, making them uniquely qualified to decide what the news is, or what the news should be.

Thanks to The Apologist.

Posted by: Ace at 11:37 AM | Comments (55)
Post contains 151 words, total size 1 kb.

How do you do that? Aren't they like, painted a special color or something?

Munitions aircrews at Minot AFB loaded the B-52 wing pylons with six nuclear armed cruise missiles. The mistake was discovered after the plane landed at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana.

Notice the wording "nuclear armed". Not "armed, nuclear". Because they aren't armed. You don't arm them until you're ready to use them.

Still, someone in North Dakota is having a, what's the expression, a bad day.

"At no time was there a threat to public safety," said Lieutenant Colonel Ed Thomas. "It is important to note that munitions were safe, secure and under military control at all times."

Well, yeah, that's true. They don't just fall off and detonate, nor would they detonate in an accident. About the worst that could have occurred would be cleaning up radioactive material at a crash site. Still, you'd think the procedures for handling nuclear ordnance would be a little tighter.

Hans Kristensen, an expert on US nuclear forces, said he knew of no other publicly acknowledged case of live nuclear weapons being flown on bombers since the late 1960s.

Publicly acknowledged, no. That's the only kind you're allowed to know. After all, we're not in the habit of handing off our nuclear secrets to scandis.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 10:46 AM | Comments (41)
Post contains 233 words, total size 2 kb.