Survivalism

Nine Inch Nails - Survivalism

I should have listened to her,
so hard to keep control.
We kept on eating but our
bloated bellies still not full.
She gave us all she had but
we went and took some more.
Can't seem to shut her legs our
mother nature is a whore.

I got my propaganda I got revisionism.
I got my violence in high def ultra-realism.
All a part of this great nation.
I got my fist I got my plan I got survivalism.

Hypnotic sound of sirens
echoing through the street.
The cocking of the rifles,
the marching of the feet.
You see your world on fire,
don't try to act surprised.
We did just what you told us.
Lost our faith along the way and found ourselves believing your lies.

I got my propaganda I got revisionism.
I got my violence in high def ultra-realism.
All a part of this great nation.
I got my fist I got my plan I got survivalism.

All bruised and broken bleeding,
she asks to take my hand.
I turn just keep on walking.
But you'd do the same thing in the circumstance I'm sure you understand.

I got my propaganda I got revisionism.
I got my violence in high def ultra-realism.
All a part of this great nation.
I got my fist I got my plan I got survivalism.

Check out the:

• Official Nine Inch Nails website
• Nine Inch Nails Myspace Page
• Nine Inch Nails Wikipedia Article
• Nine Inch Nails Wiki

Survivalism is a kick-ass song from a unique concept album... Year Zero

The Concept: Year Zero takes place about fifteen years in the future. Things are not good. If you imagine a world where greed and power continue to run their likely course, you'll have an idea of the backdrop. The world has reached the breaking point - politically, spiritually and ecologically. Written from various perspectives of people in this world, Year Zero examines various viewpoints set against an impending moment of truth.

It seems that Trent Reznor has done more than create a concept album, he's created his own fictional reality! There are even plans for a Year Zero alternate reality game and film project! Many Year Zero Hints have been found hidden in the album artwork, concert t-shirts, and even USB keys placed in the bathrooms of concert venues, that lead fans to concept-related websites and phone numbers... including Another Version of the Truth.

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Wikipedia defines a survivalist as a person who anticipates and prepares for a future disruption in local, regional or worldwide social or political order.

Survivalism is a commonly used term for the subculture or movement of people who make such preparations. Survivalists often prepare for this anticipated disruption by learning skills (e.g., emergency medical training, marksmanship), stockpiling food and water, or building structures that will help them to survive (e.g., underground shelter, rural compound). The specific preparations made by survivalists depend on the nature of the anticipated disruption, some of the most commonly anticipated being:

• Natural disasters, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, blizzards, and severe thunderstorms.
• A disaster brought about by the activities of mankind such as chemical spills, release of radioactive materials, war.
• General collapse of society, resulting from the unavailability of electricity, fuel, food, and water.
• Widespread chaos, or some other apocalyptic event.

Survivalism ranges from the paranoid extremist to the well-prepared average citizen. It is my opinion that if you're not a survivalist to some degree, you are a fool... everyone should at least have a store of food and water on-hand. I recommend more: camping supplies, first aid supplies, survival skills, weapons and ammo, a prepared place to hold out, and on-hand survival reference and training materials are all necessities. Of course, the list never really ends... the number one thing is: BE PREPARED!

Check out

D-Day

D-Day - June 6, 1944

The Battle of Normandy was fought in 1944 between Nazi Germany in Western Europe and the invading Allied forces as part of the larger conflict of World War II. Operation Overlord was the codename for the Allied invasion of northwest Europe, which began on June 6, 1944, and ended on August 19, 1944, when the Allies crossed the River Seine. Over sixty years later, the Normandy Invasion still remains the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving almost three million troops crossing the English Channel from England to Normandy. Operation Neptune was the codename given to the initial assault phase of Operation Overlord; its mission, to gain a foothold on the continent, started on June 6, 1944 (most commonly known by the name D-Day) and ended on June 30, 1944.

The primary Allied formations that saw combat in Normandy came from the United States of America, United Kingdom and Canada. Substantial Free French and Polish forces also participated in the battle after the assault phase, and there were also contingents from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, the Netherlands, and Norway.

The Normandy invasion began with overnight parachute and glider landings, massive air attacks, naval bombardments, and an early morning amphibious phase began on June 6, 1944. The “D-Day” forces deployed from bases along the south coast of England, the most important of these being Portsmouth. The battle for Normandy continued for more than two months, with campaigns to establish, expand, and eventually break out of the Allied beachheads, and concluded with the liberation of Paris and the fall of the Falaise pocket in late August 1944.

The Battle of Normandy was described thus by Adolf Hitler: “In the East, the vastness of space will... permit a loss of territory... without suffering a mortal blow to Germany’s chance for survival. Not so in the West! If the enemy here succeeds… consequences of staggering proportions will follow within a short time.”

Check out the article at Wikipedia.

Be sure to visit the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana for some exciting events going on today! Events include a paratrooper and artillery presentation, a scale model of Easy Green Sector - Omaha Beach, a complete Weapons of D-Day display, and the opportunity to meet Normandy Veterans. Sounds like a lot of fun... too bad I'm stuck at work!

If you are interested in accurate D-Day and WWII history, I highly recommend the following books by Stephen Ambrose. He has written other WWII books, but those four are by far the most notable and my favorites:

• Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest


• D Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II


• Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany


• Pegasus Bridge

The HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, inspired by Stephen Ambrose's book by the same title, is a must-see for any WWII history buff. I have found the series to be one of the most historically accurate movies made on the topic... I highly recommend checking it out!

There are MANY movies made in the WWII setting, check out World War II on Film at www.worldwar-2.net and the Wikipedia List of WWII Films.

New Planet Bonanza!

Twenty-eight new planets have been discovered outside the solar system in the past year, scientists announced yesterday.

The new discoveries raise the total number of exoplanets—worlds that circle other stars—to 236.

Many of the discoveries were published in scientific journals over the past year.

Monday's announcement at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Honolulu, Hawaii, was the first time the finds were presented together to the public.

Most of the new planets are probably huge balls of gas, more like Jupiter than Earth.

But scientists say the increasing rate at which they're finding new exoplanets makes it almost certain that the galaxy is swarming with smaller, rocky, and potentially habitable worlds that have so far eluded detection.

"We're finally now getting a sense that our solar system is not a rarity," said Geoff Marcy, who led the California and Carnegie Planet Search team that made many of the discoveries.

"There are indeed tens of billions of planetary systems out there, no doubt some of them rocky Earths, lukewarm, and suitable for life."

Marcy, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Berkeley, spoke to National Geographic News from the Keck Observatory atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea, where many of the new exoplanets were first spotted.

Advanced Wobbles

Because exoplanets are too far away to be seen directly, the 28 new planets were discovered by looking for the so-called Doppler wobble among stars.

This technique is based on the idea that if an unseen planet orbits a star, its gravitational pull causes a slight "wobble" in the light wavelengths coming from that star.

In addition to revealing the 28 new planets, advances in this technique recently allowed a postdoctoral astronomer at the University of Geneva in Switzerland to pin down the size of a large exoplanet that was discovered almost two years ago by Marcy's team.

Finding Other "Earths"

Based on data gathered so far, of the more than 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, at least 10 percent are thought to have planetary systems, UC Berkeley's Marcy said.

And at least 30 percent of all stars that are known to host planets have more than one, scientists say.

"Many of them remind us of our home solar system," Marcy said.

"We're finding a lot of cases in which the larger planets—the Jupiters and the Saturns—orbit further from the star than the smaller planets, and that is in fact the case for our solar system," he said.

Among this year's exoplanet finds are at least four new multiple-planet star systems.

Astronomers are finding that stars harboring the most planets are those that are rich in heavier elements, such as silicon, oxygen, iron, and nickel.

This may give researchers a clue as to where to look for possible habitable worlds.

"It's those richer stars that we're focusing our attention on, because those heavy elements are the building blocks of rocky planets like our Earth," Marcy said.

After all, he said, "it's not just the planets that require the heavy elements, it's the organisms themselves, should any exist."

Check out the article at National Geographic News.

There are bound to be TONS of potential new homes for us... we just have to know where to look.

Be sure to check out my previous post on the topic: A New Home?

Memorial Day 2007

Port Hudson National Cemetery - photo by Renegade

ARLINGTON, Va. — Just a few years ago, Lance Cpl. Steven Szwydek was a classmate of students at a high school in the mountains of Pennsylvania's Fulton County. Now the fallen Marine is part of their history lesson. On separate days this spring, students from all three high schools in his home county visited Arlington National Cemetery, where they stopped for a moment of silence at his white tombstone. The bus trips were paid for by a memorial fund established by Szwydek's parents.

Their quiet son — a history buff who loved to hunt deer — was 20 when he was killed in 2005 by a roadside bomb during his second tour in Iraq.

His mother, Nancy Szwydek, is a strong supporter of President Bush and the Iraq war but said the trips are not about politics or trying to influence students to join the military. She and her husband don't accompany the classes on the trips.

She sees the annual visits as a way to teach students "to respect our freedom." Teachers say the trips are as much about establishing connections — between kids growing up in a rural county, and world events.

Nancy and Michael Szwydek, who own a country store, decided a college scholarship in their son's name would not have made sense because he chose the Marines over college.

"I think he would not want himself being the focus ... but I think he'd be real happy the students have had a history lesson," Nancy Szwydek said during an interview at her home in Warfordsburg, Pa., near the Maryland border.

For some of the students, the stop at Szwydek's grave is personal because they attended school with him at Southern Fulton Junior/Senior High. They recalled seeing their teachers cry the day it was learned he had died.

Check out the article at Fox News.

Be sure to take a moment to reflect on all of those who died for this country - they gave us the freedom to enjoy the holiday with friends and family... they must not be forgotten!

Happy 30th Anniversary Star Wars!

"Star Wars," indeed, was a phenomenon -- one that caught most of Hollywood by surprise. Thirty years after its premiere on May 25, 1977 (in just 32 theaters), it remains the model for the summer blockbuster -- and a touchstone for two generations of moviegoers.

With the film's 30th anniversary Friday, celebrations are kicking into high gear. Besides the History Channel special, set to air 9 p.m. ET Monday, there are:

· Several books (notably "The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film" [Del Rey]);

·"Star Wars" weekends at the Disney-MGM Studios theme park near Orlando, Florida;

·"Star Wars" Celebration IV, beginning Thursday in Los Angeles, California;

·30th-anniversary action figures, released by Hasbro;

·A screening of all six films on Cinemax on Friday;

·And even "Star Wars" postage stamps, to go along with all those R2-D2 mailboxes that the United States Postal Service has installed around the country.

Not bad for a film rather unsensationally described in its own press kit as "an expression of [George Lucas'] boyhood fantasy life -- his love for 'Flash Gordon' and all the great mysteries and adventures in books and movies."

'It was touch-and-go for a time'

Given that press kits are usually chock-full of hyperbole, that somewhat timid portrayal may have indicated what studio execs, and even Lucas' friends, thought of the film.

After viewing a screening in March 1977, with the special effects still unfinished, Lucas' wife Marcia was aghast, according to Peter Biskind's 1970s movie history, "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls."

"It's the 'At Long Last Love' of science fiction," she said, referring to a well-known bomb of the time.

And the necessary special effects cost a fortune in 1977. Lucas' studio, 20th Century Fox, was nervous. "It was touch-and-go for a time," Lucas later recalled. (He wouldn't trust a studio again, creating his own company, Lucasfilm, to go along with his special-effects house, Industrial Light & Magic, for future endeavors.)

But moviegoers never doubted. The film was a hit from its first day, attracting such crowds of people that its opening was featured on Walter Cronkite's "CBS Evening News." Harrison Ford was practically ripped apart while shopping at a record store. The film's theme music, redone in disco form by a musician named Meco, became a No. 1 single.

The success of "Star Wars" paved the way for Lucas' entire empire, including massively successful merchandising tie-ins and five other films, broadening the "Star Wars" mythology.

Check out the article at CNN.com.

Lot's of stuff is going on in honor of the Star Wars 30th Anniversary!

Be sure to watch Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed on The History Channel.

Don't forget to pick up some Official USPS Star Wars Stamps.

Check out 30 Years - 30 Covers at Empire Online.

US Navy Flexes Muscles!

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. Navy staged its latest show of military force off the Iranian coastline on Wednesday, sending two aircraft carriers and landing ships packed with 17,000 U.S. Marines and sailors to carry out unannounced exercises in the Persian Gulf.

The carrier strike groups led by the USS John C. Stennis and USS Nimitz were joined by the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard and its own strike group, which includes landing ships carrying members of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

The Navy said nine U.S. warships passed through the narrow Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday. Merchant ships passing through the busy strait carry two-fifths of the world's oil exports.

Aircraft aboard the three carriers and the Bonhomme Richard were to conduct air training while the ships ran submarine, mine and other exercises.

The maneuvers came just two months after a previous exercise in March when two U.S. carrier groups carried out two days of air and sea maneuvers off the Iranian coast.

Before the arrival of the Bonhomme Richard strike group, the Navy maintained around 20,000 U.S personnel at sea in the Gulf and neighboring waters.

Check out the article at Fox News.

I wonder what Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has to say about this? Nothing so far... he's probably getting a little nervous right about now! We'll see how many British sailors Iran kidnaps now!

Check out the Islamist Terrorism article at Wikipedia.