The Air America Fiasco Continues

Stereotypes are that liberal types cannot manage business' and are profligate with other people's money. Imagine my shock reading this passage from a NYT article recounting the ineptitude and botchery that lead to Air America's bankruptcy;

Some people at Air America assert that, under Mr. Glaser and the team he put in place, the network was top-heavy with management, inept at selling ads, unwilling to make program compromises that veered from the liberal message and overstaffed with more than 100 employees when two dozen would have sufficed.

What they did for $45 million they could have done for $10 million, said Sheldon Drobny, an investor with a contentious relationship with the network.

No wonder conservatives don't feel that they can trust liberals to regulate business and industry. Overstuffed administration, wasteful spending, and paralyzed by dogma. Thanks for not reinforcing any of those stereotypes, guys. Perhaps the most telling passage was this,

As for the bankruptcy filing, which came after a creditor, MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting, sought to freeze company accounts, Mr. Klestadt said the board decided a Chapter 11 proceeding would be the best way to maximize the value of the assets.

When a business feels that bankruptcy improves its value, you're in trouble. The truth is, nobody was listening to Air America except Liberal True Believers. When I listened I heard programming long on emotion and short on persuasion. Insulting conservatives is what passed for "spreading the message." For what its worth, calling someone a dumbshit isn't likely to make them receptive to your philosophy.
While the current and former staff of Air America might like to shake their own hands and say how they changed the elections, it just isn't true. Those who listened to Air America were never going to vote any other way. Yet another money quote:

Saying that Air America reaches millions of listeners and "clearly had an impact on the 2006 elections..." (Terence F. Kelly, potential buyer of Air America)

What complete bullshit. Air America couldn't even find an audience in Madison, Wisconsin. Berkeley of the Midwest and all that. Terence Kelly's hometown by the way. The Madison Air America station will be a Fox Sports Radio station. Oh, sweet irony, your nectar is too tart for most but I will partake of thee.
I'm going to make a not-so-bold prediction; Air America will never succeed except as a vanity project funded by some charitable limousine liberal attempting to woo some vacuous hollywood Mc-Starlet.
Why on earth would anyone need Air America, anyway? We already have the NYT, the LAT, Time Magazine, Ted Turner, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, and Hollywood.

Pearl Harbor Vets

I work in a Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital and I've gotten to know vets from every conflict since WW1. Not much more than a week has passed since the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association's announcement that

"With age and aching joints slowing the sailors, marines and airmen who lived through the attack on Pearl Harbor, the major national survivors group has decided this year’s gathering will be its last in Hawaii."

Sadly, inevitably, their numbers shrank by at least one more a few days ago.
I'll just call him Arthur. He was in the US Navy but on shore that day. Arthur had been sick for these last few years and had been in the hospital quite a bit. Over these few years I've heard many stories of that day, and the days following December 7th, 1941. Its a story I've heard many times over the years working at the VA. Ordinary men doing the extraordinary when need calls and never believing their actions were the least bit special. "Just what any decent man would do." Perhaps so, but the world is a bit less rich for your passing, Arthur.

Godspeed, Arthur.

Architectural Porn

Chateau in the Sky - New York Times

Now just how incredible would it be to have that view? Knowing what a philistine I am, I'd probably set up a basketball court in the ballroom.

"I've got a bad feeling about this"

While running spellcheck on my last post, "Pelosi" was highlighted. I clicked on the "learn" box and now I feel dirty inside.

Just a Reminder, the Taliban are Scum

The death of a criminal

The gunmen came at night to drag Mohammed Halim away from his home, in front of his crying children and his wife begging for mercy.

The 46-year-old schoolteacher tried to reassure his family that he would return safely. But his life was over, he was part-disemboweled and then torn apart with his arms and legs tied to motorbikes, the remains put on display as a warning to others against defying Taliban orders to stop educating girls.

His crime was teaching girls.


For those of us who need reminding of just who it is we are fighting in the Middle East, read this article. Students of recent history shouldn't be surprised. After the US forces left Vietnam to the tender mercies of their northern commie friends, the same thing happened there. While we haven't fled Afghanistan yet, our enemies know with the Democrats closer to power in America it may not be long before Pelosi and her ilk concede victory and leave Afghanistan high and dry. This is just a taste of what will happen in Afghanistan if the USA and NATO abandon them. Just imagine what you could get in Iraq if our new Democrat Overlords have their way.

No wonder nobody trusts America.

Leonard Nimoy sings the "Ballad of Bilbo Baggins"

For the best in truly bizarre 60s-70s nostalgia, watch this early music video by none other than Spock and his squad of adoring cheerleaders




truly odd

USAF TV commercial

I just heard that the USAF plans to shitcan their F-117 stealth fighters. Ah, Nighthawk, we hardly knew ya. The complaint has been a 1970's design made with 1980's technology flying in the 2000s was outclassed by new aircraft; namely the F-22 Raptor. I've seen this commercial around lately and thought it was most excellent.



During my soldier years, I kept a photo of my wife inside the top of my helmet so I perfectly understand the sentiment of the pilot's photo in his cockpit. Having a reminder close at hand of why we endure the long, lonely, hours of duty made them less tiresome. Many who have seen this video take the meaning of "guardian angel" to be the pilot in his stylin' F-117 flying overhead protecting his loved ones from harm.
I thought the wife and kids photo was his guardian angel acting as a spiritual shield. Military life can be deadly dangerous, especially for the Zipper Suit (pilots) crowd. Being reminded not only of what you swore to protect but what's at home can help prevent unnecessary risks that can keep you from becoming an expensive lawn dart.

"If it was up to the Democrats, we would still be living under Saddam's tyranny"

Sometimes it takes a parody news aggregator to get to the heart of the truth.

"If it was up to the Democrats, we would still be living under Saddam's tyranny"

Don't worry guys, the Democrats will soon put that to rights. FFS a former Democrat US attorney general is one of Saddam's defense team. That should tell you all you need to know.

CNNs 9-11-01 As It Happened

I'm watching "CNN's original TV coverage of 9/11/2001 in REAL TIME."
Seen through the prism of five years the uncertainty and panic of that day come through clear as a bell. I remember that morning too well, sitting at home that day glued to the television. At the time while I lived in Wisconsin we were getting the network feeds from NYC; my wife is a Yankees fan. The commentators dealing with the second airplane striking the WTC then shortly afterwards the Pentagon on fire, and the White House being evacuated. None of us knew it at the time but the people on United Airlines flight 93 were planning their desperate attempt to retake their plane.

We all kept waiting for the next shoe to drop, the next attack, more bad news. I told my wife then that someone was going to pay for this, more than they could bear. Its 8:55am, and Osama Bin Laden's name was mentioned for the first time. Few Americans that day knew who he was, now we all know his name, curse him.

Its 9:00 and the first (South) tower just collapsed. Scores of policemen, firemen, WTC workers fleeing down the stairs, and others, died at that moment. It was then that it became apparent to everyone that there would be great loss of life.

I sat in my living room all day, watching the news coverage knowing that this was a historic day. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor most Americans found out about it on radios or read it in the newspaper. That day, in real-time, we saw it happen ourselves. Though we didn't know it at the time, United Airlines flight 93 had already been flown into the ground by the terrorists after they had realized the passengers were going to retake the plane.

Just thinking about all of this and watching the five year old video while remembering the events of the years since, now the second WTC tower has collapsed.
Reading one of my favorite blogs today, a post by Laughing Wolf at Blackfive points me to this;

Breaths

"There are no words."

Nanny statism in the kitchen

Defying Law, a Foie Gras Feast in Chicago - New York Times

Lets be honest. Nanny statism breeds contempt, not compliance.

I don't recall ever having foie gras but I must say I'm tempted to go to Connie's Pizza myself to try one of their pizzas topped with the illicit organ. Is this what the Chicago aldermen worry about? Though the law went into effect yesterday (8-22-06) enforcement won't begin until today.

“The city gave them a day of fun, but tomorrow we’ll see what happens,” said Joe Moore, the alderman who proposed the ban, adding that the method by which foie gras is produced — force feeding ducks and geese through a pipe inserted into their throats — is clearly animal cruelty.

Sounds like the UN dealing with Iran. Talk tough while pretending not to notice the thumbed nose.

When personal and public responsibility collide

Reading the NYT today I find this article which alternately appalled, infuriated, and saddened me.

Over the last five years, Mysheda Autry has received welfare checks and food stamps, gone through a welfare-to-work program and briefly held several jobs. She has also given birth to her second and third children. (ed. with a fourth due now)

and

“They end up with lots of kids, no family support, no education, no coping skills, so they get a job and lose it and get another job and lose it.’s Its not like they are lying around not doing anything: their lives are constantly on the go as they run behind their kids. But they end up falling way behind. (Gloria M. Guard, president of the People’s Emergency Center)

Appalled by the state of Ms. Autry's life and her incredibly low potential to assume a productive place anywhere in our society. Infuriated that this woman has frittered away her life using only her uterus and poor judgement while being enabled by that portion of society which doesn't share those faults so central to her identity. Saddened to think that the three (soon four or more) children she has given birth to have very little chance of doing better in this world than their mother or grandmother have. Ms. Gard again;

A possibility, once Ms. Autry gets some training, may be work as a home health aide.

Another possibility is that she will continue to do the same things in the same ways with the same results. Earnest efforts to help her squandered.

While she may not beat or intentionally starve her children, this seems like a very clear-cut case of slow-motion child abuse. After eight or nine years of this life her children's potential will be wasted and their lives likely wrecked. Ten years from now you will likely see at least one of her children in prison and what a sorrow that is. What is the solution to the problem Mysheda Autry poses? I'm getting a headache thinking about it. Take the children away and foster them out? Place this unfit woman and children into an institution for the Perpetually Unable To Care For Oneself? Toss her and her children into the gutter to sink or swim? Continue to subsidize her pernicious lifestyle ad infinitum? This creature represents a bad problem without good solutions. What a tragedy. For us all.

Thats why they're called Cheese-Eating Surrender-Monkeys

The title says it all, France's contribution to the Lebanon-Hezbollah-Israel peacekeeping force.

Hezbollah demands end to offensive - Yahoo! News

Hezbollah demands end to offensive; and rapists would probably like to demand an end to their arrests too. In other news, Israel has been defeated.

Hezbollah's deputy chief, Naim Kassem, asked how the group viewed U.S. demands
for its guerrillas to disarm and make way for an international force in south
Lebanon, said: "America and Israel have no right to get a result from their
defeat."

Funny, when American and Russian troops linked up in Berlin at the end of WW2, Himmler didn't claim it as a German victory. The last I looked, Israeli tanks were rolling through Lebanese territory and Israeli jets were pounding Hezbollah positions, not the other way around. I'll have to redefine my definition of victory. I'd ask Hezbollah's chief, but the Iranian embassy isn't taking calls.

Evildoers rounded up

3 Held Overseas in Plan to Bomb New York Target - New York Times

Someone I worked with insisted that there weren't any plots against America by Jihiadis being intercepted by the FBI, CIA, DHS, and other expensive acronyms. His explaination for why there hadn't been any successful attacks on American soil since 9/11 wasn't that competent, vigilant defenders had prevented them but that that nobody was actually attempting to do so.
I shit you not.
This wasn't some deranged paranoid schizophrenic either. A well-educated decent human being actually believes that nobody on this planet hates Americans enough that they would attempt to bomb, behead, shoot, stab, run over with Jeeps, or otherwise wish to harm us.
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him think, err, drink.

Crashes and near-misses

The In-Car Camera Never Blinks (but Viewers Flinch) - New York Times

I've often wondered just how many car crashes are avoided by those wonderful "defensive driving" tips I heard in Driver's Ed classes back in high school. Turns out that the answer is "a lot." Reading the article highlights the most dangerous things drivers do. As they say, read it all. Even if its the NYT.

Another blow to the presumed superiority of Old Europe - World Times Online

A wine-tasting event 30 years ago which found California wines better than French wines was repeated with similar results.

THIRTY years had passed since the Judgment of Paris, when French oenophiles received a red nose at the hands of American upstarts in a blind wine-tasting competition.
But to the dismay of the French wine experts taking part in last night’s eagerly awaited rematch, Californian vintages have again trumped their Gallic counterparts.

Economic strength, military power, university quality, cultural influence, and now (once again) wine; just what does Old Europe clearly do better than the United States anymore?

HT: Captains Quarters

Now I'll have to find something else to blame for my glacial running speed

Lactic Acid Is Not Muscles' Foe, It's Fuel - New York Times

At the end of the article is a passage that should delight those who celebrate irony,

Yet, Dr. Brooks said, even though coaches often believed in the myth of the
lactic acid threshold, they ended up training athletes in the best way
possible
to increase their mitochondria. "Coaches have understood
things the scientists didn't," he said.

So don't hate the lactic acid pooling in your muscles, embrace it for the fuel that it is.

Russian crooks try to steal a vacuum tube plant

From Russia, With Dread - New York Times

This article is worth reading just for the photo of Mike Matthews, owner of the ExpoPul plant which manufactures vintage vacuum tubes used in amplifiers loved by musicians. Apparently a Russian businessman is using pseudo-legal means in an attempt to steal his business.

By the way, tell me why Mike Mathews and Christopher Lloyd are never seen together.

It's Not Your Father's VA

Naval Institute Proceedings: It's Not Your Father's VA, Art Pine

And its definitely not Oliver Stone's VA either.

Freakanomics keeps on giving

A Star Is Made - New York Times

Wal-Mart and organic food

Wal-Mart Eyes Organic Foods - New York Times

Another sign that Wal-Mart is reaching market saturation in America under their current business model. Adding a much larger selection of organic foods to their grocery shelves tells me that they are either trying to expand their customer base or that a slight shift upscale is coming.

Update, 1-3-07
Rereading this while searching for a label to apply, I have another possibility why they are upping the organic food content. Wal-Mart is a family business deep down, and maybe its just the influence of some of Sam Walton's grandchildren. They are also pushing compact fluorescent light bulbs lately. I admit it, I'm cheap about some things. Almost every bulb in my house is a CF-bulb. They save me money because they use less electricity and also last longer. Less electricity means less coal or natural gas burned somewhere. Less pollution generated. Happy environmentalists. Backdoor environmentalism I guess but I do it because I'm cheap.

Call the Vatican, its a miracle!

My Way News
I'm dying to hear her explanation in court!

Oddly sensitive president

This news item at first seemed like a new urban legend but now I'm not quite so sure. It seems that President Ahmadinejad has been the butt of a text-message joke mocking his personal cleanliness. Specifically that he smells. Bad. Take a shower, dude.

Let me get this right. Our friend Mahmoud talks openly about vaporizing Israel with his shiny new nukes, is threatening to unleash suicide bombers on the west, and is bragging up his fancy-pants new weaponry intended to make the Straits of Hormuz a killing ground. No problem there. Despotic theocratic dictators do that sort of thing. The threat of assassination by sniper rifle: no biggee. Smart bomb? Bring it on. Tell him that he should think about using soap once in awhile and suddenly he gets all serious on us.

Perhaps the west shouldn't threaten economic sanctions or military action against his regime as a consequence for their nuclear ambitions; maybe we should send B-2 stealth bombers with loads of dirty and smelly laundry. That'll show him.

Iranian people wonder where all of this is going

Everyday Iranians Nervous About Push For Atomic Power

Iranians who lived through both the revolution and the Iran-Iraq war have seen this before. Escalating rhetoric, brandishing of sabers, then suddenly life just sucks for years on end.
Before the revolution Iran was a pretty secular place but the mullahs clamped down on that. Then the eight-year long war against Iraq added tragedy and privation to the existing repression. Read the entire article. In it, a few ordinary Iranian citizens express their unease about the near future exclusively in economic terms.

"One thing is obvious: If more foreigners come to this country, it means more
money, more jobs," said Ahmad Ashuri, whose business making metal screens
has declined in recent months along with Tehran's construction industry.
"But this nuclear issue means fewer foreigners are coming to the country.
Less money. "If something is our right, we need to talk properly to the
world."

Iranians do see the peaceful use of nuclear power to be their right, and if the question is framed that way its hard to argue with. Does the average Iranian believe that the most important consequences of this situation are economic only? With the testing of the new Shahab-4, Ahmadinejad's rhetoric, and Iran's long running and well-established support for terrorist organizations its hard for me to take the Iranian president's word on the peaceful thing, though. Nowhere in the article though is mention made of the source of western fears; namely that the nuclear research in Iran is meant for the production of nuclear weapons and not electricity. I'd really like to hear what the "Iranian Street" has to say about nuclear weaponry.

Ahmadinejad is a "salt of the (scorched) earth" kinda guy

The "Green Salt Project" is an Iranian project to bring together the separate elements of nuclear research, missile development, and high-explosive technology.
Crude nuclear weapons aren't that hard to make. Its just that they are incredibly large, heavy, and fragile. Not at all suitable for use in ballistic or cruise missiles and barely adequate as gravity bombs. Other bloggers have noticed this latest sign of trouble.

Thank goodness that Iran is only interested in peaceful nuclear technology. Because, you know, otherwise I'd have to start worrying.

The World to End Tomorrow; Women and Minorities Hardest-Hit: NYT

For Minorities, Signs of Trouble in Foreclosures - New York Times

Sometimes the headlines write themselves. Read the article and marvel at its lack of any hard data.

And for dessert would anyone care for some Civil War?

I've been hearing the "Civil war in Iraq" meme for so long now, it appears that the broken clock might finally be telling the correct time. The trouble with that metaphor is that while a broken clock is right twice a day its only right for two of that day's 1,440 minutes.
So are we seeing actual civil war or just the continuing pernicious influence of Iraq's unfriendly neighbors and its own criminal element? Who knows. Over at VodkaPundit Stephen Green thinks through the consequences of a full-blown civil war and as always is interesting. This thought seems to be generating the most comments;

Christianity was a violent religion until the Thirty Years War. That war lasted
so long, and killed so many people (the population of Germany was reduced by a
third), that Christendom lost its bloodlust. Freedom of conscience was born on
the battlefields of central Europe. The Middle East hasn't suffered that kind of
loss; they haven't yet had their fill of blood; they haven't yet become
disgusted with tyranny. I'd like to think that the Middle East can do what the
West did, without all the suffering. But if it takes regional fratricide, then
so be it.

Personally I don't think that Islam can reform itself from within because of its very nature, but I've been known to be wrong (with distressing frequency) before.
What I see in Iraq now reminds me somewhat of the civil rights movement here in the United States. While most Iraqis support one side or another they aren't active participants in the struggle and seem willing to live with whatever side wins. America, having had its own bloody, destructive civil war, a strong central government, and a strong sense of national identity weathered the unrest of the 60's never approaching the daily level of unrest in Iraq.
From a historical perspective perhaps a true civil war might be just what Iraq (and the greater middle east) need. Small comfort to those living in interesting times though.

What an unfortunate name

Cohen Ends a Long Night by Edging Ahead of Slutskaya - New York Times

You'll have to register to see NYT online stuff, but if you haven't already you should.

Disrespecting Mohammed is one thing, but this is beyond the pale

iowahawk: Seething Midwest Explodes Over Lombardi Cartoons

I feel an embassy-burning coming on. Money Quote;

"Those who sow the curds of blasphemy will reap the cheddar wheel of destruction.”

Now I see why New Zealand doesn't like Americans

'Bra fence' is a keeper, voters decide

What a complete dumbass that guy Prassinos is.

I've got a bad feeling about this...

Following a link in a short piece at YARGB lead me to more feelings of unease about Iran. Near the end of the article Herbert E. Meyer titles a chapter "It Isn’t Only Nukes."

Why is it, the more I learn about the capabilities and motivations of Ahmadinejad's Iran I'm reminded of Han Solo when he first sees the Death Star in the inital Star Wars movie. As his apprehension grows, he finally mutters "I've got a bad feeling about this." He tries to run away but finds he can't and is drawn in by forces beyond his control. This whole Iran thing strikes me that way. We're getting drawn into Ahmadinejad's apocolyptic fantasy bit by bit until the time comes when we will realize its too late to escape and we'll have to fight on a battlefield chosen by our enemy. Much like the Star Wars analogy, running away (if even possible) would be pointless. The evil out there which intends to do us harm will only grow stronger with more time.

Don't you miss the good old days of the Cold War?

Watching America once again points me in a useful direction, The Times Online Sunday edition carries an editorial by Gerard Baker. One line in particular caught my eye,

If Iran gets safely and unmolested to nuclear status, it will be a
threshold moment in the history of the world, up there with the Bolshevik
Revolution and the coming of Hitler. What the country itself may do with those
weapons, given its pledges, its recent history and its strategic objectives with
regard to the US, Israel and their allies, is well known. We can reasonably
assume that the refusal of the current Iranian leadership to accept the
Holocaust as historical fact is simply a recognition of their own plans to redefine the notion as soon as they get a chance (“Now this is what we call a
holocaust”).

He goes on to say that this isn't even the worst part of the whole problem. As they say, read it all.

Let the appeasing begin

From ITAR-TASS this morning,

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has expressed doubts that the Board of
Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be able in
early February to submit the Iranian nuclear dossier to the UN Security
Council.

So the next cycle of stall, misdirect, bribe, recrimination, threaten, and negotiation, begins. Honestly, have none of these people raised children before? I have a five-year old and even my dim mind recognizes the pattern. In the meantime, Iran receives more time to harden and disperse their nuclear weapons program, buy more sophisticated air-defense systems, and make themselves pains in the ass generally.

Iran seeks Anti-Skyscraper Missiles

Iran Wants Direct Civilian Flights To The US

(hat tip to Ken via LGF)
This couldn't possibly end badly...

Everybody hates Mahmoud

BBC NEWS World Middle East Six killed in Iran bomb attacks

This might be the second (reported) attempt to kill our good friend Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Sure, he's irritated plenty of people but with him out of the picture would anything really change? I really rather doubt it but one can hope.

Thomas Holsinger makes the case for invading Iran now

Summation quote:

All the reasons for invading Iraq apply doubly to Iran, and with far greater
urgency. Iran right now poses the imminent threat to America which Iraq did
not in 2003. Iran may already have some nuclear weapons, purchased from
North Korea or made with materials acquired from North Korea, which would
increase its threat to us from imminent to direct and immediate.

I admit that the idea Iran may already have nuclear weaponry has been a blind spot for me. Maybe that explains why Ahmadinejad has been talking so much smack lately. Maybe Bin Laden's latest announcement that new attacks were being prepared for America is connected. "The operations are under preparation and you will see them in your houses as soon as they are complete, God willing." Reuters carried that quote and I can't say that it made me feel any better.
Please do follow the link and read the whole piece. If you don't make a practice of reading the comments postings that go after particularly interesting articles then try it out. Lots of other good minds are out there thinking about these same things and most of them have something good to add to the discussion.

EU3 getting chapped with Iran.

Putin Urges Caution as Nations Debate How to Deal With Iran - New York Times

Its beginning to appear that the route of diplomacy with Iran is failing. Appeasement, bribery, and stern rebukes just aren't having the desired effect on Iran's nuclear ambitions. Referring the matter to the UN Security Council is generally the last stage of diplomacy. Judging from the past I predict failure again, but with a few more months gone past. Try as I might, I just can't think of any good resolution to this problem. Allowing Iran to make as many atomic bombs as they like is just plain foolish. Mahmoud "David Koresh" Ahmadinejad has a serious jones for the whole apocalypse theology thing and that just can't be good for any of us. He seems to embrace the national version of "suicide-by-cop" entirely too much. On the other hand, a military resolution is fraught with peril at every step. What a mess. In any event, it appears that Europe (or at least the EU3) have almost exhausted their seemingly unlimited patience. From the NYT;

Still, the diplomatic initiative is remarkable in that Britain, France and
Germany - the three countries that had forged a nuclear agreement with Iran in
November 2004 under which it froze most of its nuclear activities - are now in
lock-step with the United States.

Lock-step isn't how I'd describe it. (gratuitous shot at the NYT) I realize that our friends at the NYT can't really believe that GW Bush and Europe might have congruent interests and beliefs, but the evidence is right there. Anyway Europeans in general couldn't possibly sleep well thinking of Shahab-4s packing kilotons of whoop-ass pointed at them. European governments haven't been terribly popular with the radical Islamic crowd of late and lets not forget where the Crusades originated. I'm sure that Ahmadinejad remembers. I'm guessing that he would love to remind us all.
By the way, when the NYT originally posted this article, the headline read "Putin Urges Caution as Nations Debate How to Deal With Iraq." If I had a dollar for every time I made that mistake when ranting with my friends...

David Koresh, but with a country and atomic bombs

Independent Online Edition > Profiles

Just what we need, someone working on atomic weaponry who desires apocalyptic chaos. I'm glad that I don't live within Shahab range of Iran.