Saturday porch.

Wow! The Sistene Chapel restored to its original glory. An interactive virtual tour that doesn't require a trip to Italy.

www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html

Here is the size and scale of the infamous Blowout Preventer ( BOP) that sits on the bottom of the seafloor above the well head. A little bigger than I pictured it. Too bad the one at the Mississippi Canyon well malfunctioned.

Check out the latest news here:

www.theoildrum.com/

In honor of all you test taking students out there, here is a little collection of great answers to tough questions.

Pictures from the red planet, Mars. Rover tracks stretch across a bleak Martian landscape. Familiar, yet entirely alien at the same time.

Possible major change for the worst in the flow of oil out of the sea floor in the Gulf of Mexico. At the link it appears that a blowout of oil through the sea floor has occurred. This news must be confirmed, but it does not look good.

monkeyfister.blogspot.com/

Mill Creek web camera shows unseasonable snow on the high desert. The cottonwoods are already beginning to leaf out, but that old man winter just won't go away.

Cabin kitchen.

Cluttered, but fun.

Hey look, Jennifer, knitted pears!

Saturday porch.

Funny but not safe for work or kids. Good very good way to start the weekend.

//b3ta.com/questions/expensiveweekends/

Happy Friday!

Fascinating insider discussion over at the Oil Drum on the blowout disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Good stuff.

www.theoildrum.com/node/6462#comment-623072

Some spot on commentary on how everything that is going wrong with this administration is in fact George Bush's fault.

www.aurorasentinel.com/articles/2010/02/07/opinion/columnists/doc4b6af63781c92027520167.txt

Sunset behind my place, just minutes ago.

Look, there's no reason to lose your temper!

Saturday porch.

Shocking dad/daughter combinations.

It isn't often that there is a "must read" here at The Timewaster, but this is a must read. Hie thee forth and learn.

www.zerohedge.com/article/silver-curtain

Somali spokesman: "Russian soldiers stormed the ship, then executed all our men." Well boo freakin hoo. Looks like at least one country has the balls to do what needs to be done with these scum. They will leave the Russian ships alone from now on.

Please click this to enlarge, and then consider the implications. Fiat currency always goes to zero given enough time, and here we see just how far things have come with the dollar.

Now, to look at the decline in the value of a dollar in another way, know that up to 1964 silver coins in the US actually contained 90% silver. Thereafter, little or none. In 1964, the cost of a gallon of gas was something like 45 cents.

Now the price of that gallon of gas is about 3 dollars, give or take a few cents either way. However, if you took 45 cents of silver coins from 1964 or before (check behind those seat cushions!), melted them down and ignored the cost of the melt, you would have a small bar of raw silver ...... and that bar would still be worth enough to by a gallon of gas today!

With these two illustrations, I hope you can understand the reason why people buy silver and gold today. It protects the buying power of your money. It's insurance. This exercise should also make you wonder whether the country ought to go back on the gold standard.

Alaskan grizzly bears can grow frighteningly large.

The new Obama nation:

Senior citizens told they can't pray before meals.

www.wsbtv.com/news/23495797/detail.html

Frank Frazetta, RIP.

Assisted suicide, then organ harvest. Now, with socialized medicine, we will be seeing much more of this here, along with all the moral questions that go with it. The comments here are very good.

www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2010/05/08/belgian-doctors-euthanized-disabled-patient-and-harvested-her-organs/

Siblings?! Another "oh my God" moment.

After which a young Barry Obama departs his native Kenya to fulfill his life's mission in America.

kaching.tumblr.com/

Until January 2009, federal authorities in Arizona refused to prosecute Mexican marijuana smugglers who were arrested with 500 pounds or less of pot. Un-freaking-believable.

www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/04/19/20100419arizona-drug-trafficking-cases.html#ixzz0nPMlLe50

In the Progressive heaven that is Venezuela, they import almost all of their food, and the inflation rate is up to 30% per year. So what is the Ultimate Leader's solution? Form an import/export company to break the power of the private sector. Genius, but if we keep electing these types here, this will be our future as well.

apnews.myway.com/article/20100508/D9FIDGM01.html

Porch picture from Coeur D'Alene Idaho.

The Hard Hat Riot. You've never heard of it, but it was the original Tea Party. This illustrates that Liberals/Democrats/Progressives just really never learn.

www.examiner.com/x-722-Conservative-Politics-Examiner%7Ey2009m5d8-Hard-Hat-Riots-a-forgotten-chapter-in-Sixties-history-echo-Tea-Parties-of-today

This is the idiocy that happens when the Democrats/Liberals/Progressives encourage separatism in our own country. It's the old "divide and conquer" technique aimed at getting the votes of the different minority groups, but at the cost of this kind of division. Ask yourself what happens when these kids grow up and have to live and compete together as adults? Ain't gonna be pretty.

www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local-beat/School-District-American-Flag-Clothing-Incident-Extremely-Unfortunate-93065324.html

The Lord Jesus Christ is hit by a car while crossing the street without looking first. Too bad their isn't a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in this article. Anyone want to Google this guy?

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/05/07/national/a053448D16.DTL&tsp=1

Sometimes it's best to just turn around and fly back to the base.

For me, some days are just like this ..... except without the busty reloading crew.

This ought to spice up the old boring cubicle jungle. Talk about "office skills!"

Read this, and you will never look at the world the same again.

americandigest.org/mt-archives/terrorwar/the_event.php

Even the weeds beside the road are looking good this spring.

JPMorgan official body slams congress in an internal email. Juicy reading to be sure, but anyone who saw the borderline retard Carl Levin in action during the hearings would have to agree with this assessment.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/04/jpmorgan-chase-memo-goldman_n_562459.html

Faizal Shahzad, failed car bomber, was:

A recently naturalized citizen under the Obama administration's liberalized immigration policy, where all countries are treated alike.

A registered Democrat (not a tea party person mad about Obamacare .... apologize Bloomberg!)

Placed on the "do not fly" list by Homeland Security just before he tried to fly to Dubai, which allowed authorities to drag him off the plane just before it took off .... good job Homeland Security!

Darn right it was reasonable force! No one knows what the fan was up to when he ran onto the field. Security could not know if he had a weapon, was on drugs, or whether he was deranged. Plus, if fools like this know they are going to get tazed, it will make them think twice before hopping the fence and running amok just so their pals can see them on TV. I say, taze them all once they get on the field! This stuff will stop instantly, because goofs like this aren't only stupid, they are also pansy's who couldn't possibly face up to a little electric punishment.

apnews.myway.com/article/20100504/D9FG08TO0.html

British sniper sets new distance record ..... twice in two shots! Two Taliban dead from a mile and a half away. This marksman had to aim six feet high and 20 inches to the left just to adjust for the spin of the bullet!

news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Afghanistan-Sniper-Corporal-Of-Horse-Craig-Harrison-Sets-Record-After-Killing-Taliban/Article/201005115624184?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_4&lid=ARTICLE_15624184_Afghanistan%3A_Sniper_Corporal_Of_Horse_Craig_Harrison_Sets_Record_After_Killing_Taliban

Nevada County man finds nine pound gold nugget on his property. There is still plenty of it out there, if you can find it.