Soldier Ant 

The followup to this story had escaped my notice at the time, but here's a small discussion of the sad story of the Russian submarine Kursk, which sank in the icy cold waters of the Barents Sea. Not only did the Russian government badly bungle the rescue operation:

One of the British divers sent out to try to help rescue the Kursk sailors said he was "revolted" to hear the Russians claim they had done everything possible to help.

Paddy Heron, who went out with the LR5 mini-submarine, said: "We had one of the most sophisticated vessels available in Europe sitting at the wreck site with a submersible specifically designed to rescue men from submarines, but the Russians wouldn't allow us to use it."

Doctors have been sent by the Russian Navy to the houses of bereaved relatives to administer injections and hand out tablets. Half the women at a recent meeting with Putin were heavily sedated, according to the Moskovsky Komosomolets newspaper.

Local television editor Elena Belkin said of the incident: "It's nothing. They have been giving out injections non-stop to everybody. There's a brigade of doctors there. It's mass psychosis."

I mostly use this website as a catchall for crap that I find on the Web. Esoterica and oddities. I almost never touch on real issues, or dig into the real condition of the World around me -- I guess because so much of that world distresses me. It's a built in defense mechanism of mine. Drives my wife crazy -- don't feel anything. Don't share anything. But this shit in Indonesia. This tsunami. It's incredibly, heart-breakingly humbling. Numbing. The death-toll estimates are climbing to 60,000, and will undoubtedly climb higher yet. And how many will perish in the weeks to come from pestilence, diarrhea, hunger, malaria? A friend who has extended family in Indonesia (thankfully, all accounted for and safe) recommends this charity. Go, please, give.

This will interest my brother Brian. An old piece of uxo severed a teacher's hand this week, when he tried to kill a bug with it:

Colla found the 40 mm round while hunting years ago, Huston said. He used it as a paperweight and "obviously he didn't think the round was live," Huston said.