April 28, 2009

"'Unbending squirrel' blocks nuclear train delivery."

Headline of the day, from Germany.

In case you're having trouble picturing the newsworthy event, it looked like this:



And as long as we're over here in the news from Germany (in English): "Eastern German women considered 'less ditzy."

42 comments:

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

On the second topic, they probably refer to women who grew up before the unification. I personally don't see this so much as a "virtue" of any kind. It is just another consequence of living under communism, of having to think twice and hard before you speak, of suffering rationing and privations, of living in a society where feelings take a back seat to survival, and where people are more connected to their empty stomachs than their feelings.

It may also be just one of those Western generalizations based on the "otherness" of this group.

john said...

A nuclear train? Wow, we don't have anything that exciting over here. Our nuclear train was cancelled in 1979.

We still have

Soul Train
Wagon Train
Thomas the Tank Engine

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Daddy, I want a squirrel. Get me one of those squirrels, I want one!

But I don't want any old squirrel! I want an *[unbending]* squirrel!

rhhardin said...

Ditz sounds like a railroad stop in Austria.

Bissage said...

I once saw a circus performer hang from a rope by clenching her teeth but Cecile Lecomte’s accomplishment is truly impressive.

Steve M. Galbraith said...

Unbending squirrel?

I was thinking that perhaps that was Jeremy/Michael/LOS's new moniker.

I kid, I kid... but not really.

Sofa King said...

A locomotive powered by nuclear reactor would actually probably be a great idea. There's no insurmountable technical challenge that I can think of, it would save quite a lot of diesel fuel, and almost never need to be refueled. They would also have the ability to provide considerable amounts of electricity to any place near a rail line, if it was needed in an emergency.

Trooper York said...

In the early sixties there was a trend of trying to get movie actors to star in TV shows. Now it was easy to get character actors like Walter Brennan for “The Real McCoy’s” and Donna Reed was happy to star in show that bore her name. But Bullwinkle Moose refused to go to the small screen. He had been a big star in the movies since the forties with all his work in those Nelson Eddy Canadian Mounties movies and his work with Kirk Douglas in “The Big Sky.” But we had a secret weapon. We knew that Bullwinkle was a notorious homosexual who really enjoyed sex with male members of other species. So we figured if we got Rocky to seduce him we could sign him to a contact. But Rocky balked. That is how he got a reputation as the “Unbending Squirrel.”
(Jay Ward and Alex Anderson, Rocky and Bulwinkle, E True Hollywood Story)

Drew W said...

Thanks for setting us us straight, Troop.

And kept thinking Unbending Squirrel was teamed with Atom Ant.

traditionalguy said...

The pandemic of Ditzy Woman Disease (DWD)seems to have been caused by Capitalism telling women to believe that they are happy because the have lots of food, clothing and shelter, freedom and children with a good future. The Women of Communism were never infected by these Ditzy desires coming true. Thankfully Lenin's Soviet-Atheist Men can cure DWD everywhere, as soon as The Gifted One has surrendered the Means of Production to them. It's necessary to save the air from the evil CO2 Gas Crisis. Its NOT because Soviet-Athiest Men want to grab bigger houses, more vacations, better cars, and the power to kill people by taking them outside and shooting them or by shipping them to Labor to Death Camps...They are Noble Men, and could never think of doing such things.

Christy said...

So the next time she does this, terrorists swarm the stopped train and steal the nuclear material? Have these episodes been dry runs to check out response? I'm aware that there is much unseen security on these transports, that the fuel isn't bomb grade, but still!

Nasty, Brutish & Short said...

The way things look from Madison AND CINCINNATI?

Yay! We want you here at least part time, Ann.

David said...

Althouse, maybe you need a "tree porn" tag. What are these guys doing? Maybe Titus can clue us in.

Palladian said...

Now that's a wide stance...

knox said...

At first glance, this reminded me of that poor guy whose pants got stripped off on the ski lift.

David said...

Funny, Palladian. This is funny commenter day at Althouse blog.

tim maguire said...

So a French woman (whose country gets 80% of its power from nuclear sources) goes to Germany (which gets only 25% of its power from nukes) to interfere with disposal of nuclear waste because nukes are bad, even though this will result in more coal-fired power plants, despite the likelihood that she is a global warming believer.

And we take from this that East German women are less ditzy than West German women.

The EU will never work.

Trooper York said...

This is because East German women do not wear Eurotards.

Big Mike said...

Hey! Wait a minute! Some poor guy is being hung by his testicles, and all we do is laugh?

Big Mike said...

OK, so it's a woman being hung by her labia. It's still pretty bad.

Wince said...

"Unbending Squirrel" hardly.

If I were to ascribe a nom de guerre to this clown I'd pick something else, more literal like "ball-bag yo-yo".

Wince said...

Whoops, I'm confused.

Not about "Unbending Squirrel's" sex.

Instead, I thought this was the Arlen Specter comment thread.

Skyler said...

Someday our culture (western civilization) will mature enough to learn that such acts of disruption are inappropriate and they'll just let the train go through and kill the idiot.

Anyone who dangles themselves in front of an oncoming train is an idiot that should have no expectation of living.

When we stop giving every idiot with an "enlightened" agenda the power to stop human progress, we just might be able to advance a bit more.

The Drill SGT said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Drill SGT said...

I'm with Skyler, but that may be because we both are rough men.

Let her get her Darwin award and keep the train running on time. individuals don't get a veto on human progress.

Bruce Hayden said...

If we are talking French women, then how about the one married to the President of France? No matter what anyone thinks of Michelle Obama, I doubt if we will see pictures of her like the bottom picture there of Ms. Bruni.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Unbending Squirrel is a great name for either

A punk rock band

A guild in world of warcraft...probably this one.

Freder Frederson said...

Let her get her Darwin award and keep the train running on time. individuals don't get a veto on human progress.Why is it that as the right gets more and more frantic, they sound more and more like Stalin?

Sofa King said...

Why is it that as the right gets more and more frantic, they sound more and more like Stalin?

It's for your benefit. Enjoy!

Skyler said...

I don't know about York, but I'm not on the "right."

We're supposed to be a nation of laws, as is Germany and the EU. Stunts like this go beyond the law. They are like children throwing temper tantrums when they don't get their way.

If you don't like the laws, get them changed. Taking the law into your own hands is beyond civilized behavior.

When parents coddle tantrums, the child becomes a spoiled brat. This woman is a spoiled brat that has grown up and now throws tantrums at the rest of us. There is no place in a civilized world for such behavior.

Peter V. Bella said...

The photo looks like torture to me. I blame Obama.

Skyler said...

Oops, I meant Drill Sgt. Sorry.

Freder Frederson said...

We're supposed to be a nation of laws, as is Germany and the EU.And under what civilized nation's laws, or any rational sense of morality, would it be permissible for either the government or a private citizen (assuming the train was operated by a private company although in Germany it was probably a government owned train) to kill a person who poses no threat to either property or another person, but is merely participating in a non-violent (albeit disruptive) protest?

Skyler said...

Because when you let just anybody walk up and shut down commerce, you are interupting freedom.

I don't think you understand that corporations are made up of people who invest money.

I don't know your business, but whatever it is, should I be able to walk into your office at any day of the week and force you to stop your work? Can I go to your payroll department and stop them from printing your paycheck?

That's what these people are doing. Calling it a "non-violent protest" does not change the fact that they are purposefully breaking laws and acting outside of the legal system.

We have a constitutional republic. That so many people think it's appropriate to ignore the ballot box and use force to get their way is anathema to our freedom.

Skyler said...

Honestly, it's the same mind set that allows terrorism to be effective. It is in fact a version of terrorism.

They take advantage of the fact that good, upstanding people will allow themselves to be taken advantage of by bullies.

The best way to end bullying is to not only not give in to them, but to punch them in the nose hard enough that they can't hit you back. And be prepared to do it again if they come back later.

Our society thinks that we have to give the bully our lunch money and have our heads shoved in the toilet because "hitting is bad."

Once that train conductor was able to see that the person dangling from the track was not an innocent but was in fact a terrorist (oh, I'm sorry, "non-violent protester" doesn't that sound more dignified?) he should have nudged that throttle forward and gotten the train moving again with no further delay and no tortious conduct. In a just society, anyway.

Protester wants to play rough? I'll show you rough.

And then one of two things will happen. Either protester stops putting his life in jeopardy, or he resorts to more violent protests. In the case of the latter, then we can shoot on sight.

There is no moral reason for us to give in to people who don't like to follow laws.

Freder Frederson said...

Because when you let just anybody walk up and shut down commerce, you are interupting freedom.

And any "interruption of freedom" entitles the person whose freedom is being interrupted to kill the other person in the name of keeping order in society?

Your philosophy is truly astounding. And scary.

I don't know your business, but whatever it is, should I be able to walk into your office at any day of the week and force you to stop your work? Can I go to your payroll department and stop them from printing your paycheck?Of course you shouldn't and you don't. But that doesn't mean I have the right to run you over with my car to stop you from doing so.

Kirk Parker said...

John,

Maybe we've got all those trains, but only Korea can have a Seoul Train.

Methadras said...

"David said...

Althouse, maybe you need a "tree porn" tag. What are these guys doing? Maybe Titus can clue us in."

Titus would know this. It's probably called the inverse loaf squeeze. Very German.

kentuckyliz said...

Protest macht frei.

Skyler said...

Your philosophy is truly astounding. And scary..

That is the intent. There's no reason that we shouldn't scare the terrorists back.

Your philosophy is the truly evil one that allows people to disobey laws and stop peaceful people from going about their business.

The Dude said...

Hey Freder, how fucking stupid are you? Real fucking stupid? Or just average fucking Eurotard stupid?

Wen said...

GREEN!