James has a straightforward point of view: Our troops keep winning, and we inflict greater casualties on the enemy than they inflict on us. It seems that the attitude of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" isn't an opinion that most people share.
I'm going to have to disagree on this: I think the history shows that this cartridge has real problems as a combat round. Problem is, between money and political BS, I have no idea when/if any of the workable replacements(and there are several) will/might be changed over to.
James includes a link to this piece, which includes this:To sum it up, those who get hit by the 5.56mm and keep coming, aren't going to keep coming for long, and are easily taken down by the next round. One thing that the military is teaching now is that you don't just double tap, you keep firing until he goes down.
and
Regardless, the old question is, does a soldier really want to sacrifice the superior range and accuracy of the 5.56mm for the high caliber and low velocity AK-47 round, or the smaller quantity of heavier US 7.62mm rounds? For many, the answer is no. And further, being deeply engaged in a war is not the greatest of times to change weapon systems (especially in a modern age).
On the other side, there's this from Kim, which includes this note:The army study did not address complaints about long range shots (over 100 meters), or the need for ammo that is better a blasting through doors and walls.
Couple of thoughts here:
The choice isn't only between the 5.56, the 7.62x39 or the 7.62x51(.308 to me): it's between the 5.56 and the alternatives that have been developed, more powerful than 5.56, smaller and less powerful than 7.62x51. And those alternatives generally seem to have at least equal accuracy and far more effective range- as well as power- than the 5.56.
The thought to having to regularly 'keep firing until he goes down' with a battle rifle makes me nervous, as this is supposed to be a weapon that puts somebody down now, not 'in a short time'. Be it said that nothing can always put an attacker down with one round, but something that does so more reliably than the 5.56 would seem a very good idea. Not being able to carry as much ammo for the same weight doesn't seem a real problem if you need less of said ammo to stop the enemy.
We've got the best-trained and generally best-equipped troops in the world, which is the biggest factor in 'we keep winning'. That doesn't mean that a more effective cartridge would not be a good idea.
And as to 'this isn't a good time', does anyone really believe there will EVER be a good time for a change? We're looking at a situation that will see our troops in or facing combat in a number of places for years to come; I wonder if the question might be 'will there ever be a better time?'
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
You know those funny things called 'tides'?
Make water do certain things over the course of a day?
Well, apparently it actually affects water even when it's frozen.
Something other than eeeville mankind affects the planet? Whoda thunk it?
Well, apparently it actually affects water even when it's frozen.
Something other than eeeville mankind affects the planet? Whoda thunk it?
Monday, February 05, 2007
But I thought all REAL scientists believe in Human-Caused Globalar Warmening?
So why is this written by a climatology professor?
Let me stress I am not denying the phenomenon has occurred. The world has warmed since 1680, the nadir of a cool period called the Little Ice Age (LIA) that has generally continued to the present. These climate changes are well within natural variability and explained quite easily by changes in the sun. But there is nothing unusual going on.
And if scientific inquiry is supposed to involve questioning and argument, why does this happen?
What I have experienced in my personal life during the last years makes me understand why most people choose not to speak out; job security and fear of reprisals. Even in University, where free speech and challenge to prevailing wisdoms are supposedly encouraged, academics remain silent.
I once received a three page letter that my lawyer defined as libellous, from an academic colleague, saying I had no right to say what I was saying, especially in public lectures. Sadly, my experience is that universities are the most dogmatic and oppressive places in our society. This becomes progressively worse as they receive more and more funding from governments that demand a particular viewpoint.
Let me stress I am not denying the phenomenon has occurred. The world has warmed since 1680, the nadir of a cool period called the Little Ice Age (LIA) that has generally continued to the present. These climate changes are well within natural variability and explained quite easily by changes in the sun. But there is nothing unusual going on.
And if scientific inquiry is supposed to involve questioning and argument, why does this happen?
What I have experienced in my personal life during the last years makes me understand why most people choose not to speak out; job security and fear of reprisals. Even in University, where free speech and challenge to prevailing wisdoms are supposedly encouraged, academics remain silent.
I once received a three page letter that my lawyer defined as libellous, from an academic colleague, saying I had no right to say what I was saying, especially in public lectures. Sadly, my experience is that universities are the most dogmatic and oppressive places in our society. This becomes progressively worse as they receive more and more funding from governments that demand a particular viewpoint.
Remember the question on the FAA statement?
I wrote to my congresscritter in the Senate, Tom Coburn, and asked him about it. Today I got the following:
Thank you for your e-mail regarding statements made by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the right to bear arms. I appreciate your input on this matter.
As you know, I oppose any and all efforts to mandate gun control on law-abiding citizens. The constitution gives all law-abiding citizens the right to bear arms, and I will do everything I can to defeat any legislative attempts to further infringe upon that right.
According to the FAA, the new rules barring a commercial space flight participant from carrying on board any explosives, firearms, knives or other weapons is a safety consideration only, not based on any particular interpretation of the Second Amendment. Like any other constitutional right, the right to bear arms may be subject to restrictions when reasonable security concerns exist. In the same way firearms are not allowed in airports and on airplanes.
After speaking with the FAA, I am confident there is no cause for alarm. I believe these new rules for commercial space flights are appropriate and necessary safety measures that do not undermine our right to bear arms. I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the Second Amendment that it is an individual right and will continue to oppose any federal legislation that seeks to limit this right. On this, there can be no compromise.
Thank you again for bringing this issue to my attention. God Bless.
From this, I get the feeling that a number of C-critters had words with the FAA on this. I still think the way the FAA made their statement is not good; I think that it's probably not the problem indication that it could have been.
Thank you for your e-mail regarding statements made by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the right to bear arms. I appreciate your input on this matter.
As you know, I oppose any and all efforts to mandate gun control on law-abiding citizens. The constitution gives all law-abiding citizens the right to bear arms, and I will do everything I can to defeat any legislative attempts to further infringe upon that right.
According to the FAA, the new rules barring a commercial space flight participant from carrying on board any explosives, firearms, knives or other weapons is a safety consideration only, not based on any particular interpretation of the Second Amendment. Like any other constitutional right, the right to bear arms may be subject to restrictions when reasonable security concerns exist. In the same way firearms are not allowed in airports and on airplanes.
After speaking with the FAA, I am confident there is no cause for alarm. I believe these new rules for commercial space flights are appropriate and necessary safety measures that do not undermine our right to bear arms. I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the Second Amendment that it is an individual right and will continue to oppose any federal legislation that seeks to limit this right. On this, there can be no compromise.
Thank you again for bringing this issue to my attention. God Bless.
From this, I get the feeling that a number of C-critters had words with the FAA on this. I still think the way the FAA made their statement is not good; I think that it's probably not the problem indication that it could have been.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Ref my post on 'some thoughts', Updated
Here's where being 'sensitive and caring, and let the gummint take care of it' has gotten Britain:
Mr Vine perseveres with a concrete example: suppose you, the conscientious adult, see a young man aggressively shouting at an old woman. What should you do – retreat and call the police? Mr McNulty responds rather confusingly: "I think you should in the first instance. It may well be [that] simply shouting at them, blowing your horn or whatever, deters them and they go away." So how does it go again? You should "in the first instance" retreat and call the police (who presumably will help you to decide whether things are "as bad as you paint" by suggesting that you might be exaggerating or imagining the circumstances), but then – having so retreated – you are to shout or blow your car horn in an attempt to send the young thug scurrying away like a frightened kitten. Ok-a-a-y…
Mr Vine goes on with his vivid picture of life on the mean streets of Britain: the aggressive-looking young man is hitting the elderly woman, and the police still haven't turned up. What do you do then?
Mr McNulty is now reversing away at full speed from the Government's advice to take action rather than moan. What should you do about the woman being beaten up by the thug? "The same, the same, you must always." What? Wait for the authorities? In desperation, the minister advocates what most of us, in fact, do end up doing under such horrifying circumstances: you must "get back to the police". That is, ring them up again and again, reporting the worsening agony you are witnessing only to be told that they (a) haven't got a car in the area, (b) don't have the manpower to deal with small incidents, (c) will get there as soon as they can (which turns out to be anything from an hour to a day later).
Kim- or the Mrs., can't remember which- wrote about the problem with teachers bitching that 'the parents are not involved enough' is that when parents are involved, unless you're kissing their ass and going along with every word they bitch because 'you're not supporting the teacher'. Well, here we have a wonderful example of the government, having been shown to be incapable of dealing with crime(as they haven't been for years) warning you that you'd better not do anything other than call the cops while an old woman is being beaten; you'll be in severe trouble if you do. "We can't help her, but you'd better not do anything either!" in effect.
Which goes back to "Your life- and that of other honest citizens- is, if worth anything, worth less than that of an attacker." No respect for your life, for your freedom, for your neighbors, but HUGE respect/tolerance for criminals. And when things get worse and worse, their only solution is(in Kevin's words) "Do it again, but more so!" And when that doesn't work...
Here we not only have the aforementioned idiots with "Violence is never the answer", we have the government enforcing that you must never take action. Which means things to to hell. Or go there faster, as the case may be. When the criminals know they have nothing to fear from people seeing the crime happen, and possibly even less to fear from the police...
Update: well, hell, I just looked at Kevin's place and found he'd posted on this particular bit of government BS. With much more background.
I'm going to bed. With the Benelli in reach. Which I wish the poor bastards across the pond could do.
Updated 2: just found this at Clayton Cramer:
A Chief constable was accused of 'madness' last night after refusing to release pictures of two escaped murderers amid fears it might breach their human rights.
Derbyshire's top policeman David Coleman claimed the killers posed 'no risk' to locals, while the force said it had to consider the Human Rights Act and data protection laws when asked to publish 'wanted' photographs of the two men.
and making this crap even worse:
Nixon and Croft were both being held at the category D Sudbury open prison to finish their life sentences, which were both imposed in 1996.
The two men, both from Manchester, were being held there to help prepare them for release, and had been allowed periods of home leave and work placements. Croft went missing on October 31 and Nixon failed to appear at a roll call on November 2. [emphasis added]
And further:
Paedophiles exploited its well-intentioned commitment to equal opportunities and soon most of Islington's 12 children's homes had child molesters on the staff who cynically pretended to be ordinary homosexuals. Numerous children and other staff made allegations of abuse, but were branded homophobes and ignored.
Liam - now 29, in a permanent relationship and the proud father of year-old Isabella - was even falsely classified as gay by Islington social services, which decided he should be fostered only by single men.
Mr Vine perseveres with a concrete example: suppose you, the conscientious adult, see a young man aggressively shouting at an old woman. What should you do – retreat and call the police? Mr McNulty responds rather confusingly: "I think you should in the first instance. It may well be [that] simply shouting at them, blowing your horn or whatever, deters them and they go away." So how does it go again? You should "in the first instance" retreat and call the police (who presumably will help you to decide whether things are "as bad as you paint" by suggesting that you might be exaggerating or imagining the circumstances), but then – having so retreated – you are to shout or blow your car horn in an attempt to send the young thug scurrying away like a frightened kitten. Ok-a-a-y…
Mr Vine goes on with his vivid picture of life on the mean streets of Britain: the aggressive-looking young man is hitting the elderly woman, and the police still haven't turned up. What do you do then?
Mr McNulty is now reversing away at full speed from the Government's advice to take action rather than moan. What should you do about the woman being beaten up by the thug? "The same, the same, you must always." What? Wait for the authorities? In desperation, the minister advocates what most of us, in fact, do end up doing under such horrifying circumstances: you must "get back to the police". That is, ring them up again and again, reporting the worsening agony you are witnessing only to be told that they (a) haven't got a car in the area, (b) don't have the manpower to deal with small incidents, (c) will get there as soon as they can (which turns out to be anything from an hour to a day later).
Kim- or the Mrs., can't remember which- wrote about the problem with teachers bitching that 'the parents are not involved enough' is that when parents are involved, unless you're kissing their ass and going along with every word they bitch because 'you're not supporting the teacher'. Well, here we have a wonderful example of the government, having been shown to be incapable of dealing with crime(as they haven't been for years) warning you that you'd better not do anything other than call the cops while an old woman is being beaten; you'll be in severe trouble if you do. "We can't help her, but you'd better not do anything either!" in effect.
Which goes back to "Your life- and that of other honest citizens- is, if worth anything, worth less than that of an attacker." No respect for your life, for your freedom, for your neighbors, but HUGE respect/tolerance for criminals. And when things get worse and worse, their only solution is(in Kevin's words) "Do it again, but more so!" And when that doesn't work...
Here we not only have the aforementioned idiots with "Violence is never the answer", we have the government enforcing that you must never take action. Which means things to to hell. Or go there faster, as the case may be. When the criminals know they have nothing to fear from people seeing the crime happen, and possibly even less to fear from the police...
Update: well, hell, I just looked at Kevin's place and found he'd posted on this particular bit of government BS. With much more background.
I'm going to bed. With the Benelli in reach. Which I wish the poor bastards across the pond could do.
Updated 2: just found this at Clayton Cramer:
A Chief constable was accused of 'madness' last night after refusing to release pictures of two escaped murderers amid fears it might breach their human rights.
Derbyshire's top policeman David Coleman claimed the killers posed 'no risk' to locals, while the force said it had to consider the Human Rights Act and data protection laws when asked to publish 'wanted' photographs of the two men.
and making this crap even worse:
Nixon and Croft were both being held at the category D Sudbury open prison to finish their life sentences, which were both imposed in 1996.
The two men, both from Manchester, were being held there to help prepare them for release, and had been allowed periods of home leave and work placements. Croft went missing on October 31 and Nixon failed to appear at a roll call on November 2. [emphasis added]
And further:
Paedophiles exploited its well-intentioned commitment to equal opportunities and soon most of Islington's 12 children's homes had child molesters on the staff who cynically pretended to be ordinary homosexuals. Numerous children and other staff made allegations of abuse, but were branded homophobes and ignored.
Liam - now 29, in a permanent relationship and the proud father of year-old Isabella - was even falsely classified as gay by Islington social services, which decided he should be fostered only by single men.
About the cockroach mentioned before,
"Iowahawk's "case" is so weak and misguided, on so many levels, that I scarcely know where to begin. So let's take it point-by-point: First, vigorous public beatings of repulsive shit sacks are not necessarily at odds with the First Amendment, as long as no taxpayer dollars are involved. I agree that all due effort should be taken to insure that any beatings Mr. Arkin receives are only by private sector individuals, using privately-supplied tire irons. Further, any inconvenience Mr. Arkin experiences would be temporary, and he would be free to return to writing his column after recuperation and reconstructive dental surgery. "
Go. Here. Now.
Go. Here. Now.
"And the cat's in the suitcase..."*
Just read this over at Lawdog, and it flat demands that you read it. And consider the amount of damage involved.
Years ago in first marriage we had a cat named Catmatyx(we'd read the Asteryx the Gaul comics). Black & white male with a- even for a cat- oversize amount of 'do not mess with me'. The day came for him to be fixed, and wife took him to the vet on her way to work, planning to pick him up on the way home.
About 2:30 the vet called her and basically said "Come get your cat. Now." She got permission from her boss and off she went. As she entered the office she could hear the damndest noise you can imagine, cats yowling and dogs barking hysterically. Vet came out and gave her the story:
Vet came to get cat for his anaesthetic, and he would not come out of the cage. Vet got assistant, cat got vet; several stitches worth. With two men with gauntlets they finally got him tranqed, which required- to put him out enough for the surgery- a full double-dose. Surgery went with no problems.
Cat starts coming out of it, wobbles himself into a crouching position. Then glared at the cat in the next spot until it started yowling. Then moved onto a dog, then another cat, etc., until he had pretty much every animal in the place going off. When one would tone down, he'd glare at them until they started again, and after a while of this they called her.
The vet went to get him, and- again- he ain't comin' out without a fight, and he can barely sit up without wobbling. The vet was pulling on the gauntlets when wife said "Let me try", and called him. "Catmatyx, here kitty kitty". He looked around, jumped out of the cage and ran over to her, she picked him up and he settled down and began purring, causing vet to give him a glare of enormous proportions.
He also, as his goodbye, requested(demanded) that he never deal with that animal again.
That was one interesting cat.
*apologies to Harry Chapin
Years ago in first marriage we had a cat named Catmatyx(we'd read the Asteryx the Gaul comics). Black & white male with a- even for a cat- oversize amount of 'do not mess with me'. The day came for him to be fixed, and wife took him to the vet on her way to work, planning to pick him up on the way home.
About 2:30 the vet called her and basically said "Come get your cat. Now." She got permission from her boss and off she went. As she entered the office she could hear the damndest noise you can imagine, cats yowling and dogs barking hysterically. Vet came out and gave her the story:
Vet came to get cat for his anaesthetic, and he would not come out of the cage. Vet got assistant, cat got vet; several stitches worth. With two men with gauntlets they finally got him tranqed, which required- to put him out enough for the surgery- a full double-dose. Surgery went with no problems.
Cat starts coming out of it, wobbles himself into a crouching position. Then glared at the cat in the next spot until it started yowling. Then moved onto a dog, then another cat, etc., until he had pretty much every animal in the place going off. When one would tone down, he'd glare at them until they started again, and after a while of this they called her.
The vet went to get him, and- again- he ain't comin' out without a fight, and he can barely sit up without wobbling. The vet was pulling on the gauntlets when wife said "Let me try", and called him. "Catmatyx, here kitty kitty". He looked around, jumped out of the cage and ran over to her, she picked him up and he settled down and began purring, causing vet to give him a glare of enormous proportions.
He also, as his goodbye, requested(demanded) that he never deal with that animal again.
That was one interesting cat.
*apologies to Harry Chapin
Some thoughts- and a question- on our current situation
After reading Kim's posts here and here, and that of the Mrs. here, I've been thinking. And I have a question.
First, some background.
Part 1
I mentioned once before the reason I haven't even tried to date for quite a while is I got tired of the games. It seems to have become some kind of standard to do one of two things, or both:
Make things as difficult as possible. Not answer calls for a while, make a date and then break it, and basically make the guy jump through hoops to 'prove he's worthy' or something, and
If they decide they don't want to go out again, never ever have the courtesy to simply say so; instead they just don't return calls, until you give up.
And sometimes they seem to combine the two. They're actually playing the first, and if you get sick of it and stop calling then they spend a while telling their friends about the sorry male who dumped them.
Part 2
I've known a bunch of people over the last few years who are either pacifists or damn close, ranging from women who actually believed that for a woman to use violence to stop an attacker makes her as morally wrong as the attacker, to people who say(admit, rather) that you have the right of self-defense, but limit it and hedge it so straitly that it's almost impossible to meet their standards. Mind you, the pacifists- if pressed- will admit that if someone's breaking into their house or stalking them they'll call the cops and expect them to act, but generally don't seem to see the problem with someone else doing violence for them("My hands are clean, so it doesn't matter", etc.)
My question is, do you see this to be as connected as I do?
Loss of respect for others, and loss of respect for the value of life itself, and freedom.
Because if you tell someone their life and/or freedom isn't worth fighting for("Violence is never the answer!" and so forth) then you're telling them their life and freedom is without value. Because if you think you have some privilege to treat others like crap and they're supposed to take it and smile to prove they're worth your attention, you're telling them you have no respect for them.
And the above seems to me tied in with the multi-culti suicidal garbage that's put our very cultural survival on the line. If you don't respect the life and freedom of others, if you don't have any respect for others, then you probably have little or no respect for this culture itself: even if it's twisted around to make it pc, you don't respect it enough to think it's worthy of defending.
And the above is directly connected to the unwillingness to face- hell, to even admit to- the threat we face. People who will not or cannot face that the enemy, the islamists and communists(Chavez, anyone?) want us either subjugated or dead(in the case of the islamists, dhimmi, converted or dead, and they seem to prefer dead). If they do admit to the threat, they have to hedge it with excuses for the enemy and make it somehow all our fault. Maybe that helps them believe that the enemy doesn't really mean it, so they don't have to really worry about it.
I realize that this mess has been gone over by people with far better backgrounds in psychology and philosophy than I. This is the way I've put it down, in part just to organize my thoughts on it. What do you think?
First, some background.
Part 1
I mentioned once before the reason I haven't even tried to date for quite a while is I got tired of the games. It seems to have become some kind of standard to do one of two things, or both:
Make things as difficult as possible. Not answer calls for a while, make a date and then break it, and basically make the guy jump through hoops to 'prove he's worthy' or something, and
If they decide they don't want to go out again, never ever have the courtesy to simply say so; instead they just don't return calls, until you give up.
And sometimes they seem to combine the two. They're actually playing the first, and if you get sick of it and stop calling then they spend a while telling their friends about the sorry male who dumped them.
Part 2
I've known a bunch of people over the last few years who are either pacifists or damn close, ranging from women who actually believed that for a woman to use violence to stop an attacker makes her as morally wrong as the attacker, to people who say(admit, rather) that you have the right of self-defense, but limit it and hedge it so straitly that it's almost impossible to meet their standards. Mind you, the pacifists- if pressed- will admit that if someone's breaking into their house or stalking them they'll call the cops and expect them to act, but generally don't seem to see the problem with someone else doing violence for them("My hands are clean, so it doesn't matter", etc.)
My question is, do you see this to be as connected as I do?
Loss of respect for others, and loss of respect for the value of life itself, and freedom.
Because if you tell someone their life and/or freedom isn't worth fighting for("Violence is never the answer!" and so forth) then you're telling them their life and freedom is without value. Because if you think you have some privilege to treat others like crap and they're supposed to take it and smile to prove they're worth your attention, you're telling them you have no respect for them.
And the above seems to me tied in with the multi-culti suicidal garbage that's put our very cultural survival on the line. If you don't respect the life and freedom of others, if you don't have any respect for others, then you probably have little or no respect for this culture itself: even if it's twisted around to make it pc, you don't respect it enough to think it's worthy of defending.
And the above is directly connected to the unwillingness to face- hell, to even admit to- the threat we face. People who will not or cannot face that the enemy, the islamists and communists(Chavez, anyone?) want us either subjugated or dead(in the case of the islamists, dhimmi, converted or dead, and they seem to prefer dead). If they do admit to the threat, they have to hedge it with excuses for the enemy and make it somehow all our fault. Maybe that helps them believe that the enemy doesn't really mean it, so they don't have to really worry about it.
I realize that this mess has been gone over by people with far better backgrounds in psychology and philosophy than I. This is the way I've put it down, in part just to organize my thoughts on it. What do you think?
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Why I like to read Mike Adams' columns
"*One afternoon, while we were having class outside a female student apparently jogged by - behind where I was standing but in full view of the class – wearing very little clothing. An approving male student thought “What a nice (backside).” Simultaneously he shouted “What a nice (backside).” The feminist sitting to his right (literally, not metaphorically) proceeded to whack him upside the head with her notebook. I asked them both to stay after class.
Naturally, the feminist did not want to charge him with sexual harassment because she would be charged with assault and battery. And he did not want to charge her with assault and battery because he would be charged with sexual harassment.
It would have been better if the young man just learned to control his blurting."
The whole thing here
81 year old man killed
in his own yard, by police pretending to be dealers.
I first read about this a few days ago, I've been waiting for further to come out about it. It did.
If you haven't seen it, old man sees dealers- who turned out to be undercover cops- in his yard selling drugs. Goes out a couple of times and tells them to leave. When they don't, he goes out with a gun to run them off, and gets shot.
You can argue about whether his going out was a good idea or not. My question is this: since he was known to run dealers and whoever off of his yard, why didn't the dumbasses just move? Why did they stay there?
I am so sick of this.
Posts at Reason here and here
I first read about this a few days ago, I've been waiting for further to come out about it. It did.
If you haven't seen it, old man sees dealers- who turned out to be undercover cops- in his yard selling drugs. Goes out a couple of times and tells them to leave. When they don't, he goes out with a gun to run them off, and gets shot.
You can argue about whether his going out was a good idea or not. My question is this: since he was known to run dealers and whoever off of his yard, why didn't the dumbasses just move? Why did they stay there?
I am so sick of this.
Posts at Reason here and here
I have now tried the stuff
Gerry recommended, and it ain't bad.
What I found was Glen Garioch ten year old(the store didn't have eight). Not bad a'tall. Not as smooth as the Glenfiddich I mentioned, but quite a good flavor.
One of the things I found out a long time ago is that I will know if a whiskey is worth drinking(for me) by the aroma: if I take a sniff and my body goes "EEECH, GET IT AWAY!" then it doesn't matter how old it is or how much it cost, I won't taste it; if I do my body will make me look like I have a palsy for a few moments. I pulled the cork on this and took a sniff and my mouth started watering. Which is a good sign.
I'm not sure how to describe the difference between the two, but it's definately there. Not a bad thing, just different. Another good whiskey for sipping on.
What I found was Glen Garioch ten year old(the store didn't have eight). Not bad a'tall. Not as smooth as the Glenfiddich I mentioned, but quite a good flavor.
One of the things I found out a long time ago is that I will know if a whiskey is worth drinking(for me) by the aroma: if I take a sniff and my body goes "EEECH, GET IT AWAY!" then it doesn't matter how old it is or how much it cost, I won't taste it; if I do my body will make me look like I have a palsy for a few moments. I pulled the cork on this and took a sniff and my mouth started watering. Which is a good sign.
I'm not sure how to describe the difference between the two, but it's definately there. Not a bad thing, just different. Another good whiskey for sipping on.
If you need further proof of the kind of
nanny-state socialist gun-grabbing "I'm for the police" jerk Bloomberg is, go read.
If the little bastard actually cared about police, and wasn't anti-gun, we wouldn't be reading this crap about him.
If the little bastard actually cared about police, and wasn't anti-gun, we wouldn't be reading this crap about him.
Vacuum-sealer test results
First part of January I decided to try something with my food-saving vacuum-sealer. So I took two knife blades- no special preparation, just the usual wipe of oil they'd been put away with- and sealed them in bags, and buried them.
They've spent almost a month in the garden, through mud, rain and ice. Today I dug them up
On the left is the one that wasn't vacuumed out, on the right vacuumed and then sealed. Off to the sink to wash the worst of it off, then cut the bags open and pulled them out.
The stuff on the tangs isn't from this, those are forge marks left on(a rough surface helps the epoxy grab, etc.) There isn't a speck of rust on them, and the inside of the bags was- as it should be- perfectly dry.
So far, this does hold up as a good way to seal something other than food in the freezer up for storage. I know there shouldn't be any difference, but I want to get an old beater pistol, seal it up and bury it for a while, just to try it.
I know a guy...
They've spent almost a month in the garden, through mud, rain and ice. Today I dug them up
On the left is the one that wasn't vacuumed out, on the right vacuumed and then sealed. Off to the sink to wash the worst of it off, then cut the bags open and pulled them out.
The stuff on the tangs isn't from this, those are forge marks left on(a rough surface helps the epoxy grab, etc.) There isn't a speck of rust on them, and the inside of the bags was- as it should be- perfectly dry.
So far, this does hold up as a good way to seal something other than food in the freezer up for storage. I know there shouldn't be any difference, but I want to get an old beater pistol, seal it up and bury it for a while, just to try it.
I know a guy...
Thursday, February 01, 2007
James and his pepperbox post
reminded me of something. His post is here, with a very good picture and description of the beast. What it reminded me of was a scene in Rooster Cogburn and the Lady. I borrowed the DVD and found it. Rooster is handing this to a youngster to help protect the lady(Kathryn Hepburn, damn fine actress). He describes it thusly:
I got me a .22 pepperbox here. Now, this thing shoots five times, sometimes all at once. It is called a 'ladies companion', and that is what I intend it be used for when I leave you two off.
Back in Fort Smith there's a sportin' lady named Big Fay; she was shot twice with this thing. But, she dresses out at about two hundred and ninety, so none of the bullets found their way to any of the vitals. But against ordinary people this gives good service.
One of those scenes that stuck in my mind.
I got me a .22 pepperbox here. Now, this thing shoots five times, sometimes all at once. It is called a 'ladies companion', and that is what I intend it be used for when I leave you two off.
Back in Fort Smith there's a sportin' lady named Big Fay; she was shot twice with this thing. But, she dresses out at about two hundred and ninety, so none of the bullets found their way to any of the vitals. But against ordinary people this gives good service.
One of those scenes that stuck in my mind.
Oh gee, the roach decided to crap on the keyboard again (additional at bottom)
Because, of course, the 'arrogant and intolerant' are- of course- not smart enough to understand the complexities and subtleties of the matter.
Again, I'm not going to quote from the parasite, because this fetid piece of writing pisses me off almost as much as the first one.
I didn't leave a comment, becuase he's made it quite plain that anybody who has a problem with his thoughts(Mighty and Nuanced are they!) isn't worth paying attention to. So I write this and contemplate that in some cases the proper formula would be 'Lamppost, rope, journalist...'
The additional: God damn the New York Times. Yes, that's a bit general. No right now I don't care. I'm sick to death of the sanctimonious little bastards thinking they can do anything they want to because "WE are the New York Times, you stupid peasants, and the rules do not apply to Us".
Listen to this bullshit:"The Times is extremely sensitive to the loss suffered by families when loved ones are killed in Iraq," Chira said. "We have tried to write about the inevitable loss with extreme compassion."
She said that after the newspaper account, with a photograph of the soldier, was published Monday, a Times reporter in Baghdad made indirect efforts to tell the family of the video release later that day.
"Indirect efforts". Sorry, worthless pieces of shit. From the prostitutes who submitted this to the editors(those mighty editors we're lectured about because we don't have them) who put this up.
Again, I'm not going to quote from the parasite, because this fetid piece of writing pisses me off almost as much as the first one.
I didn't leave a comment, becuase he's made it quite plain that anybody who has a problem with his thoughts(Mighty and Nuanced are they!) isn't worth paying attention to. So I write this and contemplate that in some cases the proper formula would be 'Lamppost, rope, journalist...'
The additional: God damn the New York Times. Yes, that's a bit general. No right now I don't care. I'm sick to death of the sanctimonious little bastards thinking they can do anything they want to because "WE are the New York Times, you stupid peasants, and the rules do not apply to Us".
Listen to this bullshit:"The Times is extremely sensitive to the loss suffered by families when loved ones are killed in Iraq," Chira said. "We have tried to write about the inevitable loss with extreme compassion."
She said that after the newspaper account, with a photograph of the soldier, was published Monday, a Times reporter in Baghdad made indirect efforts to tell the family of the video release later that day.
"Indirect efforts". Sorry, worthless pieces of shit. From the prostitutes who submitted this to the editors(those mighty editors we're lectured about because we don't have them) who put this up.
Speaking of crapblogging and hot stuff,
and you have a tolerance for bad language, go here(site is NSFW).
I remained calm and collected on the outside, not wanting to give the game away. On the inside, my tongue felt like it was having contractions, and my gums were bleeding molten lava. After what seemed like eternity, I had sufficiently chewed the offending piece of meat to consistency that I could swallow. The sauce on the chicken burned my throat, and I could feel it as it slid down my gullet and headed towards my stomach.
And it gets worse from there.
I remained calm and collected on the outside, not wanting to give the game away. On the inside, my tongue felt like it was having contractions, and my gums were bleeding molten lava. After what seemed like eternity, I had sufficiently chewed the offending piece of meat to consistency that I could swallow. The sauce on the chicken burned my throat, and I could feel it as it slid down my gullet and headed towards my stomach.
And it gets worse from there.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Amazing what roaches do to draw attention to themselves
I was looking at The Pistolero's place, which led to Right Wing News, which led to this piece of shit written by a roach. I'm not going to quote from it, the level of condescension and contempt for the troops dripping off of it is enough to require a hazmat suit. And a can of raid for the parasite who wrote it.
While calming down a bit I found that the Captain has words on it, and pointed to Uncle Jimbo expressing his opinion. Which is a bit restrained, but the man is a gentleman.
I'm not, particularly, so that's not stopping me. I just cannot find the combination of words that would properly bring across the blind fucking rage I'm feeling right now for that little roach.
Before I go wash out my mouth to get rid of the bad taste, here's another take: It's called 'gonad envy'
While calming down a bit I found that the Captain has words on it, and pointed to Uncle Jimbo expressing his opinion. Which is a bit restrained, but the man is a gentleman.
I'm not, particularly, so that's not stopping me. I just cannot find the combination of words that would properly bring across the blind fucking rage I'm feeling right now for that little roach.
Before I go wash out my mouth to get rid of the bad taste, here's another take: It's called 'gonad envy'
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
On the subject of booze,
Gerry mentioned some stuff to try, which he once drank to excess: "lemme tell you, the guys I was with were impressed when I got up at daybreak cheerful as a rooster with ten hens, built a fire and started coffee and breakfast. "
I have a story.
For several years a friend and I shared a space at the Tulsa Highland Gathering, he with his travelling bookstore, me with my forgings(I once actually told a lady "Come up and see my forgings"; worth it for the look on her face). One year he had his girlfriend along and we got a room in the motel to split. Friday evening was the pre-Gathering party for vendors and staff, booze and munchies. I'd recently heard of Famous Grouse scotch, and lo! and behold, they had a jug at the bar. So I put some cash in the jar and got a cup(those 8oz. plastic cups; no, it wasn't full), put some munchies on a plate and sat.
Not bad whiskey. I finished it, and got some more. Friend had some, finished it, brought us each back a cup. Etc. Finally he came back with two cups and informed me that was the last of it, dammit. By this point I was three sheets to a strong wind and hungry, and asked him if there was a place nearby with real food as the chips & such just weren't cutting it. Setting up his tent, mys stuff, unloading, preparing, etc., you get hungry. He had grown up in Tulsa and said "Indeed there is, to the car", and off the three of us went. With some other folks deciding this was a good idea and following along.
So we had good food and conversation, and I drank tea, and afterward- back at the reception- found more of that bird whiskey. And a fine evening was had by all.
Next morning the wake-up call rang and I grabbed the phone: "Yes, thank you. Yes, I really am awake. Yes, I'm sure I am", click. I rolled up, walked over to the window and looked out: a bit overcast but not bad. So I announced "Well, we'd better get at it". Had a beard at the time so didn't need to shave and had showered before bed, so just had to lay out the shirt and kilt and put them on. I'd finished, Brian was in the bathroom, and as I was singing something I heard a grunt. Looked over to see his girlfriend holding the sheet up just enough to glare at me, and this grating voice said "Why are you alive?", carrying hints of possibly desiring to end that condition. Unlike Gerry's friends, she was not impressed. Oh yeah, she was hungover. Bad. As in 'you stay here and come on out when you're ready', which turned out to be several hours later.
Nice day, except for the lady glaring at me occasionally. Reason came that evening. She said something along the lines of "You don't drink that much, how did you do it?", which made me start calculating. Which led to "Damn!" Went over it with Brian, and yes, in the course of that evening I'd had somewhere between eight and twelve ounces of neat whiskey. And I DON'T drink that much. Before, anyway. Since, really, except for one time... Reason she was pissed is she did drink regularly, hadn't had near that much and had a hangover fit to kill, whereas I, once I had put some iced tea down, was just fine.
And I still don't know why that much didn't knock me on my ass that night, let alone didn't give me a headache of mythic proportions.
I guess those of us with clear consciences, etc.
I have a story.
For several years a friend and I shared a space at the Tulsa Highland Gathering, he with his travelling bookstore, me with my forgings(I once actually told a lady "Come up and see my forgings"; worth it for the look on her face). One year he had his girlfriend along and we got a room in the motel to split. Friday evening was the pre-Gathering party for vendors and staff, booze and munchies. I'd recently heard of Famous Grouse scotch, and lo! and behold, they had a jug at the bar. So I put some cash in the jar and got a cup(those 8oz. plastic cups; no, it wasn't full), put some munchies on a plate and sat.
Not bad whiskey. I finished it, and got some more. Friend had some, finished it, brought us each back a cup. Etc. Finally he came back with two cups and informed me that was the last of it, dammit. By this point I was three sheets to a strong wind and hungry, and asked him if there was a place nearby with real food as the chips & such just weren't cutting it. Setting up his tent, mys stuff, unloading, preparing, etc., you get hungry. He had grown up in Tulsa and said "Indeed there is, to the car", and off the three of us went. With some other folks deciding this was a good idea and following along.
So we had good food and conversation, and I drank tea, and afterward- back at the reception- found more of that bird whiskey. And a fine evening was had by all.
Next morning the wake-up call rang and I grabbed the phone: "Yes, thank you. Yes, I really am awake. Yes, I'm sure I am", click. I rolled up, walked over to the window and looked out: a bit overcast but not bad. So I announced "Well, we'd better get at it". Had a beard at the time so didn't need to shave and had showered before bed, so just had to lay out the shirt and kilt and put them on. I'd finished, Brian was in the bathroom, and as I was singing something I heard a grunt. Looked over to see his girlfriend holding the sheet up just enough to glare at me, and this grating voice said "Why are you alive?", carrying hints of possibly desiring to end that condition. Unlike Gerry's friends, she was not impressed. Oh yeah, she was hungover. Bad. As in 'you stay here and come on out when you're ready', which turned out to be several hours later.
Nice day, except for the lady glaring at me occasionally. Reason came that evening. She said something along the lines of "You don't drink that much, how did you do it?", which made me start calculating. Which led to "Damn!" Went over it with Brian, and yes, in the course of that evening I'd had somewhere between eight and twelve ounces of neat whiskey. And I DON'T drink that much. Before, anyway. Since, really, except for one time... Reason she was pissed is she did drink regularly, hadn't had near that much and had a hangover fit to kill, whereas I, once I had put some iced tea down, was just fine.
And I still don't know why that much didn't knock me on my ass that night, let alone didn't give me a headache of mythic proportions.
I guess those of us with clear consciences, etc.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Kim looks forward to the Glorious DayTM,
but if this crap keeps up it'll have to include full-scale battles of maneuver:
Children will be taught race relations and multiculturalism with every subject they study -from Spanish to science - under controversial changes to the school curriculum announced by the Government.
In music and art, they could have to learn Indian and Chinese songs and instruments, and West African drumming • 'School drop-outs regret leaving'
In maths and science, key Muslim contributions such algebra and the number zero will be emphasised to counter Islamophobia.
And in English, pupils will study literature on the experiences of migration - such as Zadie Smith's novel White Teeth, or Brick Lane, by Monica Ali.
So shortly after Tony Effin' Blair seems to have awakened to the fact that his dear multi-culti bullshit is working on destroying Britain, at least some of his various minions haven't gotten the word.
Under the recommendations - put forward in a report by former headmaster Sir Keith Ajegbo -teachers will be expected to make 'explicit references to cultural diversity' in as many subjects as possible....
And let us not forget the more blatant bowing down to the enemy:
IN A move widely seen to be bowing to Muslim pressure, Bolton Council has scrapped its Holocaust Memorial Day event.
The council is to replace it with a Genocide Memorial Day in June. This is in line with the policy of the Muslim Council of Britain, which continues to boycott HMD and is asking for a Genocide Day, which will also mark "the ongoing genocide and human rights abuses of Palestinians" by Israelis.
The council decision was made in consultation with the town's Interfaith Council.
Well, at least the 'Interfaith Council was consulted.
Oops:
But Rabbi Joseph Lever of United Synagogue who has participated in the Bolton event for around three years was not consulted on the decision. He said: "I mourn the fact that the Holocaust Memorial Day event will not take place in Bolton this year."
Louis Rapaport, president of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester, was equally disappointed that the Jewish community was not consulted.
Mr. Free Market, The Englishman and others better lay in some ammo. Before the Brit government decides that any Subject of the Crown having arms(except for the muslims who'll be excepted; but hell, they're not really SotC anyway) is a 'violation of multiculturalist norms' or some damn thing.
Children will be taught race relations and multiculturalism with every subject they study -from Spanish to science - under controversial changes to the school curriculum announced by the Government.
In music and art, they could have to learn Indian and Chinese songs and instruments, and West African drumming • 'School drop-outs regret leaving'
In maths and science, key Muslim contributions such algebra and the number zero will be emphasised to counter Islamophobia.
And in English, pupils will study literature on the experiences of migration - such as Zadie Smith's novel White Teeth, or Brick Lane, by Monica Ali.
So shortly after Tony Effin' Blair seems to have awakened to the fact that his dear multi-culti bullshit is working on destroying Britain, at least some of his various minions haven't gotten the word.
Under the recommendations - put forward in a report by former headmaster Sir Keith Ajegbo -teachers will be expected to make 'explicit references to cultural diversity' in as many subjects as possible....
And let us not forget the more blatant bowing down to the enemy:
IN A move widely seen to be bowing to Muslim pressure, Bolton Council has scrapped its Holocaust Memorial Day event.
The council is to replace it with a Genocide Memorial Day in June. This is in line with the policy of the Muslim Council of Britain, which continues to boycott HMD and is asking for a Genocide Day, which will also mark "the ongoing genocide and human rights abuses of Palestinians" by Israelis.
The council decision was made in consultation with the town's Interfaith Council.
Well, at least the 'Interfaith Council was consulted.
Oops:
But Rabbi Joseph Lever of United Synagogue who has participated in the Bolton event for around three years was not consulted on the decision. He said: "I mourn the fact that the Holocaust Memorial Day event will not take place in Bolton this year."
Louis Rapaport, president of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester, was equally disappointed that the Jewish community was not consulted.
Mr. Free Market, The Englishman and others better lay in some ammo. Before the Brit government decides that any Subject of the Crown having arms(except for the muslims who'll be excepted; but hell, they're not really SotC anyway) is a 'violation of multiculturalist norms' or some damn thing.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
No, not much in the way of range stuff lately,
or forging work. It's too cold outside for the rifle range to be fun, same for forging, and haven't done anything new with handguns or shotguns lately other than the Webley cylinder and buckshot loads.
One of the side effects of old injuries and general wear is my hands get stiff in the cold, which makes trying to do stuff in the garage chancy: I do not like working with power tools, or sharp hand tools, when my hands have a fair chance of slipping or something else nasty happening. Which sucks. Up until a couple of years ago I'd save up things like fitting guards to blades for cold weather; now I'm afraid I'll screw it up. So no pics of that stuff for a while.
And I'm out of whiskey, too. Which has nothing to do with the above except that it pisses me off as well. My favorite of the type, Glenfiddich Solera Reserve. The only fifteen-year-old legal for me. I'm not a snob on booze, if I like it that's what counts, which is the problem here because a: not many places carry it and b: it is NOT inexpensive booze. Mind you, a bottle will last me at least three months(just a shot now & then) so it's not terrible. Except this close to the end of the month.
I'll throw in something I once read, that on scotch anything above fifteen years you're paying for snob appeal. From the stuff I've tasted, they weren't kidding. I will say there's a definate difference between ten or twelve years and fifteen, so I save up for the good stuff.
Ah well, taking naproxyn for the back & leg, I probably shouldn't be drinking this stuff anyway.
One of the side effects of old injuries and general wear is my hands get stiff in the cold, which makes trying to do stuff in the garage chancy: I do not like working with power tools, or sharp hand tools, when my hands have a fair chance of slipping or something else nasty happening. Which sucks. Up until a couple of years ago I'd save up things like fitting guards to blades for cold weather; now I'm afraid I'll screw it up. So no pics of that stuff for a while.
And I'm out of whiskey, too. Which has nothing to do with the above except that it pisses me off as well. My favorite of the type, Glenfiddich Solera Reserve. The only fifteen-year-old legal for me. I'm not a snob on booze, if I like it that's what counts, which is the problem here because a: not many places carry it and b: it is NOT inexpensive booze. Mind you, a bottle will last me at least three months(just a shot now & then) so it's not terrible. Except this close to the end of the month.
I'll throw in something I once read, that on scotch anything above fifteen years you're paying for snob appeal. From the stuff I've tasted, they weren't kidding. I will say there's a definate difference between ten or twelve years and fifteen, so I save up for the good stuff.
Ah well, taking naproxyn for the back & leg, I probably shouldn't be drinking this stuff anyway.
As if we needed any further reason to whack any Iranian
found in Iraq, check this out from Q&O on the attack in Karbala:
Mahawil is in Babil province, about 27 miles directly west of Karbala. While it is impossible to prove, the attackers may have been making a bee-line towards the Iranian border.
The Karbala raid makes sense in light of the U.S. raids on the Iranian diplomatic missions in Baghdad and Irbil, where Iranian Qods Force agents were captured, along with documentation that divulged Iran's involvement with and support of Shia death squads, the Sunni insurgent, and al-Qaeda in Iraq and Ansar al-Sunnah. Five Iranians from the Irbil raid are still in U.S. custody, and captured U.S. soldiers would provide for excellent bargaining chips
IF it is confirmed that Iran's Qods Force was responsible, the news that the United States has authorized the death or captured of Iranian agents inside Iraq, as well as in Afghanistan and Lebanon makes all the more sense.
We've already found Iranians and newly Made-In-Iran equipment in the hands of the tangos; we didn't NEED anything further to 'authorize the death or capture of Iranian agents'. If the previous crap didn't count, THIS should count as an 'act of war' against us and Iraq.
Mahawil is in Babil province, about 27 miles directly west of Karbala. While it is impossible to prove, the attackers may have been making a bee-line towards the Iranian border.
The Karbala raid makes sense in light of the U.S. raids on the Iranian diplomatic missions in Baghdad and Irbil, where Iranian Qods Force agents were captured, along with documentation that divulged Iran's involvement with and support of Shia death squads, the Sunni insurgent, and al-Qaeda in Iraq and Ansar al-Sunnah. Five Iranians from the Irbil raid are still in U.S. custody, and captured U.S. soldiers would provide for excellent bargaining chips
IF it is confirmed that Iran's Qods Force was responsible, the news that the United States has authorized the death or captured of Iranian agents inside Iraq, as well as in Afghanistan and Lebanon makes all the more sense.
We've already found Iranians and newly Made-In-Iran equipment in the hands of the tangos; we didn't NEED anything further to 'authorize the death or capture of Iranian agents'. If the previous crap didn't count, THIS should count as an 'act of war' against us and Iraq.
When everything looks like a nail,
the only tool you think you need is a hammer. And if any noting of a problem connected to a group is 'racism', then you've lost the capacity to actually deal with the problem.
Kevin had the above-linked back & forth with a guy, and it reminded me of a radio show I used to listen to here in Oklahoma City. Can't remember the ladies name, the show was on KTOK in the afternoons. Not my favorite show, but tended to listen most days.
One afternoon I was driving south and had her on while she was going on about the 'murder epidemic' in the U.S. and touching on the need for more gun laws(early 80's I believe) because things were 'so much better' in Britain, etc. A guy called in and pointed out the same problem noted in Kevin's post, that if you weren't an inner-city minority male, you weren't facing an 'epidemic; that the mess there was primarily gang- and drug-related, and that if you subtracted those numbers from our homicide rate, our numbers were actually very close to those of Britain. She asked him "Then what's the answer?" and he replied he didn't know what the whole answer to it was.
And she absolutely savaged him. "How dare you say such things without having an answer for them", etc. And the next guy who called in started off with "And he'll tell you 'some of his friends are black', won't he?", and the two of them spent the next couple of minutes talking about how obviously the guy was a racist, and so forth.
And I turned her off. And I never listened to her show again. That was the first time I can remember I actually got hit with the bullshit that taking note of a problem made you a racist/bigot/homophobe/(fill in the insult).
That crap is a big problem for a number of reasons, but the biggest to me is that saying that is, in effect, putting even taking notice of a problem out of bounds. And if you can't speak of a problem, you can't do anything about it.
We're surrounded by that crap, have been for years. Don't mention problems affecting any racial group because that's being a racist; don't mention a problem affecting a minority group because that makes you a bigot(caveat: if you're blaming all the problems on white males and/or conservative beliefs, you get a pat on the head). And as we've seen in dealing with islamist nutcases, almost any group that's an 'approved' minority or victim group cannot be critized anymore without you being called a racist nowadays; apparently any approved-victim group now gets to be considered a 'race' for the sake of staving off criticism/notice of problem/etc.
This also tends to prevent people within a group from doing something, because it pretty much always goes hand-in-hand with "You're a victim, you are not responsible for your problems, so you can't be blamed for them. Or expected to fix them." Which just screws people up worse.
It's one of the wonders of the world that the people in charge of this actually think it helps people. The islamic world, in the mid-East at least, has the slight defense that their culture has always blamed outside forces for problems(that way you're not shamed by not doing something about it): outside that, there's no damn excuse for it. It's condescending, it's hugely bigoted, and in ruins lives.
And I'm damn sick of it.
Kevin had the above-linked back & forth with a guy, and it reminded me of a radio show I used to listen to here in Oklahoma City. Can't remember the ladies name, the show was on KTOK in the afternoons. Not my favorite show, but tended to listen most days.
One afternoon I was driving south and had her on while she was going on about the 'murder epidemic' in the U.S. and touching on the need for more gun laws(early 80's I believe) because things were 'so much better' in Britain, etc. A guy called in and pointed out the same problem noted in Kevin's post, that if you weren't an inner-city minority male, you weren't facing an 'epidemic; that the mess there was primarily gang- and drug-related, and that if you subtracted those numbers from our homicide rate, our numbers were actually very close to those of Britain. She asked him "Then what's the answer?" and he replied he didn't know what the whole answer to it was.
And she absolutely savaged him. "How dare you say such things without having an answer for them", etc. And the next guy who called in started off with "And he'll tell you 'some of his friends are black', won't he?", and the two of them spent the next couple of minutes talking about how obviously the guy was a racist, and so forth.
And I turned her off. And I never listened to her show again. That was the first time I can remember I actually got hit with the bullshit that taking note of a problem made you a racist/bigot/homophobe/(fill in the insult).
That crap is a big problem for a number of reasons, but the biggest to me is that saying that is, in effect, putting even taking notice of a problem out of bounds. And if you can't speak of a problem, you can't do anything about it.
We're surrounded by that crap, have been for years. Don't mention problems affecting any racial group because that's being a racist; don't mention a problem affecting a minority group because that makes you a bigot(caveat: if you're blaming all the problems on white males and/or conservative beliefs, you get a pat on the head). And as we've seen in dealing with islamist nutcases, almost any group that's an 'approved' minority or victim group cannot be critized anymore without you being called a racist nowadays; apparently any approved-victim group now gets to be considered a 'race' for the sake of staving off criticism/notice of problem/etc.
This also tends to prevent people within a group from doing something, because it pretty much always goes hand-in-hand with "You're a victim, you are not responsible for your problems, so you can't be blamed for them. Or expected to fix them." Which just screws people up worse.
It's one of the wonders of the world that the people in charge of this actually think it helps people. The islamic world, in the mid-East at least, has the slight defense that their culture has always blamed outside forces for problems(that way you're not shamed by not doing something about it): outside that, there's no damn excuse for it. It's condescending, it's hugely bigoted, and in ruins lives.
And I'm damn sick of it.
John Effin' Kerry
is a vile, two-faced, lying, worthless little sack of crap.
After I found this at Captain's Quarters, I was looking over Instapundit found he had summed up this sorry little excuse for a man very well: Like Jimmy Carter, he'll never forgive America for rejecting him, and he'll console himself with the approval of America's enemies.
After I found this at Captain's Quarters, I was looking over Instapundit found he had summed up this sorry little excuse for a man very well: Like Jimmy Carter, he'll never forgive America for rejecting him, and he'll console himself with the approval of America's enemies.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
It's amazing how things work
Various things. Cowboy Blob and others have had lousy results with Wolf ammo in their M1 Carbines, but it shoots damn well in mine, no jams, misfeeds or FTE problems and accuracy at least equal to the GI spec stuff I've tried. Some firearms can be so damn picky about what they digest, and others shoot almost anything in the proper cartridge well.
A bunch of people who follow a religeon that advocates slavery, wife abuse and murder are pissed- this time- that movies don't have the 'proper' respect for Arab and muslim culture. As the lady says, then make your own damn movies. If you can figure out how to work the cameras and recorders and...
Falling on ice has an amazing ability to demonstrate how interconnected the various parts of your body are. And not in a good way.
The things kids come up with. He's right, by the way; animals aren't actually smart, but they're sneaky little bastards.
I read a couple of years ago about one of the damn near uncountable members of the Saudi royal family- being in Switzerland for medical treatment- asking an official about a spot near the hospital "What would it take to build a mosque there?" The reply was "First, allow us to build a church in Riyadh." Why the hell isn't that the response from more officials?
From Mark Steyn:The famous photographs of the departing choppers lifting off from the US embassy in Saigon with pleading locals clinging to the undercarriage are images not just of defeat but also of the betrayals necessary to accomplish it. “In reality,” writes John O’Sullivan in his splendid new book The President, The Pope And The Prime Minister, “the betrayal was truer than the defeat. America had not been defeated on the battlefield and South Vietnamese ground forces had themselves defeated a full-scale North Vietnamese invasion in 1972 when they still enjoyed US air support. Not only did the United States withhold such support in 1975, but Congress also refused to supply even the ammunition and military supplies that it had promised when the American forces left. For some perverse psychological motive, the American establishment acted as if the United States would not be genuinely free of involvement in Vietnam until its allies were conquered and occupied.” And many of the chickenshit politicians who had a hand in this are doing everything they can to make it happen again. Rope, lamppost, politician...
Why does anyone give a rats ass about celebrities in the first place? Naomi Campbell has denied she has asked a witch doctor for help.
The supermodel has rejected claims she is interested in Brazil's African-based Candomblé religion, which has rituals likened to witchcraft, after claims she was seeing a witch doctor to curb her temper. Maybe she'd learn to control it if that five days of community service was five months in jail?
It's bloody wonderful how a college president can fire a coach and throw students under a bus, and now act like said students are wonderful people. And how many of the NAACP clowns seem to think that putting somebody in jail even if they didn't do anything(to make up for the past, you see) is a good idea. And defend the kind of bullshit by a DA that, when it was/is practiced against blacks, has them howling in the street.
It's not amazing, but a friend taped the first episode of The Dresden Files, so I'll be able to watch it. Look for a review when I can get off my ass(actually, on my ass in front of the tv) and see it.
Heard from the male offspring, it's now back to normal weather in Germany: snow and cold.
It's late and I'm tired. More breathtaking observations to come.
A bunch of people who follow a religeon that advocates slavery, wife abuse and murder are pissed- this time- that movies don't have the 'proper' respect for Arab and muslim culture. As the lady says, then make your own damn movies. If you can figure out how to work the cameras and recorders and...
Falling on ice has an amazing ability to demonstrate how interconnected the various parts of your body are. And not in a good way.
The things kids come up with. He's right, by the way; animals aren't actually smart, but they're sneaky little bastards.
I read a couple of years ago about one of the damn near uncountable members of the Saudi royal family- being in Switzerland for medical treatment- asking an official about a spot near the hospital "What would it take to build a mosque there?" The reply was "First, allow us to build a church in Riyadh." Why the hell isn't that the response from more officials?
From Mark Steyn:The famous photographs of the departing choppers lifting off from the US embassy in Saigon with pleading locals clinging to the undercarriage are images not just of defeat but also of the betrayals necessary to accomplish it. “In reality,” writes John O’Sullivan in his splendid new book The President, The Pope And The Prime Minister, “the betrayal was truer than the defeat. America had not been defeated on the battlefield and South Vietnamese ground forces had themselves defeated a full-scale North Vietnamese invasion in 1972 when they still enjoyed US air support. Not only did the United States withhold such support in 1975, but Congress also refused to supply even the ammunition and military supplies that it had promised when the American forces left. For some perverse psychological motive, the American establishment acted as if the United States would not be genuinely free of involvement in Vietnam until its allies were conquered and occupied.” And many of the chickenshit politicians who had a hand in this are doing everything they can to make it happen again. Rope, lamppost, politician...
Why does anyone give a rats ass about celebrities in the first place? Naomi Campbell has denied she has asked a witch doctor for help.
The supermodel has rejected claims she is interested in Brazil's African-based Candomblé religion, which has rituals likened to witchcraft, after claims she was seeing a witch doctor to curb her temper. Maybe she'd learn to control it if that five days of community service was five months in jail?
It's bloody wonderful how a college president can fire a coach and throw students under a bus, and now act like said students are wonderful people. And how many of the NAACP clowns seem to think that putting somebody in jail even if they didn't do anything(to make up for the past, you see) is a good idea. And defend the kind of bullshit by a DA that, when it was/is practiced against blacks, has them howling in the street.
It's not amazing, but a friend taped the first episode of The Dresden Files, so I'll be able to watch it. Look for a review when I can get off my ass(actually, on my ass in front of the tv) and see it.
Heard from the male offspring, it's now back to normal weather in Germany: snow and cold.
It's late and I'm tired. More breathtaking observations to come.
Some I've seen before,
but they're all true
Things I learned in Oklahoma
Things I learned in Oklahoma
1. Armadillos sleep in the middle of the road with all four feet in the air.
2. There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 live in Oklahoma.
3. There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 live in OK, plus a few science has ever seen before.
4. Raccoons and deer will test your melon crop, and let you know when they are ripe.
5. If it grows, it will stick you. If it crawls, it will; bite you.
6. The aforementioned spiders and snakes are divided into "That one's ok" and "That's a bad one".
7. There are valid reasons some people put razor wire around their house.
8. A tractor is NOT an all terrain vehicle. They do get stuck.
9. The wind blows at 90 mph from Oct 2 till June 25; then it stops totally until October 2.
10. Onced and twiced are words.
11. Coldbeer is one word.
12. People actually grow and eat okra.
13. Green grass DOES burn.
14. When you live in the country you don't have to buy a dog. City people drop them off at your front gate in the middle of the night.
15. The sound of coyotes howling at night only sounds good for the first few weeks.
16. When a buzzard sits on the fence and stares at you, it's time to see a doctor.
17. Fixin-to is one word.
18. There ain't no such thing as "lunch". There is only breakfast, dinner and then there's supper.
19. "Sweet ice tea" is appropriate for all meals, and you start drinking it when you are two.
20. "Backwards and forwards" means I know everything about you.
21. "Jeet?" is actually an inquiry into your dining habits.
22. You don't have to wear a watch because it doesn't matter what time it is.
You work until you're done, or it's too dark to see.
23. You measure distance in minutes or hours.
24. You can switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
25. Stores don't have bags. They have sacks.
26. You see cars with the engine running in the Wal-Mart parking lot
with no one in them, no matter what time of the year.
27. All the festivals across the state are named after a
fruit or a vegetable.
28. You install security lights on your house and garage,
and leave both unlocked.
29. You carry jumper cables for your own car.
30. You know what "cow tipping" and "snipe hunting" are.
31. You only have four spices in your kitchen: Salt, Pepper, Ketchup, and Jalapenos.
32. The local papers cover national and international news on one page, but require six pages to cover Friday night high school football.
33. The first day of deer season is a state holiday. Unofficial, but it's there.
34. You know which leaves make good toilet paper.
35. You find 100 degrees a "touch warm".
36. The four seasons are: spring, summer, still
summer and damn cold.
37. You know whether another Okie is from East, West, North,or South
OK as soon as he opens his or her mouth.
38. Going to Wal-Mart is a favorite past-time known as "off to Wally-world."
39. You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good chili-eatin' weather.
40. A carbonated soft drink isn't a soda, cola, or pop....It's a Coke regardless of brand or flavor.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Do not piss off the Finns
without very damn good reason.
I'd read of this gentleman before; impressive would be one of the words.
Found this thanks to Cowboy Blob
I'd read of this gentleman before; impressive would be one of the words.
Found this thanks to Cowboy Blob
I should have posted this yesterday when I signed it,
but for some unfathomable reason I didn't.
Go here, and say what you think of legislators who sign that vile 'resolution' against the increase in troop numbers.
Go here, and say what you think of legislators who sign that vile 'resolution' against the increase in troop numbers.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
I know she goes a bit over the top at times,
and needs at least a week on cheeseburgers, but there's a reason I like Ann Coulter:
According to the famed "polls" — or, as I call them, "surveys of uninformed people who think it's possible to get the answer wrong" — Hillary is the current front-runner for the Democrats. Other than the massive case of narcolepsy her name inspires, this would cause me not the slightest distress — except for the fact that the Republicans' current front-runners are John McCain and Rudy Giuliani.
Fortunately, polls at this stage are nothing but name recognition contests, so please stop asking me to comment on them. "Arsenic" and "proctologist" have sky-high name recognition going for them, too.
According to the famed "polls" — or, as I call them, "surveys of uninformed people who think it's possible to get the answer wrong" — Hillary is the current front-runner for the Democrats. Other than the massive case of narcolepsy her name inspires, this would cause me not the slightest distress — except for the fact that the Republicans' current front-runners are John McCain and Rudy Giuliani.
Fortunately, polls at this stage are nothing but name recognition contests, so please stop asking me to comment on them. "Arsenic" and "proctologist" have sky-high name recognition going for them, too.
Among the joys of winter
is the marvelous experience of slipping on the ice and landing on your ass/hip/head/etc. No, I didn't hit my head(so you can't blame anything on that).
I'm kind of in the position of Denny with The Company I Dare Not Name(tcidnn for short): I've got a couple of years to go before retirement, and while I don't know of anybody there who reads this, I'd rather not take the chance so a bit vague this will be.
Due to a combination of things- including stupidity- the place didn't do squat in the parking lot after the ice came down two weeks ago, which meant people falling down. Some just got bruised and sore, a couple were more seriously injured. If they don't sue the place(they should) it'll surprise the hell out of me.
This wasn't the only place demonstrating such dumbassery- unfortunately- so God knows what the total will turn out to have been.
The Oklahoma City and central area of the state really lucked out in all this mess. First the real ice storm wound up falling further east, giving us mostly sleet(quite messy enough, thank you), and then the 'record-breaking snowfall' predicted turned into rain with a little sleet mixed in. Out east they had a lot of damage to power/phone lines & poles, etc. Last I heard there were just a few thousand people left with no power. One thing I will say for the electric companies around here, they're pretty good about getting power restored.
There's supposed to be a 'slight chance of light snow' Saturday, which considering the accuracy level on this crap lately may mean a blizzard descending on the place Friday night.
If you see flares, send booze.
I'm kind of in the position of Denny with The Company I Dare Not Name(tcidnn for short): I've got a couple of years to go before retirement, and while I don't know of anybody there who reads this, I'd rather not take the chance so a bit vague this will be.
Due to a combination of things- including stupidity- the place didn't do squat in the parking lot after the ice came down two weeks ago, which meant people falling down. Some just got bruised and sore, a couple were more seriously injured. If they don't sue the place(they should) it'll surprise the hell out of me.
This wasn't the only place demonstrating such dumbassery- unfortunately- so God knows what the total will turn out to have been.
The Oklahoma City and central area of the state really lucked out in all this mess. First the real ice storm wound up falling further east, giving us mostly sleet(quite messy enough, thank you), and then the 'record-breaking snowfall' predicted turned into rain with a little sleet mixed in. Out east they had a lot of damage to power/phone lines & poles, etc. Last I heard there were just a few thousand people left with no power. One thing I will say for the electric companies around here, they're pretty good about getting power restored.
There's supposed to be a 'slight chance of light snow' Saturday, which considering the accuracy level on this crap lately may mean a blizzard descending on the place Friday night.
If you see flares, send booze.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
And do they get hollowpoint balls?
I know, it's weird, but when you arm the cops with slingshots...
TIJUANA, Mexico - The police department has issued about 60 slingshots to officers in the violent border city of Tijuana, where soldiers confiscated police weapons two weeks ago on allegations of collusion with drug traffickers.
Municipal police spokesman Fernando Bojorquez said Monday that the slingshots, along with bags of ballbearings, were given to officers patrolling areas of the city visited by tourists.
Don't you just love it?
A while back Mark in Mexico had- among a bunch of others- this post on a raid on the Oaxaca Attorney General's office and what occurred:
The feds hit the State Attorney General's headquarters and took it completely by surprise. They have done the following since entering the building:
* Confiscated all weapons of the PolicÃa Ministerial that they found inside the building
* Begun to comb files looking for outstanding arrest warrants against PM officers
* Begun to comb files for PM arrest warrants never served against "friendlies"
* Begun to test fire the PM's confiscated weapons to run ballistics tests on murder victims
* Taken control and responsibility for all the State Attorney General 's duties under the law
* Review all small arms to assure they are licensed and the carrier has permits to possess and carry. (emphasis mine)
So similar actions happened in a bunch of other areas. I wonder if the officers there got slingshots too?
And if they get hollowpoint pellets, do they get magnum rubbers, too?
TIJUANA, Mexico - The police department has issued about 60 slingshots to officers in the violent border city of Tijuana, where soldiers confiscated police weapons two weeks ago on allegations of collusion with drug traffickers.
Municipal police spokesman Fernando Bojorquez said Monday that the slingshots, along with bags of ballbearings, were given to officers patrolling areas of the city visited by tourists.
Don't you just love it?
A while back Mark in Mexico had- among a bunch of others- this post on a raid on the Oaxaca Attorney General's office and what occurred:
The feds hit the State Attorney General's headquarters and took it completely by surprise. They have done the following since entering the building:
* Confiscated all weapons of the PolicÃa Ministerial that they found inside the building
* Begun to comb files looking for outstanding arrest warrants against PM officers
* Begun to comb files for PM arrest warrants never served against "friendlies"
* Begun to test fire the PM's confiscated weapons to run ballistics tests on murder victims
* Taken control and responsibility for all the State Attorney General 's duties under the law
* Review all small arms to assure they are licensed and the carrier has permits to possess and carry. (emphasis mine)
So similar actions happened in a bunch of other areas. I wonder if the officers there got slingshots too?
And if they get hollowpoint pellets, do they get magnum rubbers, too?
Monday, January 22, 2007
Cheapie candle lantern how-to
Very cheapie, and very handy at times, made from a coke* can.
First, take an empty can-preferably rinsed out- and mark your lines
I ran the vertical so it ends just inside the start of the taper, and each end about one inch to each side. Nice thing about these cans is you can cut them with almost anything with a sharp edge, and when the flaps are folded out
I've never seen one with an edge sharp enough to cut you. Scratch, yes. And if you use a steel can it will have nasty sharp edges and corners.
What I usually do is use a small hammer or rock or wrench or whatever, reach inside and bang the base down so you have a flat platform for the candle
Tealights work best, not only for height but for longevity. Aluminum is a good conductor, which means it gets hot and a cut-short regular candle tends to melt fast. Of course, if you've got a votive candle and glass holder, that'll work pretty well.
This does a pretty good job of protecting the candle from wind, and puts out a nice light toward one direction. You can bend the opening tab up and hang it from a string or hook. And as log as you've got some kind of candle or small oil burner to put inside you can make one anywhere you need light and have a can.
Nice soft light, the kind that would be nice for a romantic setting(as I recall such occasions, anyway) and you could set several around... "My love, I made these lanterns just for tonight to provide the soft, low light you look best in."
Somehow, that just doesn't sound quite right.
*As Lawdog once wrote, I grew up with 'coke' meaning soft drinks. "We got coke, or ice tea or water. Ok, which coke you want?" Deal with it.
First, take an empty can-preferably rinsed out- and mark your lines
I ran the vertical so it ends just inside the start of the taper, and each end about one inch to each side. Nice thing about these cans is you can cut them with almost anything with a sharp edge, and when the flaps are folded out
I've never seen one with an edge sharp enough to cut you. Scratch, yes. And if you use a steel can it will have nasty sharp edges and corners.
What I usually do is use a small hammer or rock or wrench or whatever, reach inside and bang the base down so you have a flat platform for the candle
Tealights work best, not only for height but for longevity. Aluminum is a good conductor, which means it gets hot and a cut-short regular candle tends to melt fast. Of course, if you've got a votive candle and glass holder, that'll work pretty well.
This does a pretty good job of protecting the candle from wind, and puts out a nice light toward one direction. You can bend the opening tab up and hang it from a string or hook. And as log as you've got some kind of candle or small oil burner to put inside you can make one anywhere you need light and have a can.
Nice soft light, the kind that would be nice for a romantic setting(as I recall such occasions, anyway) and you could set several around... "My love, I made these lanterns just for tonight to provide the soft, low light you look best in."
Somehow, that just doesn't sound quite right.
*As Lawdog once wrote, I grew up with 'coke' meaning soft drinks. "We got coke, or ice tea or water. Ok, which coke you want?" Deal with it.
Oh yeah, the Dems have 'dropped the gun issue'
In a pigs ass.
Alan Korwin, author of "Gun Laws of America" ( www.gunlaws.com ), recently alerted us to some ominous activity taking place in Congress. Less than three weeks after the 110th Congress convened, the Democrats have already proposed four -- yes, FOUR -- new gun laws!
Oh, yeah, they've got our safety in mind. Here's the big one:
The most Draconian bill thus far, though, is "The Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2007," H.R. 96 ( http://tinyurl.com/2m8vmr ). This misleadingly-named bill -- a gun-hater's dream come true -- systematically destroys not just the Second Amendment but a number of your other rights as well.
Says Alan Korwin of HR 96:
"Under the original draft, currently legal gun shows are outlawed without prior federal permission. Gun show promoters must agree to warrantless searches in order to operate, and may be arrested if private citizens talk at the show about gun sales they wish to complete away from the show. The right to assemble peaceably at a gun show or even plan for one, carries stiff prison terms unless federal licenses are issued in advance. I am not making this up.
"Massive new bureaucracy is created because all shows and their exhibitors must be registered 30 days before the show, then again 72 hours before the show, and again five days after the show. That's in addition to registering anyone who walks in, plus "any other information" the Secretary of the Treasury decides, by regulation, is necessary on vendors, attendees, and the show itself."
Time to write congresscritters, this BS needs to be stomped on NOW.
Alan Korwin, author of "Gun Laws of America" ( www.gunlaws.com ), recently alerted us to some ominous activity taking place in Congress. Less than three weeks after the 110th Congress convened, the Democrats have already proposed four -- yes, FOUR -- new gun laws!
Oh, yeah, they've got our safety in mind. Here's the big one:
The most Draconian bill thus far, though, is "The Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2007," H.R. 96 ( http://tinyurl.com/2m8vmr ). This misleadingly-named bill -- a gun-hater's dream come true -- systematically destroys not just the Second Amendment but a number of your other rights as well.
Says Alan Korwin of HR 96:
"Under the original draft, currently legal gun shows are outlawed without prior federal permission. Gun show promoters must agree to warrantless searches in order to operate, and may be arrested if private citizens talk at the show about gun sales they wish to complete away from the show. The right to assemble peaceably at a gun show or even plan for one, carries stiff prison terms unless federal licenses are issued in advance. I am not making this up.
"Massive new bureaucracy is created because all shows and their exhibitors must be registered 30 days before the show, then again 72 hours before the show, and again five days after the show. That's in addition to registering anyone who walks in, plus "any other information" the Secretary of the Treasury decides, by regulation, is necessary on vendors, attendees, and the show itself."
Time to write congresscritters, this BS needs to be stomped on NOW.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
"And if it violates a treaty or other law,
so what?"
The committee asked Mr Hoon whether it was proper for the Government to support a measure, despite reservations about its lawfulness.
In what the committee's top adviser, Sir Edward Osmotherly, described as a "surprisingly frank" letter, Mr Hoon revealed that the Government did not let doubts about a legal basis stand in the way of a proposal if it was expedient on other grounds to back the measure.
However, Mr Hoon was silent about whether there was any hard evidence that trade-offs were effective.
In other words, "Shut up about laws and treaties you bloody peasant, your betters are taking care of things!"
The committee asked Mr Hoon whether it was proper for the Government to support a measure, despite reservations about its lawfulness.
In what the committee's top adviser, Sir Edward Osmotherly, described as a "surprisingly frank" letter, Mr Hoon revealed that the Government did not let doubts about a legal basis stand in the way of a proposal if it was expedient on other grounds to back the measure.
However, Mr Hoon was silent about whether there was any hard evidence that trade-offs were effective.
In other words, "Shut up about laws and treaties you bloody peasant, your betters are taking care of things!"
Saturday, January 20, 2007
The Curse™ is foiled!
Did I say 'inexact' science?
By damn, I did. And so was The Curse™ foiled, and the weather weenies shown to be such. Details follow:
Last night it was said that it would start with a bit of rain, then change to snow with probably an inch or two here by morning. Then there would be periods of moderate to light snow throughout the day and into the night, possibly as much as eight inches throughout central OK. Thus was the Snowpocalypse of the Curse™ predicted to strike.
I go to bed expecting to have another nasty drive to work. I wake up to a little light rain: a few bits of ice on the porch rail and nothing more. I get to work and check the latest 'forecast': they're looking a little tight around the eyes as they push the time of the snow arriving back a few more hours yet and revise the expected totals down.
By the time I get off work it's still about 32F, it's still raining lightly with a bit of sleet mixed in. About an hour or so later it flurried snow- lightly- for a bit, and now it's stopped completely. And it ain't starting again.
And thus was the Curse™ foiled, and the weather weenies made to look like idiots. Again.
I this case, I'm glad they were wrong(again) as I was not looking forward to getting home tonight and to work tomorrow through multiple inches of white stuff again, but it's a bit upsetting to have everyone from the National Weather Service to the local tv meteorologists blow it this big twice in less than two weeks: the first time on where and how much of the frozen stuff(we got very little freezing rain instead of 1-2", east of here got 1-2" instead of the 1/2" or so forecast) would fall; the second time on the snow. I haven't dug for details but I don't think anywhere in the state got all the snow predicted.
Which brings me to my next item: idiot meteorologists who can't predict the next days' snowfall, but think they can predict what the whole bloody climate will be in fifty to one-hundred years time. Tim Blair has this roundup of one of the latest pieces of bullshit from one of these. I'm sure you've heard about it, the Weather Channel idiot who wants the AMS to yank the Seal of Approval from any meteorologist who doesn't toe the pc-acceptable concensus-'science' view on globular warmering. She got called on this 'burn the heretics' bullshit and proceeded to claim
"The point of my post was never to stifle discussion. It was to raise it to a level that doesn’t confuse science and politics. Which is flatass false: you don't threaten to ruin someone's career and take away their livelihood in order to 'raise the level of discussion', and her desire dropped a big political anvil on the foot of anyone who disagrees with her. Or that was what she planned, but in true Wile E. Coyote(Super Genius) fashion it landed on her own head.
Now if it had just been a real anvil...
Additional: let us not forget this crap noted at It Comes in Pints?:
Scott Pelley, CBS News 60 Minutes correspondent, compared skeptics of global warming to "Holocaust deniers" and former Vice President turned foreign lobbyist Al Gore has repeatedly referred to skeptics as "global warming deniers."
and
In addition, Cullen's December 17, 2006 episode of "The Climate Code" TV show, featured a columnist who openly called for Nuremberg-style Trials for climate skeptics. Cullen featured Grist Magazine's Dave Roberts as an eco-expert opining on energy issues, with no mention of his public call to institute what amounts to the death penalty for scientists who express skepticism about global warming.
Go check it out, links and all. With Senator Reid wanting to basically put yellow stars on bloggers who dare to criticize politicians and these clowns wanting to put me on trial, maybe I should invest in more ammo...
By damn, I did. And so was The Curse™ foiled, and the weather weenies shown to be such. Details follow:
Last night it was said that it would start with a bit of rain, then change to snow with probably an inch or two here by morning. Then there would be periods of moderate to light snow throughout the day and into the night, possibly as much as eight inches throughout central OK. Thus was the Snowpocalypse of the Curse™ predicted to strike.
I go to bed expecting to have another nasty drive to work. I wake up to a little light rain: a few bits of ice on the porch rail and nothing more. I get to work and check the latest 'forecast': they're looking a little tight around the eyes as they push the time of the snow arriving back a few more hours yet and revise the expected totals down.
By the time I get off work it's still about 32F, it's still raining lightly with a bit of sleet mixed in. About an hour or so later it flurried snow- lightly- for a bit, and now it's stopped completely. And it ain't starting again.
And thus was the Curse™ foiled, and the weather weenies made to look like idiots. Again.
I this case, I'm glad they were wrong(again) as I was not looking forward to getting home tonight and to work tomorrow through multiple inches of white stuff again, but it's a bit upsetting to have everyone from the National Weather Service to the local tv meteorologists blow it this big twice in less than two weeks: the first time on where and how much of the frozen stuff(we got very little freezing rain instead of 1-2", east of here got 1-2" instead of the 1/2" or so forecast) would fall; the second time on the snow. I haven't dug for details but I don't think anywhere in the state got all the snow predicted.
Which brings me to my next item: idiot meteorologists who can't predict the next days' snowfall, but think they can predict what the whole bloody climate will be in fifty to one-hundred years time. Tim Blair has this roundup of one of the latest pieces of bullshit from one of these. I'm sure you've heard about it, the Weather Channel idiot who wants the AMS to yank the Seal of Approval from any meteorologist who doesn't toe the pc-acceptable concensus-'science' view on globular warmering. She got called on this 'burn the heretics' bullshit and proceeded to claim
"The point of my post was never to stifle discussion. It was to raise it to a level that doesn’t confuse science and politics. Which is flatass false: you don't threaten to ruin someone's career and take away their livelihood in order to 'raise the level of discussion', and her desire dropped a big political anvil on the foot of anyone who disagrees with her. Or that was what she planned, but in true Wile E. Coyote(Super Genius) fashion it landed on her own head.
Now if it had just been a real anvil...
Additional: let us not forget this crap noted at It Comes in Pints?:
Scott Pelley, CBS News 60 Minutes correspondent, compared skeptics of global warming to "Holocaust deniers" and former Vice President turned foreign lobbyist Al Gore has repeatedly referred to skeptics as "global warming deniers."
and
In addition, Cullen's December 17, 2006 episode of "The Climate Code" TV show, featured a columnist who openly called for Nuremberg-style Trials for climate skeptics. Cullen featured Grist Magazine's Dave Roberts as an eco-expert opining on energy issues, with no mention of his public call to institute what amounts to the death penalty for scientists who express skepticism about global warming.
Go check it out, links and all. With Senator Reid wanting to basically put yellow stars on bloggers who dare to criticize politicians and these clowns wanting to put me on trial, maybe I should invest in more ammo...
Friday, January 19, 2007
Motion to hold Nagin and Riley in contempt
Not like we've been doing, but in the legal sense:
BELLEVUE, WA – Frustrated by repeated failures to meet court-appointed deadlines, and a pattern of disregard by the City of New Orleans, the Second Amendment Foundation has filed a motion to hold Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Superintendent Warren Riley in contempt of federal court.
Now if this would just include a long term in jail AND a big fine, that'd be a start.
BELLEVUE, WA – Frustrated by repeated failures to meet court-appointed deadlines, and a pattern of disregard by the City of New Orleans, the Second Amendment Foundation has filed a motion to hold Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Superintendent Warren Riley in contempt of federal court.
Now if this would just include a long term in jail AND a big fine, that'd be a start.
More readiness followup
I've thought about a generator, but haven't gotten one for the simple reason I might need it for a day or two every three years. Maybe. So I haven't made that investment. If I do, I'll pour a slab and build a small shed for it in back, and have it wired into a switch. Which'll mean an electrician because that's a type of wiring I'm not comfortable with trying.
Gerry suggested one of the made-for-indoors kerosene heaters, which wouldn't be a bad idea. I think the gas heater would be ok, but for a situation where gas service goes out this'd take care of it.
For light and heat, he also mentioned something I hadn't thought of in years: the Aladdin lamp. My folks have one like this one that came from Dad's parents. They put out a lot of light, and a fair amount of heat, and will burn for hours on one fill. They work kind of like a propane lantern, in that the burning fuel heats the mantle and it glows. Hell, I'd like to have one of these of my own just to use sometimes.
As people pointed out, when storing water do not use milk jugs, it's almost impossible to clean them thoroughly enough.
However:
At least one 100+ lb dog. Dogs have a normal body temp of over 104F, sleep quietly, and don't need chocolates. They get more excited to see you the later you get home, and like you just as much whether you're drunk or sober.
I have two dogs, neither near this size and they prefer it outdoors. Though they don't care if I'm drunk. And Security Staff(junior) seems to have a taste for scotch.
He didn't have good luck with a crank radio, does anyone know of one with a record of actually working the way it should?
I do have a 5-gallon can of gas treated with Sta-Bil set aside(I used to have two, but one sprung a leak, need to either replace or find something that actually works to seal it and doesn't cost as much as a new can).
Something that struck me as I was looking through a knife & accessories catalog, just for general use: something to sharpen knives. I think it might be a good indication if someone has made any preparations for problems- or has any skills for such- if they have(or have not) sharp knives and the skills/tools to keep them that way. How many people have you known who had 'the sharp knife' in the kitchen? You know, the only one that'll cut anything harder than peanut butter? Until it gets dull, and they either buy a new one or pay someone to sharpen it. If you told them they could touch up the edge on the bottom ring of a plate they'd think you'd gone over the edge, and if you handed them a steel or stone...
More thoughts to come. After the Curse* gets through with us.
*The Curse Of du Toit™
Gerry suggested one of the made-for-indoors kerosene heaters, which wouldn't be a bad idea. I think the gas heater would be ok, but for a situation where gas service goes out this'd take care of it.
For light and heat, he also mentioned something I hadn't thought of in years: the Aladdin lamp. My folks have one like this one that came from Dad's parents. They put out a lot of light, and a fair amount of heat, and will burn for hours on one fill. They work kind of like a propane lantern, in that the burning fuel heats the mantle and it glows. Hell, I'd like to have one of these of my own just to use sometimes.
As people pointed out, when storing water do not use milk jugs, it's almost impossible to clean them thoroughly enough.
However:
At least one 100+ lb dog. Dogs have a normal body temp of over 104F, sleep quietly, and don't need chocolates. They get more excited to see you the later you get home, and like you just as much whether you're drunk or sober.
I have two dogs, neither near this size and they prefer it outdoors. Though they don't care if I'm drunk. And Security Staff(junior) seems to have a taste for scotch.
He didn't have good luck with a crank radio, does anyone know of one with a record of actually working the way it should?
I do have a 5-gallon can of gas treated with Sta-Bil set aside(I used to have two, but one sprung a leak, need to either replace or find something that actually works to seal it and doesn't cost as much as a new can).
Something that struck me as I was looking through a knife & accessories catalog, just for general use: something to sharpen knives. I think it might be a good indication if someone has made any preparations for problems- or has any skills for such- if they have(or have not) sharp knives and the skills/tools to keep them that way. How many people have you known who had 'the sharp knife' in the kitchen? You know, the only one that'll cut anything harder than peanut butter? Until it gets dull, and they either buy a new one or pay someone to sharpen it. If you told them they could touch up the edge on the bottom ring of a plate they'd think you'd gone over the edge, and if you handed them a steel or stone...
More thoughts to come. After the Curse* gets through with us.
*The Curse Of du Toit™
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Emergency readiness
Weather-related in specific, and the review I mentioned. I wasn't going to do this until the weather problem had passed but with the Curse Of du Toit™ about to whack us again, I thought I'd go ahead and do it now.
Number one, I need to pay more attention to forecasts this time of year. If I had, a couple of things would have been taken care of with no problem. As it was, I found out about the "We're going to die in the dark!" change of forecast for the ice storm after, oh, just about everybody else. Which was a wakeup I didn't expect: having spent a lot of time growing up in farm/ranch country, I used to watch this very carefully; I've really slipped on this.
Number two, heat and light sources. I've got two bottles for my grill, and neither one is full. Between them, I'd guess about one-and-a-quarter; I should have had the one I'm not using full, and could have filled the other as soon as I heard about the ice predictions.
I've got a twin-mantle propane camping lantern. If you're not familiar with these, they put out a lot of light and heat: if the power had gone off for a long period I could have set this up in the utility room(in all but severe cold the one place I'd really worry about the pipes) and kept it on low. That would've kept the pipes safe and some heat going to the rest of the house. I only had two mostly-full bottles that fit it(and my torch head), which wouldn't have lasted long enough. Again, on general principles I should have had a couple more bottles minimum, and if I'd paid attention to the forecast could have bought more before they evaporated from the shelves. I do have a set of spare mantles for it.
I've got two oil lamps in the living room that put out light & heat both, a gallon of lamp oil and a gallon of kerosene in the shed. I've also got a bunch of candles and holders, including a pierced-tin lantern that works quite well, but when I looked for the bag of tealight candles I couldn't find them. I need to keep this stuff in one place so I don't lose track of it.
Number three, vehicle. Anti-freeze and so forth was ok, but I should have put the bucket of coal dust and the shovel in the back as soon as I got the word: coal dust under the tires does a very good job of giving you traction in ice and snow.
I did have the 'get home' pack in it, and did throw in the wool blanket I keep for travelling in cold weather. I'm thinking I need to put some kind of extra 'layer' clothing in, like a set of polypropylene long underwear or sweater or sweats in a bag: extra layers are always nice in really cold weather. And one other thing: a hat that'll fit over my knit cap AND have a brim to keep rain/snow/whatever off my glasses for cold weather; for warm weather just a hat to keep the sun out of my eyes or rain off the glasses.
Food at the house, I was fine: canned goods, a case of MREs and a half-dozen extras. A camping stove that runs off propane, even a little single-burner type, would be good to have, so as to avoid having to use the grill for all cooking. Which would be very nice, as standing in the teens temperatures with, as Dr. Fever put it, a gentle wind wafting out of the north at about a thousand miles an hour while trying to cook would not be fun.
Number four, house heat. I have a gas dryer hookup in the utility room, so I'm thinking get a free-standing gas heater that, in event of real need, I could hook up. It wouldn't keep the house toasty-warm, but it'd beat the hell out of nothing.
There's a number of other things, both taken care of and not. I've got a couple of battery-powered radios and enough batteries for a few days of use, I've got flashlights(and batteries), and I've got the crank-charge flashlight my folks gave me a while back: it's not real bright, but plenty to see by in a dark area. I want to get one of the good crank radios the gentleman at Random Nuclear Strikes wrote about a while back(it's late and I'm tired, I'll find the spot for a link later). I've actually wanted one of these for a long time, but it keeps being pushed back.
Home-defense arms & ammo, let's just say I'm good there. And unless I cannot legally carry somewhere I'm going, I've always got a sidearm either on me or in the vehicle for a 'get home in bad circumstances' situation.
Still thinking about this, but that's the list for now. Suggestions, ideas and constructive criticism welcomed.
Number one, I need to pay more attention to forecasts this time of year. If I had, a couple of things would have been taken care of with no problem. As it was, I found out about the "We're going to die in the dark!" change of forecast for the ice storm after, oh, just about everybody else. Which was a wakeup I didn't expect: having spent a lot of time growing up in farm/ranch country, I used to watch this very carefully; I've really slipped on this.
Number two, heat and light sources. I've got two bottles for my grill, and neither one is full. Between them, I'd guess about one-and-a-quarter; I should have had the one I'm not using full, and could have filled the other as soon as I heard about the ice predictions.
I've got a twin-mantle propane camping lantern. If you're not familiar with these, they put out a lot of light and heat: if the power had gone off for a long period I could have set this up in the utility room(in all but severe cold the one place I'd really worry about the pipes) and kept it on low. That would've kept the pipes safe and some heat going to the rest of the house. I only had two mostly-full bottles that fit it(and my torch head), which wouldn't have lasted long enough. Again, on general principles I should have had a couple more bottles minimum, and if I'd paid attention to the forecast could have bought more before they evaporated from the shelves. I do have a set of spare mantles for it.
I've got two oil lamps in the living room that put out light & heat both, a gallon of lamp oil and a gallon of kerosene in the shed. I've also got a bunch of candles and holders, including a pierced-tin lantern that works quite well, but when I looked for the bag of tealight candles I couldn't find them. I need to keep this stuff in one place so I don't lose track of it.
Number three, vehicle. Anti-freeze and so forth was ok, but I should have put the bucket of coal dust and the shovel in the back as soon as I got the word: coal dust under the tires does a very good job of giving you traction in ice and snow.
I did have the 'get home' pack in it, and did throw in the wool blanket I keep for travelling in cold weather. I'm thinking I need to put some kind of extra 'layer' clothing in, like a set of polypropylene long underwear or sweater or sweats in a bag: extra layers are always nice in really cold weather. And one other thing: a hat that'll fit over my knit cap AND have a brim to keep rain/snow/whatever off my glasses for cold weather; for warm weather just a hat to keep the sun out of my eyes or rain off the glasses.
Food at the house, I was fine: canned goods, a case of MREs and a half-dozen extras. A camping stove that runs off propane, even a little single-burner type, would be good to have, so as to avoid having to use the grill for all cooking. Which would be very nice, as standing in the teens temperatures with, as Dr. Fever put it, a gentle wind wafting out of the north at about a thousand miles an hour while trying to cook would not be fun.
Number four, house heat. I have a gas dryer hookup in the utility room, so I'm thinking get a free-standing gas heater that, in event of real need, I could hook up. It wouldn't keep the house toasty-warm, but it'd beat the hell out of nothing.
There's a number of other things, both taken care of and not. I've got a couple of battery-powered radios and enough batteries for a few days of use, I've got flashlights(and batteries), and I've got the crank-charge flashlight my folks gave me a while back: it's not real bright, but plenty to see by in a dark area. I want to get one of the good crank radios the gentleman at Random Nuclear Strikes wrote about a while back(it's late and I'm tired, I'll find the spot for a link later). I've actually wanted one of these for a long time, but it keeps being pushed back.
Home-defense arms & ammo, let's just say I'm good there. And unless I cannot legally carry somewhere I'm going, I've always got a sidearm either on me or in the vehicle for a 'get home in bad circumstances' situation.
Still thinking about this, but that's the list for now. Suggestions, ideas and constructive criticism welcomed.
Driving on ice for idiots
You know the people I'm speaking of: the ones who think they're the greatest thing to guide wheels since Andretti and can safely do so over anything. They're usually either the first to wind up in ditches or front yards or crashing into somebody else; or the ones who cause the worst accidents.
Once upon a time I was a dispatcher for a LE agency. Two nights running one winter we had conditions that we hated worse than an ice storm(traffic-wise, that is): just a touch of mist, and the temperature was just right to cause every elevated surface in the central OK area to freeze over. And this was such a thin layer you couldn't see it, you just discovered it when you realized you had no steering control in the middle of a bridge or overpass. And then, as they say, hilarity ensued. Including the one OCPD unit that was hit three times in one evening, each time while working a different accident, and so forth.
In the middle of all this, I answered the phone and- close as I can recall- this conversation ensued:
"-, can I help you?"
"Yeah, how are the roads?"
"Icy and hazardous all through central Oklahoma, we're discouraging all travel."
"But how are they really?"
Pause.
"Sir, they're icy and hazardous."
"Look, I know you have to say that for people who can't drive, but I've driven in Colorado and New Mexico in the mountains, and I know how. So how are they really?"
Considering I'm sitting there listening to various agencies on the radio calling for wreckers and ambulances and help to clear or block off a multi-car crash in between phone calls, I really didn't need to go through this- again- so I put a touch more 'formal and "I ain't gonna argue this crap with you" in my voice. "Sir, they really are icy and hazardous, and we're telling everyone to stay home."
"Come on now, I really do know how to drive on ice if there's really much out there, so how are they?"
At this point I have gone beyond a touch annoyed, so "Sir, every bridge and overpass around here has a coat of ice on it you can't see and we've got accidents all over the place."
"I've got studded tires and I'm used to driving on ice and snow, I'm not like these people around here who can't."
At which point I didn't really care about being polite any more. "Sir, we've got units that've been hit two or three times working accidents and it's not getting any better. And I don't care how good a driver you are, you hit a dime's worth of ice at the wrong time and you're dead."
Pause, followed by the click of him hanging up.
I came to hate that job.
Once upon a time I was a dispatcher for a LE agency. Two nights running one winter we had conditions that we hated worse than an ice storm(traffic-wise, that is): just a touch of mist, and the temperature was just right to cause every elevated surface in the central OK area to freeze over. And this was such a thin layer you couldn't see it, you just discovered it when you realized you had no steering control in the middle of a bridge or overpass. And then, as they say, hilarity ensued. Including the one OCPD unit that was hit three times in one evening, each time while working a different accident, and so forth.
In the middle of all this, I answered the phone and- close as I can recall- this conversation ensued:
"-, can I help you?"
"Yeah, how are the roads?"
"Icy and hazardous all through central Oklahoma, we're discouraging all travel."
"But how are they really?"
Pause.
"Sir, they're icy and hazardous."
"Look, I know you have to say that for people who can't drive, but I've driven in Colorado and New Mexico in the mountains, and I know how. So how are they really?"
Considering I'm sitting there listening to various agencies on the radio calling for wreckers and ambulances and help to clear or block off a multi-car crash in between phone calls, I really didn't need to go through this- again- so I put a touch more 'formal and "I ain't gonna argue this crap with you" in my voice. "Sir, they really are icy and hazardous, and we're telling everyone to stay home."
"Come on now, I really do know how to drive on ice if there's really much out there, so how are they?"
At this point I have gone beyond a touch annoyed, so "Sir, every bridge and overpass around here has a coat of ice on it you can't see and we've got accidents all over the place."
"I've got studded tires and I'm used to driving on ice and snow, I'm not like these people around here who can't."
At which point I didn't really care about being polite any more. "Sir, we've got units that've been hit two or three times working accidents and it's not getting any better. And I don't care how good a driver you are, you hit a dime's worth of ice at the wrong time and you're dead."
Pause, followed by the click of him hanging up.
I came to hate that job.
To quote Raj Whitehall,
"How truly joyous."
...HEAVY SNOW AND SLEET LIKELY THIS WEEKEND...
.A WINTER STORM TAKING SHAPE ACROSS THE SOUTHWEST UNITED STATES
WILL MOVE EAST AND NORTHEAST TONIGHT AND TOMORROW... AND BEGIN
AFFECTING THE REGION FRIDAY. THIS STORM IS LIKELY TO BRING A
SWATH OF HEAVY SNOW TO PARTS OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL OKLAHOMA ON
SATURDAY WITH PROGRESSIVELY LIGHTER AMOUNTS TOWARD SOUTHERN
OKLAHOMA AND WESTERN NORTH TEXAS... WHERE SLEET AND RAIN ARE ALSO
LIKELY TO OCCUR. THE STORM IS EXPECTED TO EXIT THE REGION LATE
SATURDAY NIGHT OR SUNDAY MORNING.
BECAUSE THIS STORM IS STILL EVOLVING...SOME UNCERTAINTY STILL
EXISTS REGARDING THE STORM`S PATH...AND WHERE THE HEAVIEST SNOW
WILL FALL. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE FORECAST SHOULD BE EXPECTED AS NEW
INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE. DO NOT WAIT. TAKE STEPS NOW TO
PREPARE FOR THE WINTER STORM.
Allow me to translate part of the above to true language: THIS BIG DAMN MESS IS GOING THROUGH SOMEWHERE, BUT US HIGHLY-TRAINED WEATHER PEOPLE HAVE NO REAL IDEA WHERE EXCEPT 'SOMEWHERE THROUGH HERE'. SO SOME OF YOU ARE GONNA DIE, AND THE REST WILL BE PISSED AT US FOR SCARING HELL OUT OF THEM, BUT WE'RE NOT GONNA PREDICT WHERE BECAUSE THEN WE'LL BE WRONG AND EVEN MORE OF YOU WILL BE PISSED." End of translation.
...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM FRIDAY TO 6 AM CST
SUNDAY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORMAN HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM
WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM FRIDAY TO 6 AM CST SUNDAY.
PRECIPITATION IN THE FORM OF SLEET AND SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP
ACROSS WESTERN OKLAHOMA FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING BEFORE
SPREADING EASTWARD OVERNIGHT. THE SNOW WILL BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES
DURING THE DAY ON SATURDAY. SOME LIGHT FREEZING DRIZZLE MAY ALSO
OCCUR SATURDAY NIGHT. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL AVERAGE MORE THAN 4
INCHES NORTH OF INTERSTATE 44...WITH AMOUNTS UP TO 8 INCHES
POSSIBLE IN AN AREA FROM NEAR I-44 NORTHWARD TO AN ERICK... TO
TALOGA... TO ENID TO PONCA CITY LINE. THIS WILL INCLUDE CLINTON...
THE OKLAHOMA CITY METRO... AND STILLWATER. SLEET WILL ALSO BE
POSSIBLE ACROSS AREAS SOUTH OF I-40. THIS WILL LIMIT THE TOTAL
ACCUMULATIONS WITH 3 TO 6 INCHES OF SLEET AND SNOW LIKELY FROM
I-44 SOUTH TO DUNCAN... PAULS VALLEY TO TECUMSEH.
A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW AND
SLEET ARE EXPECTED. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR
IMPOSSIBLE. THE WEIGHT OF THE SNOW WILL ALSO LEAD TO POSSIBLE
STRUCTURAL FAILURES... ESPECIALLY ON LARGE FREE SPAN AND FLAT
ROOFS.
Thus we observe a warning of the possible full weight of the Curse Of du Toit™. Observe ye, and be afraid.
...HEAVY SNOW AND SLEET LIKELY THIS WEEKEND...
.A WINTER STORM TAKING SHAPE ACROSS THE SOUTHWEST UNITED STATES
WILL MOVE EAST AND NORTHEAST TONIGHT AND TOMORROW... AND BEGIN
AFFECTING THE REGION FRIDAY. THIS STORM IS LIKELY TO BRING A
SWATH OF HEAVY SNOW TO PARTS OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL OKLAHOMA ON
SATURDAY WITH PROGRESSIVELY LIGHTER AMOUNTS TOWARD SOUTHERN
OKLAHOMA AND WESTERN NORTH TEXAS... WHERE SLEET AND RAIN ARE ALSO
LIKELY TO OCCUR. THE STORM IS EXPECTED TO EXIT THE REGION LATE
SATURDAY NIGHT OR SUNDAY MORNING.
BECAUSE THIS STORM IS STILL EVOLVING...SOME UNCERTAINTY STILL
EXISTS REGARDING THE STORM`S PATH...AND WHERE THE HEAVIEST SNOW
WILL FALL. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE FORECAST SHOULD BE EXPECTED AS NEW
INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE. DO NOT WAIT. TAKE STEPS NOW TO
PREPARE FOR THE WINTER STORM.
Allow me to translate part of the above to true language: THIS BIG DAMN MESS IS GOING THROUGH SOMEWHERE, BUT US HIGHLY-TRAINED WEATHER PEOPLE HAVE NO REAL IDEA WHERE EXCEPT 'SOMEWHERE THROUGH HERE'. SO SOME OF YOU ARE GONNA DIE, AND THE REST WILL BE PISSED AT US FOR SCARING HELL OUT OF THEM, BUT WE'RE NOT GONNA PREDICT WHERE BECAUSE THEN WE'LL BE WRONG AND EVEN MORE OF YOU WILL BE PISSED." End of translation.
...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM FRIDAY TO 6 AM CST
SUNDAY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORMAN HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM
WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM FRIDAY TO 6 AM CST SUNDAY.
PRECIPITATION IN THE FORM OF SLEET AND SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP
ACROSS WESTERN OKLAHOMA FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING BEFORE
SPREADING EASTWARD OVERNIGHT. THE SNOW WILL BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES
DURING THE DAY ON SATURDAY. SOME LIGHT FREEZING DRIZZLE MAY ALSO
OCCUR SATURDAY NIGHT. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL AVERAGE MORE THAN 4
INCHES NORTH OF INTERSTATE 44...WITH AMOUNTS UP TO 8 INCHES
POSSIBLE IN AN AREA FROM NEAR I-44 NORTHWARD TO AN ERICK... TO
TALOGA... TO ENID TO PONCA CITY LINE. THIS WILL INCLUDE CLINTON...
THE OKLAHOMA CITY METRO... AND STILLWATER. SLEET WILL ALSO BE
POSSIBLE ACROSS AREAS SOUTH OF I-40. THIS WILL LIMIT THE TOTAL
ACCUMULATIONS WITH 3 TO 6 INCHES OF SLEET AND SNOW LIKELY FROM
I-44 SOUTH TO DUNCAN... PAULS VALLEY TO TECUMSEH.
A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW AND
SLEET ARE EXPECTED. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR
IMPOSSIBLE. THE WEIGHT OF THE SNOW WILL ALSO LEAD TO POSSIBLE
STRUCTURAL FAILURES... ESPECIALLY ON LARGE FREE SPAN AND FLAT
ROOFS.
Thus we observe a warning of the possible full weight of the Curse Of du Toit™. Observe ye, and be afraid.
More on the Curse Of du Toit™
the bastard.
Weather Synopsis...A strong winter storm will approach the region Friday, leading to widespread moderate to heavy snow over the weekend. Accumulating snows could begin as early as late Friday across western north Texas and southwest Oklahoma, then spread northeast. Portions of south-central and southeast Oklahoma, along with north Texas, will likely see a mixture of sleet and rain with the snow. Although the forecasted snow amounts will likely fluctuate as new date becomes available, we are fairly certain that this winter storm will have severe impacts on travel and commerce for portions of Oklahoma and western north Texas.
And look down south a bit:
I hope you're happy, Kim. And the rest of us have to suffer so you can have your fondly remembered 'Chicago weather'.
Weather Synopsis...A strong winter storm will approach the region Friday, leading to widespread moderate to heavy snow over the weekend. Accumulating snows could begin as early as late Friday across western north Texas and southwest Oklahoma, then spread northeast. Portions of south-central and southeast Oklahoma, along with north Texas, will likely see a mixture of sleet and rain with the snow. Although the forecasted snow amounts will likely fluctuate as new date becomes available, we are fairly certain that this winter storm will have severe impacts on travel and commerce for portions of Oklahoma and western north Texas.
And look down south a bit:
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...GAINESVILLE...SHERMAN...DENISON...
BONHAM...PARIS...DECATUR...BRIDGEPORT...DENTON...LEWISVILLE...
FLOWER MOUND...THE COLONY...PLANO...GREENVILLE...COMMERCE...
COOPER...SULPHUR SPRINGS...MINERAL WELLS...WEATHERFORD...BRIAR...
FORT WORTH...ARLINGTON...DALLAS...ROCKWALL...TERRELL...KAUFMAN...
FORNEY...WILLS POINT...CANTON...GRAND SALINE...VAN...EDGEWOOD...
EMORY...POINT...EAST TAWAKONI...CISCO...EASTLAND...RANGER...
GORMAN...STEPHENVILLE...DUBLIN...GRANBURY...OAK TRAIL SHORES...
GLEN ROSE...CLEBURNE...BURLESON...WAXAHACHIE...ENNIS...
MIDLOTHIAN...GLENN HEIGHTS...COMANCHE...DE LEON...GOLDTHWAITE...
HAMILTON...HICO...CLIFTON...MERIDIAN...VALLEY MILLS...HILLSBORO
434 AM CST THU JAN 18 2007
...WINTER STORM WATCH NOW IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY EVENING THROUGH
SATURDAY AFTERNOON...
.A STRONG UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE FROM BAJA TO THE
CENTRAL PLAINS THROUGH THE WEEKEND. AT THE SURFACE...A COLD FRONT
WILL SLIDE ACROSS THE REGION LATE TODAY AND RESULT IN A REINFORCEMENT
OF COLD AIR. TEMPERATURES WILL INITIALLY REMAIN ABOVE FREEZING
BUT WILL BEGIN TO FALL TO FREEZING OR BELOW FRIDAY NIGHT. THE SUB-
FREEZING TEMPERATURES...COUPLED WITH MOISTURE AND ENERGY MOVING
ACROSS THE REGION...COULD RESULT IN MIXTURE OF FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET
FROM LATE FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON. ICE
ACCUMULATIONS UP TO 1/4 OF AN INCH WILL BE POSSIBLE BEFORE THE
WINTER PRECIPITATION ENDS SATURDAY NIGHT.
A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT
SNOW...SLEET...OR ICE ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL.
$$
I hope you're happy, Kim. And the rest of us have to suffer so you can have your fondly remembered 'Chicago weather'.
There are troops out there
who are not only the general run of brave, intelligent and capable, we might consider buying them reinforced underwear for their outsized balls. And keep in mind these are not all of them, just the onces that actually get written notice. God knows what some troops have done that we'll not hear about.
And found this through Ace of Spades just now about some British Marines:
Unwilling to leave behind one of their number following a retreat, the commandos strapped themselves to the small stabiliser wings of two Apache helicopters and returned into the midst of a fierce gunfight with the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
Think about that for a minute. Think about those small wings, then think about strapping yourself onto one- on a gunship that going to draw fire like blood draws sharks- and flying in.
Damn.
And found this through Ace of Spades just now about some British Marines:
Unwilling to leave behind one of their number following a retreat, the commandos strapped themselves to the small stabiliser wings of two Apache helicopters and returned into the midst of a fierce gunfight with the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
Think about that for a minute. Think about those small wings, then think about strapping yourself onto one- on a gunship that going to draw fire like blood draws sharks- and flying in.
Damn.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Jimmy Carter, how do we despise thee?
Number 689
From the full article: To wit: "It is imperative that the general Arab community and all significant Palestinian groups make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of the Roadmap for Peace are accepted by Israel." (Emphasis added.)
You don't have to read between the lines here.
Carter isn't calling on the Palestinians to give up terror and murder now as a way to convince Israel they are serious about peace. Rather, he says they can wait until they've achieved their goals at the bargaining table. No need, says Carter, to give up terrorism until then."
Could there ever have been a sorrier example of ex-President than this bozo?
From the full article: To wit: "It is imperative that the general Arab community and all significant Palestinian groups make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of the Roadmap for Peace are accepted by Israel." (Emphasis added.)
You don't have to read between the lines here.
Carter isn't calling on the Palestinians to give up terror and murder now as a way to convince Israel they are serious about peace. Rather, he says they can wait until they've achieved their goals at the bargaining table. No need, says Carter, to give up terrorism until then."
Could there ever have been a sorrier example of ex-President than this bozo?
I've figured out the weather
Cold, sleet and ice, and now they're predicting 4-8" of snow this weekend in this area. Like we need that with the secondary/side streets still sheet ice in many cases. But I know what's causing this.
It's du Toit's fault.
Yes, I mean you, Kim. You and your "I miss the weather in Chicago", and your "I miss snow and ice" crap. And just to wrap it up, that "I'm an athiest" stuff just to round it off. And God heard you , Kim. So we're freezing our collective ass off and sliding around like Michelle Kwan on speed and you're about to get some of your 'winter season' weather to cheer you up.
And I don't think the Biblical quotes are going to help.
It's du Toit's fault.
Yes, I mean you, Kim. You and your "I miss the weather in Chicago", and your "I miss snow and ice" crap. And just to wrap it up, that "I'm an athiest" stuff just to round it off. And God heard you , Kim. So we're freezing our collective ass off and sliding around like Michelle Kwan on speed and you're about to get some of your 'winter season' weather to cheer you up.
And I don't think the Biblical quotes are going to help.
Remember the girl sentenced to death
for defending against a rapist? Well, it appears that some in the Iranian 'justice system' don't have their head completely up their backside:
TEHERAN - An Iranian court has cleared of murder charges a 19-year-old woman who was originally sentenced to death for killing a man she said tried to rape her, the press reported Monday.
Mahabad Fatehi, known as Nazanin, was cleared by a Teheran provincial court of premeditated murder but still ordered to pay blood money of 260 million rials (30,600 dollars) to the victim’s family, the Etemad newspaper reported.
So she's ordered to pay blood money, but no longer under a death sentence. Which is a definate step up. Even better would be a "Clorine In The Gene Pool" medal, but we'll have to take what we can get.
TEHERAN - An Iranian court has cleared of murder charges a 19-year-old woman who was originally sentenced to death for killing a man she said tried to rape her, the press reported Monday.
Mahabad Fatehi, known as Nazanin, was cleared by a Teheran provincial court of premeditated murder but still ordered to pay blood money of 260 million rials (30,600 dollars) to the victim’s family, the Etemad newspaper reported.
So she's ordered to pay blood money, but no longer under a death sentence. Which is a definate step up. Even better would be a "Clorine In The Gene Pool" medal, but we'll have to take what we can get.
If you like Gerber folding knives,
check out Smoky Mountain Knife Works site, they're having a clearance on a bunch of them. Like the Paraframe II for $6.99. And a medium grit diamond sharpener.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
The street crews actually did accomplish something
Major streets were- mostly - pretty good, and sometime today they finally put a blade down the street by my house. I'm not just picky about that because of my location, this street gets a lot of traffic. It's still sheet ice out there, but not the deep sleet on top that it was when I went to work this morning.
And apparently enough people screamed about having a foot or two of ice piled up in front of their driveway that after the did a section they went back and cleared- mostly- the driveway entrances. Much better than in the past.
The various electric companies are working their butts off getting power back on in the areas with damage; I think they said earlier there's only about half as many without today as yesterday at this time.
As to the wonders of weather forecasting, last night it was supposed to be 8-10 degrees here under the clear skies I mentioned: instead it clouded up some and was 15-18. So now they're saying 8-10 tonight. We'll see.
Now if you'll excuse me, after more breaking/digging/clearing today I need to give my hands a rest. And the rest of me.
And apparently enough people screamed about having a foot or two of ice piled up in front of their driveway that after the did a section they went back and cleared- mostly- the driveway entrances. Much better than in the past.
The various electric companies are working their butts off getting power back on in the areas with damage; I think they said earlier there's only about half as many without today as yesterday at this time.
As to the wonders of weather forecasting, last night it was supposed to be 8-10 degrees here under the clear skies I mentioned: instead it clouded up some and was 15-18. So now they're saying 8-10 tonight. We'll see.
Now if you'll excuse me, after more breaking/digging/clearing today I need to give my hands a rest. And the rest of me.
Monday, January 15, 2007
The streets suck,
but this part of the state got off easy. Despite the predictions of doom, we got several inches of sleet and a little freezing rain.
Take Oklahoma east of I-35; now cut off the bottom, oh, thirty miles. What's left got really heavy freezing rain and a little sleet. Something like 100,000 people without power; not just lines down but utility poles down. And trees down, etc.
And to add to the joy, the skies cleared overnight, so we have
Cold temperatures,
No cloud cover,
Winds have dropped to nothing,
Lots of white stuff on the ground
all of which adds up to lots of radiational cooling. It's supposed to range from around zero in the northwest to mid-teens southeast the next couple of nights, with highs only in the twenties. Gonna be an uncomfortable next week or more for a lot of people.
The OKC road crews were out today, but not exactly everywhere. Some major roads are in pretty good shape, but a lot of primary and secondary roads that get a lot of traffic got no attention, including busy intersections that are solid ice with not even any sand thrown out. A few years ago the city made a big deal of putting up signs on a bunch of these streets that said something like 'Primary Snow Route', the idea being that since these streets got so much use they'd be the first ones either bladed or sanded. The first actual heavy snow/ice situation came and guess what? The city didn't do squat to most of them. And all those signs mysteriously disappeared(wonder how much that crap cost?)
It got up to 23 degrees, which means with traffic some roads melted partially to largely clear, although as soon as the sun went down they froze over. I've got a very pretty spinner hanging out that caught some of the drips which gives you an idea of the temp: the sun was low but still up and shining on it when I got home to find this
It's supposed to hit about 27 tomorrow, which combined with the normal workday traffic should do a lot toward clearing the streets. And if the wind stays down should help the people working on the power situation out a bit.
I got my sidewalk and part of the driveway cleared, aided by the partial melting and refreezing allowing me to use a mattock to break off slabs and shovel them aside; that ought to help the sun clear more of the driveway tomorrow. Damn near froze my fingertips, got so busy didn't notice how cold they were getting until I realized I couldn't feel them. Note to self: those gloves were not intended for work like this in these conditions.
I'm not looking forward to getting to work in the morning. What made today no problem was the holiday meant almost no traffic to get through, whereas tomorrow will be a pain in the ass if a lot of these people drive the way they usually do in conditions like this.
Take Oklahoma east of I-35; now cut off the bottom, oh, thirty miles. What's left got really heavy freezing rain and a little sleet. Something like 100,000 people without power; not just lines down but utility poles down. And trees down, etc.
And to add to the joy, the skies cleared overnight, so we have
Cold temperatures,
No cloud cover,
Winds have dropped to nothing,
Lots of white stuff on the ground
all of which adds up to lots of radiational cooling. It's supposed to range from around zero in the northwest to mid-teens southeast the next couple of nights, with highs only in the twenties. Gonna be an uncomfortable next week or more for a lot of people.
The OKC road crews were out today, but not exactly everywhere. Some major roads are in pretty good shape, but a lot of primary and secondary roads that get a lot of traffic got no attention, including busy intersections that are solid ice with not even any sand thrown out. A few years ago the city made a big deal of putting up signs on a bunch of these streets that said something like 'Primary Snow Route', the idea being that since these streets got so much use they'd be the first ones either bladed or sanded. The first actual heavy snow/ice situation came and guess what? The city didn't do squat to most of them. And all those signs mysteriously disappeared(wonder how much that crap cost?)
It got up to 23 degrees, which means with traffic some roads melted partially to largely clear, although as soon as the sun went down they froze over. I've got a very pretty spinner hanging out that caught some of the drips which gives you an idea of the temp: the sun was low but still up and shining on it when I got home to find this
It's supposed to hit about 27 tomorrow, which combined with the normal workday traffic should do a lot toward clearing the streets. And if the wind stays down should help the people working on the power situation out a bit.
I got my sidewalk and part of the driveway cleared, aided by the partial melting and refreezing allowing me to use a mattock to break off slabs and shovel them aside; that ought to help the sun clear more of the driveway tomorrow. Damn near froze my fingertips, got so busy didn't notice how cold they were getting until I realized I couldn't feel them. Note to self: those gloves were not intended for work like this in these conditions.
I'm not looking forward to getting to work in the morning. What made today no problem was the holiday meant almost no traffic to get through, whereas tomorrow will be a pain in the ass if a lot of these people drive the way they usually do in conditions like this.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
At this point, Romney shouldn't be allowed near the Oval Office
I couldn't care less about him being Mormon: being a two-faced jerk is a whole 'nother matter.
"We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts; I support them," he said. "I won't chip away at them; I believe they protect us and provide for our safety."
and
But perhaps the most significant gun legislation Romney signed as governor was a 2004 measure instituting a permanent ban on assault weapons. The Legislature mirrored the law after the federal assault weapons ban, which was set to expire. According to activists at the time, the bill made Massachusetts the first state to enact its own such ban, and Romney hailed the move.
That was then, and now?
Today, as he explores a presidential bid, Romney is sending a very different message on gun issues, which are far more prominent in Republican national politics than in Massachusetts.
and
Romney appears to be stepping up his efforts to portray himself as a gun-friendly candidate, though some gun-rights activists in important primary states say his past positions will hurt him politically.
On Wednesday, Romney said on an Internet podcast, "The Glenn and Helen Show," that he hopes states would continue to ease regulations on gun owners, and he expressed enthusiasm for guns and hunting. "I have a gun of my own. I go hunting myself. I'm a member of the NRA and believe firmly in the right to bear arms," Romney said.
Wonderful, one more jackass who'll stick his finger up to check the wind and say whatever he thinks will get him votes.
"We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts; I support them," he said. "I won't chip away at them; I believe they protect us and provide for our safety."
and
But perhaps the most significant gun legislation Romney signed as governor was a 2004 measure instituting a permanent ban on assault weapons. The Legislature mirrored the law after the federal assault weapons ban, which was set to expire. According to activists at the time, the bill made Massachusetts the first state to enact its own such ban, and Romney hailed the move.
That was then, and now?
Today, as he explores a presidential bid, Romney is sending a very different message on gun issues, which are far more prominent in Republican national politics than in Massachusetts.
and
Romney appears to be stepping up his efforts to portray himself as a gun-friendly candidate, though some gun-rights activists in important primary states say his past positions will hurt him politically.
On Wednesday, Romney said on an Internet podcast, "The Glenn and Helen Show," that he hopes states would continue to ease regulations on gun owners, and he expressed enthusiasm for guns and hunting. "I have a gun of my own. I go hunting myself. I'm a member of the NRA and believe firmly in the right to bear arms," Romney said.
Wonderful, one more jackass who'll stick his finger up to check the wind and say whatever he thinks will get him votes.
Winter storm roundup
For the central part of the state it pretty much ended a little after noon. Again, despite various predictions of freezing rain, the most of it here was sleet with just enough freezing rain toward the end to put a crust on it. A good 2-3" of sleet on the ground, mind you, but much better than a glaze of ice an inch thick.
Speaking of predictions of doom, the last I saw of tv news this morning they were saying things like "This last round may be the worst". Which is what they said about the mess we were supposed to get overnight and didn't. What really, really pissed me off was this one weather/news weenie(not sure which), just before I turned it off, finished his prediction of freezing rain and sleet and possible disaster(degree not specified) with "So maybe those disaster supplies won't be a waste after all" with almost- not quite but almost- a little smile. You could almost see the thoughts chasing around his empty head. "We scared hell out of people telling them there'd be ice an inch or two thick around here and power lines down everywhere and sent them off buying everything in sight and it didn't happen. And they're pissed. Just maybe there'll be enough disaster to get us off the hook." Friggin' idiots.
I know that weather prediction is a very inexact science(hell, with some good meteorologists it's almost more of an art) and you can't believe everything that comes out. I know predictions will be off one way or the other many times. But you'd think they would have the honesty to say "Ok, we were wrong about when/how much, thank God, but we still have a dangerous situation that could get pretty bad", instead of basically repeating the same words but downgrading the amount of ice expected with absolutely no reference to any hows or whys the original "WE'RE GONNA DIE!" was wrong.
Further east and south they did get worse, there's a lot of downed power lines and broken utility poles and all the wonderfulness that comes with no power and sub-freezing temperatures and strong north winds. I don't know if they got the amount of ice predicted, just that it was bad enough for serious problems. Cold and no power is worse than hot: if it's hot you can at least go outside and hope for a breeze, if you're cold not only are you freezing but you have to worry about your pipes. And the stuff in the pantry.
Ah well. The dogs are good, I'm home and dinner's started. I just hope the street crews are going to do some major work starting early in the morning, 'cause they haven't done squat today.
Speaking of predictions of doom, the last I saw of tv news this morning they were saying things like "This last round may be the worst". Which is what they said about the mess we were supposed to get overnight and didn't. What really, really pissed me off was this one weather/news weenie(not sure which), just before I turned it off, finished his prediction of freezing rain and sleet and possible disaster(degree not specified) with "So maybe those disaster supplies won't be a waste after all" with almost- not quite but almost- a little smile. You could almost see the thoughts chasing around his empty head. "We scared hell out of people telling them there'd be ice an inch or two thick around here and power lines down everywhere and sent them off buying everything in sight and it didn't happen. And they're pissed. Just maybe there'll be enough disaster to get us off the hook." Friggin' idiots.
I know that weather prediction is a very inexact science(hell, with some good meteorologists it's almost more of an art) and you can't believe everything that comes out. I know predictions will be off one way or the other many times. But you'd think they would have the honesty to say "Ok, we were wrong about when/how much, thank God, but we still have a dangerous situation that could get pretty bad", instead of basically repeating the same words but downgrading the amount of ice expected with absolutely no reference to any hows or whys the original "WE'RE GONNA DIE!" was wrong.
Further east and south they did get worse, there's a lot of downed power lines and broken utility poles and all the wonderfulness that comes with no power and sub-freezing temperatures and strong north winds. I don't know if they got the amount of ice predicted, just that it was bad enough for serious problems. Cold and no power is worse than hot: if it's hot you can at least go outside and hope for a breeze, if you're cold not only are you freezing but you have to worry about your pipes. And the stuff in the pantry.
Ah well. The dogs are good, I'm home and dinner's started. I just hope the street crews are going to do some major work starting early in the morning, 'cause they haven't done squat today.
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