Blogroll

This h'yer is a holding page for a work in progress. It's as much for me as it is for you. When it gets somewhat more complete I'll put it in the sidebar. For now, just remember: Top set: VDF is there daily-ish. Bottom set: weekly to couple o' times per month.

Say Uncle
View From The Porch
MISH'S Global Economic Trend Analysis
Sipsey Street Irregulars
the things worth believing in
Atlas Shrugs
The Anarchangel
Moonbattery
Captain of a Crew of One
Synthstuff

Respiratory Therapy 101
A Day In The Life Of An Ambulance Driver
The View From North Central Idaho
Ride Fast & Shoot Straight
Sharp as a Marble
The Smallest Minority

Note to "Disaffected Youth"

Note to any "disaffected youth" (read: muslim terrorist wannabe's) who might think it's a good idea to start burning cars and lighting bombs off in the USA (like they did in France earlier, and now in Sweden:

We have guns here, and lots of them, because we like the idea of defending our property. If this sort of tomfoolery starts on our side of the pond, don't be surprised if you catch a hot one for taking part in it.

F.Y.I.

CAMPO & CAPMETRO Leftist Failure Continues.

The geniuses at CAMPO are going to try to use Federal stimulus money to cover a Capital Metro budget shortfall. They are also talking about cutting some services that statistically nobody uses.

The alternative to using your grandchildrens' money to fund the city buses in Austin? Charging higher fares to the people who are actually USING the bus. Savage was right. Liberalism IS a mental disorder.

In related news, because unions are about union dues coming in to the coffers and not the greater good, the driver and service union thugs are protesting cutting nonessential services that nobody uses, even though we are borrowing money to pay for them.

Source: the radio news on the way to work today.

My Blood: Mine!

The Day Has Come. I mentioned before that the Texas Senate had passed a morally EVIL law allowing blood draws without all the old "medical freedom, personal liberty, and anti-self-incrimination" hoops being jumped through.

Tomorrow, this law goes into effect.

I fully anticipate never having my blood drawn by a police officer, because I follow the laws on the road, including not drinking and driving. If the police wanted a breathalyzer test from me, it would probably be for a pretty good reason (most likely involving a sketchy wreck). That's probable cause, and 100% of the time I would be scot-free because I N.E.V.E.R drink and drive (not being a f*cking idiot).

BUT

If some police officer got a wild hair and wanted to take my blood, it would almost certainly require the assistance of a Tazer or several other officers all at once. Also, some new pieces of paper would be handed to a judge with my name on them. They would have fun vocabulary words like "resisting" "failure" and "assaulting." As I mentioned in my previous post, the ACLU would probably help me to give them some papers too, with fun phrases like "under color of law."

For the most part, all the same arguments will be directly applicable to lifting fingerprints from my fingers without my consent, via the new (and Jackboot Thug of Oppression Approved) Blue Check fingerprinting system. Lift them from something I touched, if you can. Try to get my fingers on your sensor, and there's a fight about to jump off.

You Statist Bastards.

Back In Black!

The company where I work had its first unprofitable quarter EVER, Q408. Sales picked up slightly, a bit of "dead weight" was trimmed (not me, thanks God) and we got a few new contracts & busniess models online.

We are far enough out of the red ink to announce it to the whole company. Thank God. I REALLY didn't want to have to look for a new job in the middle of a depression.

There Is No Way.

I would not submit to life in a ghetto.
I would not submit to arrest.
I would not get on a boxcar, train, plane, or in a truck or car.
I would not obey instructions when I got to camp.
I would not follow the yellow line.
I would not obey guards' orders.

I would f*cking not crawl into a standing cell, especially if I knew I would be left there to die, standing with three other innocent men.

I might die on my feet, but only if the bullet catches my brain just right.
You won't find me dead with my hands bound or face covered, either, unless a tazer or tranquilizer were involved.
If I'm going to be killed by my government, it will be as a free man, fighting against it.

National Socialst party slogan: "We won't do it again, this time, we promise."

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2 Promises to all persons, everywhere: 1: If you say, in my hearing, that the holocaust never happened, I will punch you as hard as I can, in the mouth, if I can reach it. 2: If you are joking, you will be made to take it back. Forcibly, if required, see item 1, above.

Rachel Lucas Visited Oswiecim. Read This.

You will read this. It is mandatory.

Be sitting down, by yourself, in a quiet place, when you read it.

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In 60 years, if you want people to read about your hometown in posts like that, stop arguing about politics and just go along with what the President wants. He is the President after all, and it could never happen here.

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with apologies to the author of the blog where I found this, I was just blogrollwandering and this blew your name right of my mind.

Shoulda Just Stayed In Bed Today.

VFD: 1x cut finger, 1x puncture wound to scalp
Darling Wife: 2x places where a new supportive undergarment pretended to be sandpaper on an 8 mile jog
#1: 2x toes shut in the door from the house to the garage, 1x eye with sawdust in it
#2: 1x eye with dirt in it
#3: 6x hard falls, half landing on the head, 1x split lip, 1x molar coming in

Well, it's naptime now. We'll see if we manage to live out the day afterwards.

After-Action Report: 28 August 2009

I was cleaning out my garage and opened the door so I could haul out some trash. I worked for a while and then I thought I'd go check on the trees over my car. Loaded with Rattus Volantus. Feeling charitable, I went and got some 3/4" "gravel" from beside the sidewalk and tossed stones to scare away a couple of the birds. Some wouldn't scare. I got a pole saw and poked a big limb, and three more flushed. Then I saw one right over my headlight that wouldn't spook.

Okay, if you're that deep of a sleeper, or that stupid, you're toast. I went and loaded up, found him again, took careful aim, and fired.

Nothing happened.

I was standing there for a half-tick, beginning to wonder if I had somehow missed, when I heard a rustle, a couple of thuds, and the bird came out from the boughs and plop fell about a foot away from the front-driver's side corner of my car. DRT. My ballistics team told me he took the pellet in the breast, through the spine and probably something else important, and the exit wound was on the left side of the neck. I tossed him in the storm drain where the neighborhood cats take refuge from passers-by.

I went back in and kept working for a while and decided to to another sweep. Sure enough, there was one more up there. I propped up my flashlight so it shone directly on the bird's underside and went and loaded up. The shot sounded like a thunderclap, which means it broke some thick feathers; the bird flew off. Good riddance. As I picked up my torch, I noted that it was (directly under the bird) on top of a little pile of poo. Gee, I wonder who put those there . . .

More Good News!

I just found out one of my buddies is now living up the street! That means ninja games, range days, and draggin' him to church just got 100% easier. Sweet!

YEEHAW! Labor Day SHOOTIN'!

It looks like I might have another shootin' day lined up. It also looks like I might have THREE new shooters for a class AND one of my buddies might make it out there with me! This is gonna be SWEET if we can pull it off!

I LOVE introducing people to firearms!

Gotta remember to bring a camera this time. And sunscreen. And a portable water dispenser.

Good Job Congress, You JERKS.

Methamphetamine can now be made in small batches, in less than a day, with an amount of pseudoephedrine you can buy legally. That would be, instead of over the course of several days, with an amount Congress prohibited* severe allergy sufferers from legally obtaining.

Thanks guys. Way to be helpful. Is anyone going to rescind the stupid law now? No? Going to make the law more strict? Maybe? Okay I'll just go see if American Idol is on and be quiet then.

*PDF file warning

Neutral Evolution: Humbug!

Wired would have you believe that "neutral evolution" theory has just demolished "another" alleged proof for Intelligent Design. For those unwilling to read 2 pages of solid hogwash, the cliffs version is that mitochondria are not irreducably complex and, therefore, proof of an 'intelligent designer.'

The only problem with the whole idea, for a thinking person, is that the article is proposing the equivalent of you, and your grandkids for a zillion years* growing a third arm that is used for absolutely nothing . . . and then one day deciding to walk around on your heretofore completely unused hand.

The unabashed creationist shakes his head at such foolishness.

*remember kiddies, the fairy tale of a stone turning into a man begins with "a long, long time ago. . . "

BOHICA Act Of 2009

Whereas it has been found by diligent inquiry on the part of the Secretary of Homeland Security that apprehension of criminals is facilitated by use of facial recognition equipment, and

Whereas it has been found by the Secretary of the Department of the Treasury that the citizens of the United States are 79.3% more likely to consume goods and services in interstate commerce when they are not afraid of the prospect of violent crimes being perpetrated against them, and

Whereas Mybroth Erinlaw, President of Facial Recognition Jackbootry Co., LLC, manufacturer of facial recognition equipment now in use by the Department of Homeland Security has testified before Congress that facial hair changes partially or entirely defeat facial recognition equipment,

It is declared by the People of the United States in Congress assembled that it is detrimental to interstate commerce for citizens to change the configuration of their facial hair.

Therefore we enact the Beards Or Hair Indeed Commerce Affect (BOHICA) Act of 2009.

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1) There is hereby created the Office of the Secretary of Shaving (OSS), and such funds as are deemed necessary shall be appropriated from the General Fund to carry out the functions of this office.

2) The Secretary of Shaving shall establish a regulatory framework to govern the growth of facial hair in the United States, which shall regulate activities including but not limited to the following:
A) All persons shall apply for a permit and submit a fee in an amount to be determined by the Director, prior to the removal of facial hair which:
1) Was previously approved to be grown
2) Has been growing for more than three days, in which case a digital image of the applicant's face shall be made before and after the removal of the facial hair
3) Facial hair which was previously not mature enough to require removal in order to maintain facial appearance (e.g. a young male with immature facial hair). In such cases a reduced application fee may be assessed.
4) Has been growing more than two days after it was last shaved

3) Applications and processing fees shall also be required:
A) To allow facial hair to grow more than two days
B) To allow facial hair initially to grow with the onset of puberty

4) Noncompliance with the provisions of this act shall be a felony in the third degree. persons sentenced under this section shall have the follicles of their facial hair medically or mechanically treated in such a way as to prevent further noncompliance with the provisions of the BOHICA Act of 2009, and:
A) Be imprisoned for a term not to exceed ten years
B) Fined not more than twenty five thousand dollars,
C) Be fined and imprisoned according to Section 4 (A) and (B)

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You think they wouldn't, especially if a few of your Elected Heroes got a few fat kickbacks?

Think again.

If You Think Current Policy Will Lead to Hyperinflation . . .

If you (still) think current fiscal policies at .gov are going to lead to inflation or even hyperinflation, Michael Shedlock has written something you really should read.

Cash For Clunkers: Told You So.

Dang that was fast. I told you that the CARS a.k.a. "Cash for Clunkers" program would hurt sales of new cars after the program ended. I didn't think it would be so drastic, or so immediate!

Calculated Risk highlights an 11% drop in sales from the month before the CARS program went into effect. We went from an 11 Million SAAR, to 16M during the program, and down to 9M!

Ouch.

Photography: Photograping Things Inside Silver ESD Bags

If you are a photographer who has the misfortune to have to shoot pictures of objects inside translucent silver electrostatic discharge shielding/protective bags, you know it isn't the easiest photo to get right. I tripped over one way to make your photos a little less-bad, and give your viewers a better idea of what's inside:

Elevate one end of the static bag so the ambient light goes around. If your ambient lighting is overhead, turn most of it off and shine a reflected and/or diffuse light source under your bag. You'll be able to tell what's inside a little better. These are at the same angle, same ambient lighting, the only difference being there is no light coming through the first one, and the second has a reflected light hitting the benchtop under the bag. A white backdrop would probably help, as would a backlight with a neutral color temperature (unlike mine). These were done pretty quickly; I imagine your results can only get better, the longer you experiment with the concept.

You will still have to putz with contrast and color saturation in photoshop (hint: wear a white shirt, not a red one like mine when I shot these) but at least you can tell there is something in the bag.

Click to embiggen!



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Update: Reader David asks if a polarizing filter would help. Under my fluorescent lighting, on a stainless backdrop, a polarizing filter actually made it worse, by darkening the image. These were shot with the same camera settings, with the same post-processing applied in Photoshop. I don't note any significant clarity improvement with the polarizer. I rotated it all the way 'round just in case, and took pictures every 90º of rotation.

Seriously Wide Image, click to embiggen


But VFD, that's on manual settings! Your camera will compensate for the filter on manual settings!
Sure it will. Those were all taken at F4 @ 1/25sec. My camera likes F2.8 for shooting indoors. It also has a funny idea of what a washed-out image isn't. Here are the results of shooting in automatic mode at an angle that lets you see what's inside the bag:

Click to see full size.


The one on the right is through the polarizer. It is the clearer of the shots I tried with the camera on auto. The amount of glare reduction you see could very easily be as a result of a camera angle being a degree or two different. The rest of the shots thru the filter were all somewhat more blurred, because the shutter was open for a whopping QUARTER of a second to make up for the dimness of the filter! I could try it with a tripod, but I think you all can see a theme in my opinion of how much a polarizing filter helps *in this circumstance* with this camera and subject.

What do you think? This is a series of shots taken with the same camera settings and setup. The only difference is the camera angle relative to the light reflecting off the ESD bag.



And here I used the automatic setting and the only difference is the polarizer:



I guess the polarizer does help. A little bit. If you have good lighting, it might make your life a *very* little easier. The bigger difference seems to come not from using a polarizer, but from making sure your lens is in the right place.

You Can't Burn The Reichstag When There's The Internet!

Nevermind the Nationalist Socialist Democrat party higher-ups busing in "protesters" and handing out printed signs to counter alleged astroturf opposition to "healthcare."

It may be that they are trying to make it look like the plan-haters are also property vandals. The only problem with that idea?

Police caught their operatives in the act.

You can't have another reichstagsbrand when there is the Internet.

Fail.

What He Said.

Inspired imagery from: Moonbattery

Milton Friedman Calmly Destroys Phil Donahue

If you didn't hear this exchange, you really missed out. Milton Friedman was having an interview with Phil Donahue and the subject came around to Capitalist Greed. Friedman, in a voice that was level, self-assured and, above all, calm just completely destroyed Donahue and every other Communist/Socialist/Marxist/Leftist/Statist out there, EVER. This was the reasoned discourse you wish you could find on the alphabet networks. No shouting, no hysterics, just two men trying to be reasonable with each other. Here's the money quote:

Donahue: When you see around the globe the mal-distribution of wealth, the desperate plight of millions of people in underdeveloped countries, when you see so few haves and so many have-nots, when you see the greed and the concentration of power, did you ever have a moment of doubt about capitalism and whether greed’s a good idea to run on?

Friedman: Well, first of all, tell me is there some society you know that doesn’t run on greed? You think Russia doesn’t run on greed? You think China doesn’t run on greed? What is greed? Of course none of us are greedy; its only the other fellow who’s greedy.

The world runs on individuals pursuing their separate interests. The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus. Einstein didn’t construct his theory under order from a bureaucrat. Henry Ford didn’t revolutionize the automobile industry that way. In the only cases in which the masses have escaped from the kind of grinding poverty you’re talking about, the only cases in recorded history are where they have had capitalism and largely free trade. If you want to know where the masses are worst off, it’s exactly in the kinds of societies that depart from that. So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear: that there is no alternative way so far discovered of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by a free enterprise system.

Donahue: But it seems to reward not virtue as much as ability to manipulate the system.

Friedman: And what does reward virtue? You think the communist commissar rewards virtue? You think a Hitler rewards virtue? You think – excuse me, if you will pardon me – do you think American presidents reward virtue? Do they choose their appointees on the basis of the virtue of the people appointed or on the basis of their political clout? Is it really true that political self interest is nobler somehow than economic self interest? You know I think you are taking a lot of things for granted. Just tell me where in the world you find these angels who are going to organize society for us? Well, I don’t even trust you to do that.

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Neal Boortz aptly described the exchange as a battle of wits, to which Donahue came unarmed.
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>
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Lucky winner of the "first hit on google with the transcript" award goes to: Aristotle The Geek

Ted Kennedy, Statist & Murderer, Dead.

Good.

Handwringing from CNN.com

The shouting: It's not from sorrow(. . . is it still to early to shout "YEAH BABY GET OUT?")

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Beware the urge in Congress to "do it for Teddy" (pass his health care system destruction bill) without further ado.

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Update (a few hours later) one of the callers to the Laura Ingraham show points out the irony: 77 year-old Senator Edward Kennedy died after a year and a half fighting cancer. No doubt, his fight was funded by wheelbarrows of cash from his gold-plated health care insurance plan. You know, the type of plan that would be unavailable to you under the bill Kennedy helped get passed.

The Importance of Preventative Maintenance

Air Conditioner Version.

My air conditioner compressor was locked up and the house was 83º inside. Fortunately, God saw me coming home from work and arranged for some light rain and wind (thank you very much) and it was actually cooler outside than inside the house.

My neighbor came over and found me in the middle of rinsing out the condenser coils (turn off the power, and gently rinse from the inside of the coils to wash the stuff OUT). Then we cleaned out the return air filters. Then, will wonders never cease, we had superheat!

Cooling air was 61º at the vents in a couple of minutes. I knew "you really oughtta" but I didn't know it would make that much of a difference. Thanks again to Jesus for another $0 repair.

Now I need to get some coil cleaning spray and some new filters . . .

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Update 3 hours later: Nevermind. Our next door neighbor and the other neighbor across the street had the same problem. There was a power surge, the power went out, and then the A/C stopped working. 2 of us have cooling and one is calling ARS Service Express. Is it a coincidence that the head of the household making a call is not a Christian?

I Was Wrong. I Admit It. It Is Worse Than I Thought.

And I was being nice to them, when I said I thought the BHO administration was stalling to hide a 2 Trillion dollar deficit.

Well, maybe if you multiply it by almost five, you're in the ballpark. From James Pethokoukis' Political Risk blog at Reuters: Make that 9 Trillion.

Ho-hum, what's an extra trillion here and there?

Folks, this is BESIDE the 1 to 3 Trillion dollars (depending who you ask) we will be deficit-spending for the health care system destruction reform bill President Obama wants. It is probably mingled with the $24 Trillion we put our collective tails on the line for, as part of the bailout scam scheme.

"Arty Sunflowers" My Lilly White Ass.

Ayone driving Interstate Highway 35 through the Central Texas region, from basically Buda to Round Rock (inclusive) will note that everything on both sides of IH-35 is ugly retail development. For a while, I was wondering what the blue structures behind the strip mall (on the highway side) were all about. The first one, I thought maybe an old-school satellite antenna, but they kept adding more. Then it became obvious that they were solar panel mounts. Okay, fine. You want to make a solar panel installation look different, and pay huge bucks for the privelege of having some artist's name on it? That's capitalism for you. But don't call it pretty.

(link is dead)

This is about as good looking a view of these installations as you will ever find. Note that every single person aside from this photographer, who ever sees this "art" is forced to view the urban/retail BLIGHT in which it is situated, and it looks like so much "keep austin wierd" JUNK on the side of the road.

(link is dead)

Ooh, they have lights. Great. Note the huge arc light illuminating the parking lot and street lights on the highway. These lights are lost in the glare, and unless you buy the "art" schtick, they are COUNTER productive.

Humbug to Gizmag for buying into it.

Update: Gizmag forgets, but these things are still here. This is as good as they ever look, due to unmown grass that is unusually green after a rain. The grass is hiding the frontage road, or else it would look worse. Click the pic to see it much bigger.

CIA Interrogations: Keep It Up Boys!

The "enhanced interrogation techniques" have been highly effective. So, once reality slapped President Obama around a little bit (off-camera, of course), he decided we'll just keep it up. Except make sure you do it exactly according to a rulebook we change with the wind, because otherwise you'll be up on charges. Raise your hand if you remember when Candidate Obama was talking about ending these interrogations altogether.

If you are a left-leaning Obama voter: Is this "more of the same" the change you were hoping for?

AtticFoil.com Radiant Barrier Sample: Wow.

Regular readers will know I have been hurting for a radiant barrier in my attic this summer. I finally ordered a free sample of the only thing they sell at AtticFoil.com: heavy weight attic radiant barrier material. I expected to be underwhelmed. I figured all the positive stuff they have on their website was just spin to sell their junk.

I. Was. Wrong.

I was considering using plain aluminum foil (from Costco) and stapling it up between the rafters in my attic. I was, to put it mildly, skeptical of the high praise AtticFoil has for their own product. I mean, how tough can you really make aluminum foil?

The sample came and I put it to the test straight out of the envelope by grabbing a fistful on either end and yanking a little. Aluminum foil would have split immediately, and the AtticFoil sample held. I yanked harder, and then I tugged on it as hard as I could, trying to use my back muscles to pull this stuff apart. Then I smoothed it out again and it was a tiny bit stretched-out. This stuff is nails.

Okay, so it's tough, says I, but how does it cut? My knife says it cuts like butter. Surely that means it will tear, right? HA! You couldn't tear this stuff if you tried. I slit my sample and tugged on both sides of the cut. I had to put a pretty good effort in, but I finally got the weave to start pulling apart.

Hold on there.

The weave? Yeah, the weave. This stuff is made of Aluminium that is somehow bonded to plastic strips and woven tight. Each strip is frikken strong, so the finished product is strong as all get-out.

So I did the only logical next thing to do: I measured my roof and figured out I have a couple-few hundred dollars that need to be worked in to the family budget. You can do your own comparison shopping as easily as I can, but the prices at AtticFoil.com will take some doing to beat.

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Man, I just proof-read this post and I sound like an AtticFoil.com sales weasel! Well, there it is. Before you accuse me of being a shill, I'll go ahead and say "I ain't one." I'm getting this stuff for my own use as soon as I can afford it. If you are still skeptical, you might consider this post where I deprecated a product the sale of which would benefit me personally, financially, or this post where I review something I paid money for and the manufacturer doesn't even know I exist.

Man Robbed, Shot While Mowing Lawn.

Kenneth Hagen, 55, was mowing his lawn the other day, when he got a bit of a surprise: He was shot three times by somebody trying to rob him.

Hold on there.

I mowed my lawn this weekend. It was my fenced back yard, even. Did I have six little presents for any potential ne'er do wells?

You betcha.

Carry your guns, people!

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Note to the stupid woman in the linked article who now will jog with her hand on her cell phone: If you had your hand on a pistol, you would actually BE safe, instead of just FEELING safe like with your phone.


Inspired imagery from A Human Right.

Evolutionists Shocked To Find "Vestigial" Appendix is Functional.

From Yahoo! News.

For a long time, nobody really knew what the human appendix was good for. So, according typical evolutionist thinking, it's good for nothing.

Hold on there.

Somebody went and took another look, and it seems the appendix is a valuable organ after all! Who knew?! Turns out, if you live in too clean an environment, it may give you trouble, but otherwise it's actually pretty helpful.

I found the linked Yahoo! article to be both amusing and sad. My favorite lowlight: " No less than Charles Darwin first suggested that the appendix was a vestigial organ" Really? The same Darwin who was too stupid to get a real job, so his daddy told him to go be a priest? Wow.

The general tone of the article is somewhat-stunned confusion at the discover of function in a bodily organ. A creationist just smiles and nods, realizing that God placed the appendix in the body for a reason that was too advanced for us to figure it out until now. Christians to evolutionists: welcome to having a clue. Now if you'd just believe in Jesus . . .

Health Care Rationing Board Interview

A play in one act, at the Wall Street Journal. It's short and actually pretty good, so go read the whole thing.

Note: Neal Boortz kicked a caller off the air the other day. The caller said that, were he condemned to death by a health care rationing body, he would consider taking a few of the board members with him.

That is not an uncommon sentiment, let me tell you. I think there would be a pretty high turnover rate of people on the rationing boards, due to acute lead poisoning.

What do you think?

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Hat tip to Respiratory Therapy 101.

Atlas Commenter Gets It (Slightly) Wrong.

Atlas Shrugs is pretty hard to disagree with a lot of the time, but she quoted a commenter who got it wrong in one aspect of this story.

Moderate muslims are not merely unserious. The "prophet" mohammed said they are hypocrites, and worse than infidels. If you're not going out in jihad, you're on the wrong side of islam's sword, baby.

Note: the infidel is to be killed whenever possible.
Note: faithful muslims are killing moderates (sunni vs. shia, anyone) because the foregoing is correct.
Note: to the "moderate muslim" who may be reading this: This means you.

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The linked story is about why Hucksteraby will never be President. Don't make me run for POTUS, people. I will if I have to. I would have commented over there, but I'm not going to register with typepad just for one comment. Comments from the peanut gallery about me forcing you to register with blogger to comment on my blog are not required. ;)

Cutting Social Security Checks: NOT Good For The President!

Note to President Obama: Effective cuts to retired peoples' Social Security retirement income will not help you at the polls in 2010.

In case you were wondering.

You Don't Know What You've Got, Till It's Gone.

I've been going to church services regular as clockworks for several years now. I didn't realize how much I was not missing, until I started missing church due to illness.

I also didn't realize how nice a simple phone call from a friend can be, just to say he's thinking of you and praying for you.

Inconsiderate People Irk Me.

On the way out of the local grocery store I saw a fine example of what's going wrong in our great nation. This (fat) woman went to put her grocery cart in the "return your carts here" stall, pushed the cart halfway in, and turned around to go to her car. The parking lot is gently sloping. Not only did she leave her cart sticking out into the traffic lane, she was oblivious to the fact that, after she turned around, the cart rolled back out of the cart return area, headed for somebody else's car. Fortunately for somebody else, I was about to return my cart so I just went over and jammed her shopping cart back into the stall, with my own.

She was surprised to learn that I existed, judging from the way she jumped and turned around when a noise came from behind her. Condition White.

Lady, how'd you like it if YOU came out to put your groceries in your trunk, and found the trunk and/or side of your car all dented and scratched up from some jerk who let their cart run loose?

I Didn't Pay For You To Move In There.

So why should I pay for you to keep living there?

Two nights in a row, cars crashed into a home at a the end of a "T" intersection.

Commenters at the kvue website ask why the legislature hasn't done something about intersections like this. I ask why the homeowner hasn't installed a few bollards in the front lawn a long time 'gone. It seems to me like the 1st car in the living room would be enough, and you know these probably weren't the first 2 times it ever happened at this address.

STILL not time to buy a car?

I have said before that it was not time to buy a new car yet. Boortz made a good point this morning: in about a year, there is a high probability that people who traded in their clunkers for your cash, who will be darn sick of going from liability insurance premiums on a paid-for car, to comprehensive & collision premiums and a car note. Look for a pile of year-old cars to show up at fire sale prices, from the same people who are having trouble making mortgage notes on the homes they (also) couldn't afford. Look for it at the same time as dealers are trying to get rid of the 2010 (and 2009) models nobody wanted, to make room for the 2011 models.

That, plus the fact that the economy is still going down. Prices of everything will be falling, including prices of new cars.

Oh, and by the way . . . cash for clunkers is ending in a couple of days. Allow me to make a humble prediction: demand for new cars is about to fall off a cliff, to a level *LOWER* than before the C4C program started!

Inspired Imagery From Moonbattery.com

You should be reading Moonbattery. If for no other reason than you will frequently be treated to imagery which inspires thought. Like this:



and this:

More News From The Place Where England Used To Be

A girl in high school missed class the day before, when a project was assigned to groups of students. So she got into class the next day and the teacher assigned her a group to work with. Make that, a group of four NON-English speakers and one bilingual kid. The girl goes to ask the teacher if she can work with a group of students who speak the same language as she does. The teacher's reaction? ". . . she started shouting and screaming, saying 'It's racist, you're going to get done by the police'." and then the girl was arrested.

What? Why the hurt feelings? I mean, after a few hours in a bare cell by herself, she was released without charges, wasn't she?

Hold on there.

If this had happened to one of my children, there would have been (to use a euphemism) a scene between me and at least one or two of the people "working" at that school. From their end, it would look something like this*:



Lost in the noise, apparently, is the obviously-raaaaaaaacist question of what the non-English speakers were doing in the classroom in the first place . . .

********
*This is not me. My beard is much thicker, and my hair much thinner, than this guy's.

Your Moral Obligation Is Not Mine.

Everybody is linking to the discussion on the morality of retention training for those who carry their sidearms openly.

I'm with Alan so far. The moral obligation to see my gun isn't stolen is not mine. Common sense dictates that I should be able to jump around a bit and not have my open-carried pistol free itself, but blaming the victim is a common tactic of people on the wrong side of things. The thief is the one responsible for thievery.

"She was asking to be raped, wearing that skimpy outfit" = "She was asking to have her gun stolen, wearing a non-retention holster"

Who Asked What You Want?

Just who do you think you are, anyway? Look, if you hammer us not to pass the healthcare bill, we're going to get it passed in the middle of the night via the "reconciliation" process. Don't ask why, with a solid majority in both houses of Congress, we can't pass this bill. That's beside the point!

Standby for the flavor of jackboot.

Does Anyone Know?

Did we ever get an answer to the question "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

Just wondering. The guy who works across from me thinks not.

Man This Sick Has Some LEGS.

Woke up this morning feeling puny again. My Darling Wife was feeling even worse. I had a *little* to eat and am feeling better, and she seems alright after an extra hour and a half of sleep.

Having small children: sometimes it's rough. Having to chase after #3 and moderate arguments between #1 and #2 when all your body wants to be doing is sleep is . . . ugh.

Rhoda May Kerr: Idiot.

A couple of NON-emergency Austin Fire Department vehicles were involved in collisions recently.

The logical response: order all EMERGENCY vehicles in the AFD to TURN OFF their lights & sirens approaching busy intersections, and no longer allow them to go 10 miles per hour over the speed limit on calls.

Hold on there.

This woman is, apparently, some flavor of fool. She already showed us that she's a racist, and now she shows us that she's apparently soft in the head, in general. I would take the opportunity to launch into a rant (as usual) but I think you are probably all with me on this one. Instead, I'll just go here:

Trial Balloon Shot Down By Socialist Base

Turns out it wasn't full retreat like I thought. It was a trial balloon. Sebelius was the fall guy, and the Anointed One can soothe the kook fringe base by saying he was never the one who said they were going to abandon government-run healthcare ideals.

The lefties pushed back. Now they are whining about "why are we compromising with the republicrats if they aren't giving US anything in the health care bill?"

Excuse me? You are trying to destroy the world's BEST health care system EVER, to advance the cause of Socialism, and the people who happen to live in this country are pushing back, and you cry about THEIR lack of compromise?

Why don't you go ask President Obama why Senator Obama voted against every health care reform bill he could during his vast experience one year as a Senator? And then go move to Cuba, Canada, or the UK, and see how much you like the health care system you are trying to subject ME to. You Asshole.

Animal Lovers: Carry Your Guns People!

This was all over the news in Georgia today. A man and wife were killed by a pack of feral dogs.

Why?

Because. They. Did. Not. Kill. The. Dogs. First.

My google-fu is weak today. All I can find are stories of people who abandoned their responsibility for self defense getting attacked and being saved by POLICE who (sensibly) have guns and shoot the attacking pack of dogs DRT.

Once upon a time I read a news story about a man walking with his wife and he was glad to have a wondernine because he used more than the "statistically speaking . . . " six rounds or less you hear about gunfights lasting.

Carry your guns, people.

The Coming "Wave of Foreclosures" May be Huge

1/3 of all U.S. mortgage notes are in "negative equity" positions right now.

"negative equity" (the house is worth less than the mortgage payoff amount) is one of the major straws on a family's back before they decide to walk away from their house.

Look for a very large number of foreclosures in the next few months.

Look for the news to be "unexpected" according to "experts" who should be reading Michael Shedlock instead of watching MSNBC.

Did You Call Your Elected Heroes Yet?

I did, and I will again as the recess draws to a close, on two topics:

NO on ANY comprehensive health care insurance reform bill

NO on the Cap & Trade bill

Bad Shoot: Austin Clerk vs. Beer Thief

Everyone places a different value on the things in their store, but it seems to me that killing a thief for running off with a few brewskies is a bit much. It's a bit much for the State of Texas, too, so he's up on murder charges.

Side note: 12 rounds fired, with an unstated number of hits on the thief. The clerk is responsible for whatever those "misses" eventually hit (Rule 4).

Side note: It's not a Perfect Crime if the accomplice lives to tell the police who killed the dead guy, even if you hid the shell casings, erased the video, and cleaned up the spilled beer.

It wouldn't be politically-incorrect enough, if I failed to mention that beer thievery from this guy's store would probably be reduced, if the clerk hadn't caught a case. Also that the dead guy now has an automatic recidivism rate of 0.

How To Take Drugs

That is, how to take pills orally, for maximum immediate effectiveness.

If you are having an allergic reaction and want your benadryl to work faster,
If you are having a headache and want your tylenol to work faster
If you are jonesing and want your dope to work faster
etc.,

Crunch it up and let it sit in your mouth for a few moments, then swallow it. Sublingual administration is faster than regular pill-swallowing.

Note: this might give you a tummyache. Some pills are coated to soothe the stomach, and some are made for slow release over time. You are getting a big dose but RIGHT NOW, taking some drugs this way.

Note: Releasing their contents all at once by crunching them is probably a felony (using this product in a manner inconsistent with the labeling)(because you might get a boo-boo).

Note: some drugs might kill you if you take them this way. Consult your physician before doing this.

Also it will likely taste VERY bad. Drugs aren't made to taste good, when they're made to be swallowed as a whole pill.

Kay Bailey Hutchison: Leftist Statist.

"Because I don't think Texas is Progressing."

^ I heard her say it with her own voice during the morning radio news break. That's the reason she gave during the announcement that she is running for Governess of Texas. That's all you really need to know about Kay for Governess, as long as you remember:

Progressive = Socialist

I'm no particular fan of "Pretty Boy" "Texas-sized Ego" Governor Rick Perry, but I'll vote for him over a pinko woman any day.

That said: Can I get a decent candidate please? Not a wobbly with a huge ego, not a communist high on her self, just a plain public servant! Don't make me run, people! I will if I have to!

A Bald Eagle? Seriously?

Cops was on the idiot box while I repaired a laminator for my Darling Wife.

A married couple evidently subjected to government schools in the USA called the police. On a bird. Well, it's a really BIG bird! They were afraid it might be a Bald Eagle, so the police & Animal Control were both rolling out.

1/2 second after I saw the animal by flashlight (they had turned out the lights in case it might see the moon & fly out of THE FIREPLACE WITH GLASS DOORS CLOSED ON IT) I knew it was some sort of great owl.

For clarification, in case those unfortunates ever see this page (odds: 0)

This is a bald eagle.

Note the white head feathers. Balde is old english for "white" and Bald is modern shorthand for balde. It's a WHITE eagle, mmkay?

This is an owl.

Note the huge dish-like aural structures around the eyes, and LACK of a pointy yellow beak. Note the rounded (not sleek) head. Note the lack of solid white plumage on the head.

All I can do is shake my head at the level of personal incompetence displayed by TWO grown people here. It's too bad I didn't catch their names so I could warn all the H.R. departments in the world not to hire these people. Oh well.

This Is FULL RETREAT By The Obama Administration.

From "NOW NOW NOW! You HAVE TO! Pass it NOW!" to "This year, for sure," they are losing more ground the longer we hammer on our Elected Heroes. Americans have been outraged as a populace to a degree not seen since Pearl Harbor was bombed. News of it has even reached the exalted ears of the BHO administration.

Once his favorite part of the plan, which he said had to be part of it, and the most-obvious step in the direction of the RUINS of the health care systems of Canada and Britain, the so-called "public option" is about to be thrown under the bus with Obama's white grandmother and his racist pastor-of-20-years.

Make no mistake, however: abandoning the "public option" is not enough. If you think they wouldn't slip regulations into the bill that make it just as onerous under private non-profit organization, you are smoking crack.

We need maybe a dozen minor changes to the health care *insurance payment* systems in America. All of them could be addressed with one-paragraph guidlines to private insurance companies, from Congress. NONE of them require a thousand pages of private pet agenda stapled together and called one bill.

This is 1/6 of the economy in the greatest country the world has ever known. Keep pushing your Elected Heroes to vote against comprehensive reform, in any form. We are winning this fight against the statists, but you people have to keep up the pressure.

I Just Can't Do It. Round 2.

Whatever knocked me over a week and a half ago is still at it. I've been happy so far to have avoided much nausea, and haven't had to see my food come out by the way it went in, but the last couple weeks have been a challenge, guts-wise.

This morning, I got dressed for church in a shirt and tie, and the ol' energy meter fell off worse than the economy in Q408. Now my Darling Wife and the zoo are off to church, and I am sitting here without a shirt or shoes on and feeling slightly better (though still puny).

Ugh. Christians, feel free to pray for me.

Everybody else, become a Christian. Then pray for me.

H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine . . . With Squalene?!

The H1N1 virus may kill double the number of children in the USA* that the normal flu virii kill annually! EVERYBODY PANIC INJECT THEM WITH VACCINE!

Hold on there.

Before you have your children pumped full of poison, have a look at the bottle. It makes producing a huge number of "effective" doses much easier and faster (and cheaper), to be sure, but do you really want to be injecting your CHILD or sick grandmother (or self) with the same stuff that caused Gulf War Syndrome? Once again, wikipedia fails completely (to highlight the dangers of using squalene as an adjuvant, in this case). For the really scary-sounding stuff, you need to look to the people trying to make money off of you.

Mercola: Giving it to you straight, than passing the hat for subscriptions.

We report, you decide? When was the last time you saw this on the nightly news?

*200, vs. 100, children in the US might die from the flu this year. For the most part, they will be already-sickly or fat, just like most of the people who died from the current strain of H1N1 to date. And as a response, we need to risk GWS in 70 million healthy children? Um, no.

Bloggroll Wandering.

It's too hot to do any of the things I need to do. It's positively chilly out now, at a mild 96ºF in the shade. It's 81º in my house, which means it was at least 100º and sunny outside, earlier today. I have GOT to get a radiant barrier in my attic.

Anyhow, I decided to hit up a new-to-me blog from someone else's blogroll. When I got done there, I hit up someone from the new-to-me blogger's blogroll. You meet more interesting people that way . . .

I should make a blogroll of my own, but it's too hot . . .

Good News On The Economy!

Michael Shedlock reports that back-to-school sales are down for approximately the first time EVAR (depending on how old you are)(sorry, inside joke).

And he predicts that the very-bad Christmas shopping season will look like the good ol' days compared to the disaster coming at the end of this year.

Oh, wait, did I say good news? No, I meant bad. Real bad. Some stores are going to have to throw in the towel because of the back to school shopping dud-season, and more will be giving up after the coming wreck of a Christmas shopping season.

When stores close, they lay off workers.
Workers who sometimes ONLY know how to work retail.
Retail sales as an industry will not be hiring the laid-off workers.
Unemployment rises
Tax revenue falls
Consumer spending falls

So, who doesn't think we're in for at least a double-dip recession? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Do Want: Civic CRX w/ V8 Power

Anything is possible when it comes to engines to swap into a car. If it weren't a rolling death trap, I would really like to have one of these here:

Honda Civic CRX with a Chevrolet 355 cubic inch engine (claimed 450+ horsepower) built by an 18 year-old




Another V8 CRX from a slightly more professional-looking shop

Talk about a torque monster. I would actually prefer a more modern powerplant, with an all-aluminum (lightweitght) engine and sequential multiport fuel injection. And taaaaalll gears for highway cruising. Gear it right and you could, theoretically, GAIN fuel economy. Just make sure you keep the air conditioning!

Could you imagine the expression on the face of the rice burner in the next lane when he revs with a D15 and you roar back with your V8? Priceless.

********

Update: more details & pics on the first car, here.

"You People Are [CENSORED] MORONS!"

That's a favorite quote from one of my co-workers here at Small Company, LLC.

Ford's boss said he thinks the uptick in sales (due to the "pennies from heaven" Cash For Clunkers program) is sustainable. They are ramping up production of their smallest car & SUV lines to meet expected demand.

That demand will not develop. This was a mini-bubble that was blown by the President hisse'f, and it has popped already.

Now we read that The housing market has turned the corner! The bottom is IN!!!11!! Instead of getting excited at the news you hear tonight from the alphabet networks, read that linked article from Calculated Risk. You will learn that the housing sales uptick is due to ANOTHER "pennies from heaven" program, specifically GIVING AWAY MONEY to the tune of $8,000 just for buying a house.

The bottom will fall out again (for the bottom callers) or it has not been hit yet (for the realists). This is a mini-bubble that is being blown, and it will only extend the pain once the November deadline runs out.

Unless the populace figures out they can elect for themselves more "bread and circuses," that is. . . .

Cuba Is Running Out Of Toilet Paper.

Communism/Socialism/etc.: Even if the smartest people in the world were to run it, it would still be a FAIL.




Yahoo! Reports they are waiting with . . . well, they're waiting, for the next shipment of toilet paper to Cuba. Think about the last time you bought toilet paper by the case lot, and then consider how the toilet paper section looks at the grocery store in Cuba right about now:

News You Won't Hear About.

David Axelrod is sending emails directly to individual citizens.
Citizens who never signed up to receive them.
Major Garett asked Robert Gibbs how it happened.
Gibbs said there was a list, realized he stepped in it big-time, and tried to change the subject. And of course he giggled like a little girl.

Where is the news coverage?

Where is the outrage?

The .gov has your private email address on some list somewhere. . . why? And why isn't CNN/MSN/NBC/ABC asking about it?

Oh, nevermind. . . Hotair found out contacting the President signs you up for email alerts on unrelated subjects, and gives permission to share your email addy. with unspecified "agents" of the government.

Lockerbie Bomber Release . . . I'm Conflicted on This One

The Lockerbie bomber is set to be sent to Libya to die of cancer, possibly (ostensibly) as a prisoner-for-life, still. He has abandoned his appeals process on news of his impending release.

One the one hand, I say good, go let him die in pain somewhere else. On the other hand, F him, let him rot to death in a cell for taking part in islam mass murder. He's dying of cancer? Fine, let him die. In jail.

The deciding factor is that this cat is a terrorist. You don't let the proven-malevolent ones out unless your country is spiraling toward disaster. . . oh, wait.

Oh, Sorry Dear! I Didn't MEAN To Kill You!

Asshat leaves his baby son strapped in a carseat in the parking lot at Freescale Semiconductor and presumably goes to work for the day. Where they have company-provided daycare for the kidlets. In a rush to go to work perhaps? Maybe just wanted an easy-out from being a "father?"

100ºF temperatures, car not running, windows up, you do the math.

BAKED.

ALIVE.

No, no charges were filed, what are you, heartless? How could you possibly insist that someone who commits negligent homicide (murder?) be brought up on charges?

People who should have their parental rights and gonads stripped: One more.

Fabric Armor . . . For Tanks.

Gizmag reports that the UK is looking at fabric-based tank armour.

Say, has anyone heard from Troy Hurtubise recently?

One Hundred Heads

Make the proper selection, and one hundred heads would be more than enough to set things right.

The Electric Car You I've Been Awaiting:

From Gizmag:

Now you're talking!

How many city dwellers would not want an electric car that . . .

accelerates 0-60MPH in <9 seconds
has a 200+ Miles range
and recharges in 10 minutes?

Just get the price down by a decimal point, and MIT wouldn't be able to produce enough to keep up with demand, EVER.

Fiona apple: Auditory Stimulation And HOW!

Basically the whole of her Tidal album really does it for me when I'm in the mood for it. Give it a listen. Make sure you turn up the bass on Sleep to Dream (first track on the album).

Note: when she first got to "full is not heavy as empty, not nearly, my love . . . " my socks were well and truly knocked off.

In related news: I really dig Last.FM. I have this album, but I NEVER bring my CDs to work. I just listened to the whole thing online, free. Sweet. Listening to this album (along with getting over the norovirus or whatever it was) has put me in a good mood. Seriously, this CD is in the running for my favorite. album. EVAR. Right next to my copy of Handel's Messiah that I wore out with much listening.

Mike Vanderboegh has been on a roll lately

Using condensed milk to shake your truth in the tyrant's face

Quote of the Day: "Bugger all liberals. To the end of time."

. . . and the best you'll see in a while: Daring the ATF: EAT ME!

Review: Kensington Expert Mouse

Cliff's: Best. Input. Device. EVAR.

My dad converted me to a trackball user as a boy, and i've been using ever since.

"Hi, my name is VFD"
"Hi VFD"
"Yeah, um, so, I've been using Kensington trackballs since before the Pentium processor was invented"
::scattered applause::

I bought one for myself in the '90s and wore it out completely. I replaced a couple of failed switches, but eventually the circuit board gave out. I bought another one. The finish is worn through from my sandpaper-like Man Hands but the mechanism is still sweet. Plus it's got an optical sensor so it can be super-dusty and still work. . . which is great because I use it at work where we blow dust off of stuff with shop air, and the dust layer is useful in forensic investigations.

If you don't like a trackball, you won't like this one.
If you do like a trackball, you will like the Kensington Expert Mouse.
UNLESS
You don't have oily facial skin.

.
.
.

Hold on there. What?

The Kensington trackballs roll on little tiny rollers. When they get dry and dusty they are gritty. When they are slightly oily, they can be filthy with dust and keep on rolling smooth as silk. You don't think about it, but you touch your face all the time. The trace amounts of facial oils that get transferred to the roller ball are enough to lubricate it. If you are a fanatic about sterilizing your workstation with alcohol on a daily basis, you will probably not like any of the Kensington trackballs.

I luv 'em.

People Who Deserves Extraordinary Marksmanship Medals, One More:

From The Firearm Blog:

After three days on a rooftop, Scot Cpl. Reynolds and his spotter, Cpl. Hatton, got a 1500 meter one-shot kill on a drug lord in afghanistan.

That right there is a good shot.

Steve points out that this is the longest shot made by a UK Army sniper in Afghanistan. The record long shot in Afghanistan is currently held by a Canadian, Cpl. Furlong, who made his kill at 2430 meters on the second shot.

There should be a medal for marksmen like this.

Oh, and if you ever meet a sniper with a little bit of a superiority complex, it is only because he is.

People Who Should Be Shot: Two More

Dude runs over 6 year-old girl, and she dies of massive head & pelvic injuries.
He ran her over as he passed a stopped MARTA (Atlanta public transit) bus.
. . . Crossing a double stripe (No Passing zone)
. . . With a uniformed police officer on the scene directing traffic

Unsurprisingly, he has a long history of traffic violations.



Guy in Austin who killed 3 people was drunk, and is up on felony intoxication manslaughter & assault charges.
He was high on pain killers from ANOTHER fatal wreck he was involved in previously.



BANG! BANG!

There, the taxpayer was just saved a couple million dollars to take care of the trash for the rest of their lives, and the gene pool is cleansed.

My Television, It Fears Me.

We are using a borrowed television set that was our neighbors' primary TV until they upgraded to the new hotness. It's an aging 31" CRT that's no longer good enough to pull in signal over the airwaves (we use cable). After a lightning storm a while back, every once in a while the vertical deflection goes out, and all you get is a horizontal line or maybe a scrunched up picture. So we're back to 1963 and "honey go bang on the side of the television set, will you please?"

Earlier, my Darling Wife and I were watching the idiot box together and it started acting up. I got up and told it, "I'm gonna murder you," and reached down for my Glock.

Right when I got a firing grip, before I drew the pistol, the television fixed itself.

You had to be there, but if you were (and I was) it was pretty funny. Sometimes my Darling Wife shoots it with her finger-gun and the children are very impressed by that.

Why Did The Clock Break?

It was his time.

bu-doom-PSSH!

Reality Slaps Obama Administration Again, Honduras Edition.

The blogosphere rejoices! I saw this at Captain of a Crew of One, who saw it at Irons in the Fire, who saw it at Investor's Business Daily.

Remember how Obama was standing behind the (legally) ousted President of Honduras? Well somebody in the BHO administration must have tripped over a used newspaper actually describing what went down, and we are officially no longer calling for Zelaya's reinstatement.

That doesn't me we have to like it though, you doodyheads!

New Michael Jackson Movie?

Gag me.

The radio news said they might be using footage from the last rehearsals MJ did, to make a movie. About what, I said, "The Final Days of Michael Jackson?"

Excuse me while I go vomit in the other room.

I Have GOT To Get A Radiant Barrier In My Attic!

In Texas, it gets warm. We've had around 50 days this year over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and several over 105º.

In my house, we like to keep it around 76º for the sake of inhabitant comfort. As my wife is a fine specimen of that ever-so-rare gem, a Homemaker, that means I want it to be 76º during the peak afternoon heat.

Our air conditioner was made in 1986, and it shows sometimes. When it's 105º out, it's 80º inside, if it's sunny. That's a 25º differential temperature and nothing to sniff at, but still mildly uncomfortable. This is America and we like 24/7 comfort! Today it was 100º and cloudy and the thing had no difficulty keeping the inside temperature down . . . until the clouds baked off. Then it rose to 78º pretty quick.

I have GOT to get that radiant barrier up. Being both broke and handy, it will be a DIY job. In the attic. When it's 130º up there. Ugh. But if it keeps the family comfy, it's worth an afternoon or two of hassle.

********

Update: Nice try, local business guy, but I don't allow advertisements on my little corner of the Intertubes, even in comments. I especially don't allow unpaid advertisements from a company I never heard of. But thanks for reading.

It's A Conspiracy!

Apparently there is a stomach bug going around Central Texas, laying people out for a day and making them feel puny for a week. I caught it!

Night before last, I woke up every hour on the hour. My Darling Wife asked me what for, and I told her to check the time, because that's all I did before going back to sleep.

Last night, I woke up every hour and a half to two hours, for the same purpose. Then I noticed a pattern: When the blankets are pulled off of me and I'm pushed off to the last 15" wide strip on my side of our queen sized bed, I wake up. Note: I'm wider than 15" at the shoulders.

When I got up this morning, I felt worse than last night when I went to bed. I called in and told WM I was going to miss at least the first few hours of work, and went back to bed. And wouldn't you know it, a hair over two hours after she left for the gym with the zoo, my Darling Wife comes back & makes noise, waking me up again!

Cliffs: I haven't had 3 hours' sleep (one REM cycle) in 2.5 days now.

I did get a little more rest and I'm trying my stomach to see if it will let me stay out of bed before heading out to work. I give me even odds and I give God thanks for a job where I can just not show up on a phone call's notice.

********
Update later the same day: I thought I would be ok, then I put a shirt on. No dice. When I lost the heat radiation surfaces on my chest, stomach, and back, my energy meter started falling sharply. Sorry boss, but it's going to have to wait until I can muster more than 2 hours of sleep all together. :(

Sure, Why Not?

Texas is looking to replace some of its local police lake patrol boats with money from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Question: is ANYTHING a local concern anymore? Whatever happened to paying for your own iced cream at the corner store? Do we really need to send our taxpayer money through D.C., give them a cut, and then spend it here? Really?

Madness @ Work!

Because it seemed like a good idea at the time, IT Guy put his athletic supporter on Warehouse Manager's telephone handset and left it there.

Later, they were heard to be 'rasslin' in the front of the building.

Strictly after working hours, of course.

Obama Takes Another Page Out Of Hitler's Playbook

Don't like vociferous public dissent? Just have your thugs BEAT THE PROTESTERS! Send them to the hospital, sure, that'll shut 'em up!

Tip to President Obama: I'm a lot more restrained than a lot of my associates, and I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to dissuade them from shooting you if you keep this up. The people I know are a lot less trigger-happy than some of the people I know of. I still hold out a slim hope for our country, but public beatings of opponents of your agenda is NOT the path to peaceful "change."

WE REMEMBER what happened in Europe, starting in the 1930s, and we don't care to see it repeated here. Recall that America was FOUNDED on murderous rebellion against tyranny. It's little wonder Obama hates the private citizen's right to be armed with military weapons: he knows he's making more and more of them want to use them ON HIM.

Dead Cat Bounce

I didn't know what that phrase really meant, until I started seeing all the bottom-callers saying this recession is over.

a) it's a depression
b) it's not over, it's getting less-bad if you look at some metrics.
c) the numbers' "turning up" is based on speculation or greed, not fundamentals.
d) a cat fell far enough to die when it hit the ground. Now we are watching it bounce.
e) it will come back down, when the stimulus stimulation wears off.

I thought I had posted about this weeks ago, but I guess not. Stand by to stand by, and BOHICA. This economic depression is not over.

Hillary Clinton Supports Health Care Dissenters!

. . . oh wait, no, she wants to cram it down your throat still.

But it is nice to live in the internet age, when we only have to go a few clicks down a series of tubes to hear her say:

"I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration somehow you're not patriotic. We should stand up and say we are Americans and we have a right to debate and disagree with any administration."

Note: when she said that, nobody was calling the Demicans unpatriotic. Substitute "against the President" for "not patriotic" and it applies directly to the current debate over Obama's health care system destruction bill. She was correct, if a little strident, back then, and remains correct now, as far as this quote goes.

Tummy Yuck: We Has It.

We're practicing for life under Obamacare, so we haven't gone to the doctor for a diagnosis, but for a week or so now, several members of my immediate family have had some sort of ailment that causes sour stomach and . . . other symptoms. It's worse when it's hot outside (yesterday was 105º) and when we're not rested (I stayed up till 02:00 today) and I'm really feeling it today, so I've called in sick. Thank God for my Darling Wife, who puts up with me gracefully when I am sick.

Corrosive Primers: Evil!

From my youth, I was indoctrinated in the dark arts of the shootaguncleanagun cult of arms maintenance. I was backslidden recently, but no longer! I have renewed my vows and seen the error of my ways.

~or~

A while back I shot something through one of my .22 automatics that had corrosive primers. And I neglected to clean the gun for a few weeks. I opened it up tonight, and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but RUST! Three rather important springs and the bolt all had a light (scrubbed off with scotchbrite and Hoppe's #9) coat of surface rust. Dangit.

It's a good thing I just bought another Marlin 60, because cleaning the new one was inspiration for cleaning this one, also. Whoever last owned my new rifle was NOT an initiate in the shootaguncleanagun cult, and it looked like the black heart of an M4 after a firefight in there.

Sotomayor NOT The First Hispanic Justice!

People, I know that history for the left starts last Monday, but don't be fooled by the hype. Justice Sotomayor will be/is NOT the first hispanic justice on the supreme Court! That distinction goes to Justice Cardozo, nominated (lest we forget) by a white Republican president over 70 YEARS AGO.

Here's the money quote from OpenMarket.org and it took all of 30 seconds to find it on Google:

"The reason Judge Sotomayor will not be the first hispanic on the Court is that the first justice of hispanic origin was already nominated — by a Republican President — and confirmed by the Senate to serve on the Supreme Court more than 70 years ago. This would be Justice Benjamin Nathan Cardozo, who also has the distinction of being the second Jewish justice on the Court.

The fun part of this equation is NOBODY SHOULD CARE! It should not matter to person #1 that this racist, sexist woman is a woman or of hispanic background. But because Obama and his lackeys are a bunch of racist statist jerks, they made a big deal out of it, just like they intentionally (yes they did) made a big deal out of him being black. Even though Bill Clinton was the first black president.

Fishy Emails? email flag@whitehouse.gov

You know who ELSE liked for the citizenry to report anti-government comments by their neighbors to the government?

Yes I went there. YES the analogy is apt.

Move? Me? Away From Texas? HA!

I overheard a conversation about me as I was walking by a co-worker's workstation. This particular fellow doesn't see the use in being outspoken about politics, which is fine. He was asking rhetorically, if I want to make a difference, why not move to a swing state like Ohio? The other party in this conversation was working, nodding, and giving an acknowledging "mm-hmm" every once in a while to keep the conversation alive. When it came to this part in the conversation, however, he paused in his labors and said "Fuck Ohio." and resumed working.

Nothing against Ohio or the people there, but it ain't Texas. There are good arguments both ways, but I'm not moving just for political influence (unless it's to D.C., having become an Elected Hero myself). Give me Texas.

Curses! Foiled!

Note to night hunters: Pigeons will spook and fly off, if the light from a laser gunsight hits their eyeballs. That is all.

Vote For David on Illegal Immigration

There are somewhere between 10 and 35 Million illegal aliens of various sorts in the USA these days. I recognize that all of them are breaking the law. I understand that up to a third of the violent felons in prison here are illegal immigrants. I understand that the sponge-type illegal immigrants are bankrupting our medical and social services.

I also understand that, although there are very many of them who have no interest in becoming Americanized, there are also very many who would already be citizens, or they would at least go from being "undocumented workers" to "documented workers," but for one elephant in the room:

IT IS TOO DIFFICULT TO DO IT THE LEGAL WAY!

Have a means test at the end of a temporary work permit, fine. Have a nominal fee, fine. Require a loyalty oath, fine. Limit the ability of recent immigrants to collect publicly funded benefits, fine. Fast-track the people who are in line already, even. But when it costs thousands of dollars and takes 5 to 14 years to get here in accordance with law, the law is stupid and it needs -some- reform. Not outright amnesty, and not a jillion dollar fine or fee or tax. Arguing about social security benefits is moot, but I seriously doubt anyone young enough this year to build up a worthwhile benefit at retirement age, is going to see any of their so-called social security money. Last I checked, "my" money (in Al Gore's "Lockbox") is 'growing' at NEGATIVE 1.5% annually, and the whole ponzi scheme is brankrupt anyway.

I also understand there are "some jobs that Americans are unwilling to do" and I call B.S. on that point. If anyone has ever seen Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel, they know there is almost nothing a self-respecting American citizen will not do to support his family. It's a canard. The reason SOME Americans refuse to go out and pick the onion, is that when they fail to get a jobby-job, Uncle Sugar picks them up and kisses their . . . well, gives them a paycheck, anyway. When we have multiple generations of families (as we do) wherein nobody has ever worked a day in his life, but all of them have sucked off the public TEAT since day 0, that is part of the problem. We NEED welfare case workers. If being on the public dole meant no cell phone, cable TV, internet, or cars with payments, along with weekly visits from a nosy case worker (like it used to be) there would be fewer bums on the dole! If corporations could go to the Social Security office and say "Send me 5 to dig a trench" and the SSA sent them 5 able-bodied welfare recipients who went instead of losing their benefit, that would be better than paying one baby momma two checks every month for sitting on her duff and collecting benefits under both her assumed names!

The Fair Tax, by the way, would make a lot of the system-gaming that goes on a lot less-bad for society.

That said. . .

I know two illegal immigrants from Mexico, a man and his wife. He came here on a green card which has since expired. He works for cash at his job and pays his sales taxes. She helps at his work. They go to bed late and rise early, just to make ends meet. The aren't a drain on the system, they are busting hump. What's more, they are trying to learn English. I told my Darling Wife they would have to ask someone ELSE for help with any inconveniences caused by their voluntary legal status. I also said "the only reason they're not REported and DEported already" is that they are contributing members of society. I was against the McCain immigration reform bill because it was too broad and too soft on lawbreakers, by a big margin.

If you can't guess where I stand on illegal immigrants after reading all of that, I regret to inform you that you wasted quite a bit of your childhood in the reading comprehension portions of your government-school English classes.

Man, I'm Fast.

I got a cup of coffee a few minutes ago. Hot. Not quite hot enough to sue McDonalds, but hot enough I didn't want to spill it on myself.

Walking back to my desk, Front Office Girl came out from a side door about a meter away, at a fast walk. Fast enough that a lesser man would have made a mess of himeself. I said "HELLO!" and stopped in my tracks. She said "Hi!" and went on unabated, passing within a foot in front of me.

Cat-like reflexes: I have them*.

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*Thanks to Jesus!

UNF, SAE, NPT, DIN, ISO Threaded Pipe Couplings

The Straight (and tapered) skinny from Swagelok.

Want to know what's the difference between NPT, SAE, DIN, ISO, UN, and other types of hose-end threaded connector/seals? Want to know how to identify thread and end connections? Click that link. There is a little heavy lifting, with a few quality pictures and fun factoids thrown in for good measure.

If You Drive Like This, You STINK!

On the way to work today, I got two rare treats in one fell swoop. I was first in line at a red light (first to race off) and I saw the following happen right in front of me.

This intersection has at least 3 lanes in each direction, and TWO left turning lanes cross in front of where I was stopped. An orange compact hatchback car was making a left turn in front of me, from the lanes on my right to the lanes parallel to mine, on the left. It was a young male driver. He was on the phone, holding the phone with his Right hand (hand #1). I noted that his shift from first to second gear took an exceptionally long time (2/3+ of the intersection) and looked over to see why. . . he was using his Left hand (hand #2) to shift gears. The gearshift was on his right side (middle of the car, driver in the left seat). He was leaning down, while talking on the phone with his right hand, and reaching all the way across himself with his left hand to shift the gears.

This was during a morning rush hour, in heavy traffic, on a 90º turn. How did he steer? Well, that's why he was leaning down . . . hand #3 was his CHIN ON THE STEERING WHEEL!

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Oh, and a big "THANKS ALOT, [deleted]!" to the driver of a Mustang on the way home yesterday, who suddenly decided to put their car in the same space/time node as mine. Note: This does not work very well. I put both my accelerator pedal and steering wheel to good use, as well as part of the paved median between directions of vehicle travel, avoiding becoming a statistic because this [deleted] could not be bothered to check their blind spot before RIGHTNOW changing lanes. I cut THEM off with maybe a meter or two to spare, and I hope they came about 2% shy of a myocardial infarction when (if?) they realized what they almost did.

It's Not Grass Roots When They Do It!

I was amused and somewhat disgusted at the recent sound coming from Arlin Specter and Lloyd Doggett. It seems that the leftists have wormed deep enough into the brains of this type of men, that they no longer recognize grass roots resistance to insane policy proposals when it bites them on the ass.

All this month, if you listen to the right seashells, you will note an increasing number of politicians promoting the healthcare system destruction/socialization bill being SHOUTED DOWN at their own Town Hall meetings. The people being shouted down must have counselors on the Socialist side of the aisle telling them lies, or else they are too stupid to keep their jobs next year.

Note: The Republicans and Big Insurance are not arranging the BOOings, and nobody is busing crowds to your town hall meeting, you jerk. The people of the country have finally realized that Something Very Bad is going to happen if they don't speak up, and they are speaking up. One by one. All by themselves. There is no conspiracy (on the Right) on this one.

This is grass roots opposition, regardless of what you were told.

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Geithner Gives Another Indication of His Low Character.

Timmy Boy Geithner (think "TIMMAY" from South Park) is trying to bully people into compliance with the agenda of The One. When they resist, he curses and swears, railing on them in private face-to-face meetings.

Click on the link from Naked Capitalism and see if you can see the very high comedy laugh line from (White House Chief of Staff) Rahm Emmanuel.

Mockery: The only tool of the oppressed, before murder and/or enslavement.

Bocodes: The Mark of The BEAST!!!1!*

Instead of a big ugly bar code which is only a number, you can now have a little spot of light (in the future, a tiny hologram) containing thousands of bits of information, readable from several feet away. What's the worst that could happen?

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*I know this isn't the mark of the beast**. Calm down.
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**YET!

2 Steps Closer To Shooting Time . . . and 1 Big Step Back.

I have often wondered at what point the good people of America will begin to take it upon themselves to convert deer rifles into instruments of political reform, one insane fascist at a time.

Here is one more example of what might push somebody over the edge: Obama's Science Czar says trees and rivers should be able to sue you in court.

I'll give you a throwaway line to read while you think about that for a moment.

Here's another example: H.R. 2749 failed earlier, was stripped and replaced with a worse bill, and Passed by suspension of the regular way of doing things.

What gives me hope, however, is this: Freedom of speech in America still exists, and the best way to crush someone's hopes of becoming a tyrant is to get the public to mock them.



All 3 links found at Moonbattery

What's The Worst That Could Happen? Roundup

Town in China sealed off after airborne PLAGUE starts killing people. What's the worst that could happen?

Obama administration thinking about combined prison/detention center for terrorism suspects currently housed at Gitmo. The President has to do something with them, of course, because he made a law to say he had to, before realizing that the place where they are is actually a pretty good place for them to be. What's the worst that could happen?

California unions declare they have the right to strike if they can't convince California to dig itself deeper into bankruptcy to continue feeding their hookers & blow habits. What's the worst that could happen?

Me: Ahead of The Curve!

So it's finally come to the attention of the people building the grandparents of the robots which will enslave us, that this may not be such a good idea.

I seem to recall having been on this topic for . . . well longer than I've been on blogspot.com, but here's an early link, just so I can say "I told you so" in advance, again.

CARS.gov . . . Do Not Click Continue!

I'm going to give Glenn Beck the benefit of the doubt on this one, because there is no way in H-E-double-toothpicks I am going to log on MY computer, to verify that a website has the following privacy policy:

"This application provides access to the DoT CARS system. When logged on to the CARS system, your computer is considered a Federal computer system and is the property of the U.S. Government. Any or all uses of this system and all files on this system may be intercepted, monitored, recorded, copied, audited, inspected and disclosed to authorized CARS, DoT, and law enforcement personnel, as well as authorized officials of other agencies, both domestic and foreign."

Fox News video on YouTube until it gets yanked.

At what point do you stop attributing this sort of thing to gross incompetence (as I currently still do) and start just calling the people who promulgate policies like this "evil?" I don't think it's time to start shooting the bastards yet.

Is it?

Tin Foil Hat Discussion Talking Point: the reason the CARS.gov website is so hard to get logged into, is that "They" are copying your hard drive over the Internet, and investigating YOU PERSONALLY for child porn, money laundering, and thoughtcrime violations.

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Oh, and by the way, about that whole "cash for clunkers" a.k.a. CARS program . . . according to Edmunds.com, it's actually costing YOU the taxpayer, anywhere between around $11,000 and $45,000 for every $3,500 to $4,500 handout you give a car buyer. Be sure to tell them all "you're welcome."

Trina Thompson to Future Employers: NEVER HIRE ME!

From the New York Post via World Net Daily

Girl goes to Monroe College after high school. To her credit, she graduates. To her and her mother's discredit, she graduates with $70,000 in student loan debt.

"She's finally finished [with school], and I'm so proud of her. She just wants a job."

No, mommy dearest, what she wants is a free ride. She has demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of the important things in life, as well as your failure as a parent.

For anyone at the Human Resources department at any company who receives a C.V. from Trina Thompson: burn the resume and move on to the next applicant. Here is a child who, having received the finest education she could borrow, wants her financial obligations waived bad enough to sue a third party for her own failure as a human being.

Do you really want an employee like that?

In Africa: Doing It Right

In Nigeria, as I mentioned before, the faithful adherents to mohammed's made-up "religion" have been causing trouble. Now their movement is facing the proper sort of opposition from the Nigerian government: The leader, Mohammed Yusuf, has been killed in police custody ("oops") and the President is encouraging all local governments to fight the remainder of Boko Haram's adherents, and the citizenry not to have any associations with them.

In South Africa, where you could once upon a time walk safely down the street at night because EVERYBODY was armed, there is . . . a crime problem these days. The new Police Commissioner Bheki Cele "wants the law to be changed to allow police to "shoot to kill" criminals without worrying about "what happens after that"." He wants his policemen to worry less about what will happen to them at the office, than what will happen to them today on the street.

THIS is how you deal with violent people: directed, overwhelming violence in return. Some people you just can't talk to.