NOVAMCCAIN.
As in "Everyone keeps telling me to get my Novamccain shot, but I haven't yet because I'm skeered of needles that big."
As of yet, there is no medical consensus as to the efficacy of a regimen of Novamccain for curing Electile Disfunction.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Would you vote for this man...
...if he bites the head off a live chicken? What if he bites the head off a live chicken and calls himself a Libertarian?
No?
Okay, what if he bites the head off a live chicken and... hm... what other quasi-respectable parties haven't named candidates yet this year? Think Bob Barr could make it to Chicago by July the 10th? I'm pretty sure Bob could take McKinney, and his voting record is as authentically Green as it is Libertarian...
(H/T to WRSA)
No?
Okay, what if he bites the head off a live chicken and... hm... what other quasi-respectable parties haven't named candidates yet this year? Think Bob Barr could make it to Chicago by July the 10th? I'm pretty sure Bob could take McKinney, and his voting record is as authentically Green as it is Libertarian...
(H/T to WRSA)
What was their first clue?
What tipped Starbucks off to the need to close some 600 stores?
Was it when they realized that they'd inadvertently opened a free-standing Starbucks kiosk in the foyer of a mega Starbucks? (And forget the LHC, hippies; what would that do to causality and the fabric of spacetime? A Starbucks infinite regression loop...)
Was it when they realized that they'd inadvertently opened a free-standing Starbucks kiosk in the foyer of a mega Starbucks? (And forget the LHC, hippies; what would that do to causality and the fabric of spacetime? A Starbucks infinite regression loop...)
Suicidal stats.
So the touchy-feelies from the "soft" (read "pseudo") sciences are going to be studying the new, handgun-drenched streets of DC to see if the suicide rate climbs now that all those icky handguns will be free to roam at will, exerting their psychic controls over the hapless citizenry.
I'm with Sebastian on this. I don't think you'll see any measurable difference. And the reason for that is because of the seriousness of the gun itself.
Eating a bullet, like taking a header off a 20+ story building or playing stop-the-locomotive, isn't something that folks do to make their boyfriend pay attention. It's not a "cry for help", like taking a couple extra Thorazines with your Beefeater and then hopping on the phone with poison control. People who smoke a gun barrel are pretty serious about checking out of the net, and if a gun isn't available, they're off to the nearest tall building or freight crossing. Look at the Land of the Rising Sun. The only guns over there fire plastic pellets, and that doesn't stop them from whacking themselves with the same amount of industry and efficiency that they put into making Honda Accords.
I'm with Sebastian on this. I don't think you'll see any measurable difference. And the reason for that is because of the seriousness of the gun itself.
Eating a bullet, like taking a header off a 20+ story building or playing stop-the-locomotive, isn't something that folks do to make their boyfriend pay attention. It's not a "cry for help", like taking a couple extra Thorazines with your Beefeater and then hopping on the phone with poison control. People who smoke a gun barrel are pretty serious about checking out of the net, and if a gun isn't available, they're off to the nearest tall building or freight crossing. Look at the Land of the Rising Sun. The only guns over there fire plastic pellets, and that doesn't stop them from whacking themselves with the same amount of industry and efficiency that they put into making Honda Accords.
Today In History: House Divided.
On this day in 1863, Lee began attacking the Union left in earnest on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
Incidentally, just to give things a matter of scale, both sides combined suffered about 8,000 KIA in three days of fighting at Gettysburg. Compare this to how much more industrial and modern slaughter had become by the opening decades of the 20th Century in the post below about The Somme.
Incidentally, just to give things a matter of scale, both sides combined suffered about 8,000 KIA in three days of fighting at Gettysburg. Compare this to how much more industrial and modern slaughter had become by the opening decades of the 20th Century in the post below about The Somme.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
What the...???
I've had like fifteen hits in the last five minutes from people Googling "Porch Girl", for which my "Girls Gone Vile" post is the top result.
What in the hell made a bunch of people scattered across the continent all decide to Google the same phrase at once?
What in the hell made a bunch of people scattered across the continent all decide to Google the same phrase at once?
Today In History: Somme.
At 7:30 AM on this morning in 1916, the fire of over fifteen hundred British artillery pieces shifted from the targets they had been pounding for eight days straight. Eleven entire British divisions clambered out of their trenches and, following orders not to run or become disorganized, started walking forward across No Man's Land. Huddled in their bunkers where they had been pounded with almost two million artillery shells for over a week, the German troops knew exactly what that silence meant. They dragged their heavy machine guns up stairways and ladders to firing embrasures, and for the next several hours a thirteen-mile stretch of French countryside became a scene more grotesque than anything Heironymus Bosch had ever painted.
In minutes Haig's planned "Big Push" blew apart in a torrent of Maxim bullets. Barbed wire entanglements had not been cut by the bombardment as expected. A British mine that had been dug under the German trenches detonated late, killing British troops that had already advanced that far. The methodical pace and four rank attack, deemed necessary by Haig and his staff due to their professional skepticism regarding the soldiering qualities of the new "Kitchener's Army", turned the mud in front of the German positions into an abattoir. The British 8th Division, attacking near Ovillers, started with 300 officers and 8,500 other ranks. After two hours, it had been reduced to 82 officers and only 3,226 enlisted. The slaughter was similar all up and down the front. The only gains were made in sectors where subordinates had ignored the plan, either by having their units lie belly-down in No Man's Land before the attack, or ordering them to charge at a run rather than stroll at trenches that were supposedly devoid of life due to the bombardment.
When the sun set on that first day of what history remembers as the Battle of The Somme, the British army had suffered almost sixty thousand casualties, 21,392 of which were dead or missing. A French artillery observer, watching the attack, turned and commented to his British liaison, echoing the same words spoken in the Crimea half a century earlier: "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre."
"We were surprised to see them walking, we had never seen that before. The officers went in front. I noticed one of them walking calmly, carrying a walking stick. When we started to fire, we just had to load and reload. They went down in their hundreds. We didn't have to aim, we just fired into them." -A German machine gunner
In minutes Haig's planned "Big Push" blew apart in a torrent of Maxim bullets. Barbed wire entanglements had not been cut by the bombardment as expected. A British mine that had been dug under the German trenches detonated late, killing British troops that had already advanced that far. The methodical pace and four rank attack, deemed necessary by Haig and his staff due to their professional skepticism regarding the soldiering qualities of the new "Kitchener's Army", turned the mud in front of the German positions into an abattoir. The British 8th Division, attacking near Ovillers, started with 300 officers and 8,500 other ranks. After two hours, it had been reduced to 82 officers and only 3,226 enlisted. The slaughter was similar all up and down the front. The only gains were made in sectors where subordinates had ignored the plan, either by having their units lie belly-down in No Man's Land before the attack, or ordering them to charge at a run rather than stroll at trenches that were supposedly devoid of life due to the bombardment.
When the sun set on that first day of what history remembers as the Battle of The Somme, the British army had suffered almost sixty thousand casualties, 21,392 of which were dead or missing. A French artillery observer, watching the attack, turned and commented to his British liaison, echoing the same words spoken in the Crimea half a century earlier: "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre."
Well, duh.
From Feministe (aka "Humorless Progressive Central"):
Let's not read too much into that, okay? The oppressive tool of the patriarchy that writes all those headlines probably realizes that "Dog Bites Man" just isn't much of a eye-grabber.
I'm surprised they're even called "suicide bombers", and not "differently metabolismed anti-Western capitalist oppressor patriarchy explosive deliverypersons".
[Beavis]Heheheheheh. I said "oppressive tool of the patriarchy"...[/Beavis]
Iraqi guards kill female suicide bomber
Female suicide bomber in Iraq kills 15, wounds 40
Let's not read too much into that, okay? The oppressive tool of the patriarchy that writes all those headlines probably realizes that "Dog Bites Man" just isn't much of a eye-grabber.
I'm surprised they're even called "suicide bombers", and not "differently metabolismed anti-Western capitalist oppressor patriarchy explosive deliverypersons".
[Beavis]Heheheheheh. I said "oppressive tool of the patriarchy"...[/Beavis]
Lettin' my geek flag fly.
I got a copy of one of my favorite old computer games for the Mac. Been looking for it for over a decade. Happy dances and other assorted gloating can be found here...
Just guessing, here...
Anybody know Al Gore's whereabouts at the moment?
I'm just curious, because it dipped into the high 40s last night. In the Midwest. In July. That's usually a pretty sure indicator of the proximity of the former Veep. That or snow.
I'm just curious, because it dipped into the high 40s last night. In the Midwest. In July. That's usually a pretty sure indicator of the proximity of the former Veep. That or snow.
Promise not to tell the cybernauts...
...but fingerprints that U.S. Navy salvage divers recovered from the magazine spaces of the USS Maine match those of a certain junior senator from Illinois. I'm not naming any names, mind you, but it rhymes with "Barack *redacted* Obama".
Eewwwww!
So, the banner ad in the sidebar at SiteMeter says "Unlock Worlds Of Sensory Delight".
It's an ad for Friskies brand cat food.
If the purpose of an ad is to stick in your noggin, then this one is working like all heck for me. Prob'ly for the wrong reasons, though...
It's an ad for Friskies brand cat food.
If the purpose of an ad is to stick in your noggin, then this one is working like all heck for me. Prob'ly for the wrong reasons, though...
It doesn't work that way.
I have to admit that the headline of today's editorial in the Indianapolis Cat Box Liner caught my eye: "Making the streets safer by making non-crime pay"
The editorial goes on to talk about the special obligations "the community" (read: My wallet) has towards ex-felons and other ne'er-do-wells who have fallen afoul of society's strictures. Apparently there are those who have a rough time with the complex codes of civilized behavior like "Thou shalt not carjack" and "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's cash register contents and make them yours".
You know, this is silly. We already have a special reward for not committing crimes; it's called "Not throwing your ass in prison."
Best of all? Unlike so many other government programs, it's absolutely free!
The editorial goes on to talk about the special obligations "the community" (read: My wallet) has towards ex-felons and other ne'er-do-wells who have fallen afoul of society's strictures. Apparently there are those who have a rough time with the complex codes of civilized behavior like "Thou shalt not carjack" and "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's cash register contents and make them yours".
You know, this is silly. We already have a special reward for not committing crimes; it's called "Not throwing your ass in prison."
Best of all? Unlike so many other government programs, it's absolutely free!
I just noticed a great blog...
...that has somehow managed to remain under my radar. In between leaving sagacious commentary all over the blogosphere, Billll has managed to jot out some first rate musings over at his own secret hideout.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Para does not want me.
I've kept my mouth shut during the whole ParaOrdnance blogger shooty contest thing. They really went out of their way to support the 2A Blog Bash, and their rep there was so friendly it hurt. It took a lot of work for me to not refer to them as "Painted Ordnance" in front of him. (Paras have a bake-on finish, hence the nickname among gunsmiths.) I gritted my teeth and didn't ask annoying questions like "How come we sent that guy's LDA back twice and y'all didn't replace the undersized firing pin stop that kept falling out while he was shooting it and we had to replace it ourselves to keep the customer happy?"
Although two out of my three personal ownership experiences with ParaOrd firearms were satisfactory (and the third wasn't all Para's fault, as it was one of their early frame kits built with a World War One-era GI top end), my experiences with QC problems in retailing their products over the years were so disappointing that I finally just stopped carrying them for sale as regular stock items.
Maybe they've gotten better in the year or two since I threw up my hands in defeat, I don't know, but I do know that I would have gone to Blackwater with a decade's worth of bad blood in my veins, and that would skew my objectivity something fierce.
So, with one day left, go to Para's site and vote for my pal Squeaky. She'll be able to bring a fresh perspective to the whole thing that I wouldn't. I thank you, and Painted Ordnance thanks you!
Although two out of my three personal ownership experiences with ParaOrd firearms were satisfactory (and the third wasn't all Para's fault, as it was one of their early frame kits built with a World War One-era GI top end), my experiences with QC problems in retailing their products over the years were so disappointing that I finally just stopped carrying them for sale as regular stock items.
Maybe they've gotten better in the year or two since I threw up my hands in defeat, I don't know, but I do know that I would have gone to Blackwater with a decade's worth of bad blood in my veins, and that would skew my objectivity something fierce.
So, with one day left, go to Para's site and vote for my pal Squeaky. She'll be able to bring a fresh perspective to the whole thing that I wouldn't. I thank you, and Painted Ordnance thanks you!
"You're not really here for the huntin', are you?"
Maybe it's just me, but it sure does look like the DC city government likes getting stomped in courtrooms.
Must not suffer from a physical defect which would make it unsafe for you to possess and use a firearm safely and responsibly.Wow...
My, how times change...
I remember that when I first got into the gun biz back in the early '90s, $500 would buy about as nice a GI Colt M1911A1 as you'd care to actually shoot. You could spend more on WWI guns or scarcer variants, but a standard Colt or Remington Rand wasn't a terribly expensive proposition.
Not anymore. Yikes.
Colt M1911A1 in 95% condition per the 23rd Edition of Fjestad's Blue Book (2002): $625
Colt M1911A1 in 95% condition per the 29th Edition of Fjestad's Blue Book (2008): $2,700
I have to wonder how much, if any, of this is "bubble". Fads change, even among blue-chip collector guns like Colts and Smiths. I'd like to think that the military 1911 market will cool off a little bit at least in the future. But I'm not holding my breath...
Not anymore. Yikes.
Colt M1911A1 in 95% condition per the 23rd Edition of Fjestad's Blue Book (2002): $625
Colt M1911A1 in 95% condition per the 29th Edition of Fjestad's Blue Book (2008): $2,700
I have to wonder how much, if any, of this is "bubble". Fads change, even among blue-chip collector guns like Colts and Smiths. I'd like to think that the military 1911 market will cool off a little bit at least in the future. But I'm not holding my breath...
Today In History: La Noche Triste
On this date in 1520, Spanish soldiers, hardened veterans of wars in Italy and the colonization of the Caribbean, under the rogue Capitan General Hernán Cortés began an incredible and bloody fighting retreat through the streets and canals of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. First-hand accounts of the survivors of this 16th Century Black Hawk Down make for gripping reading.
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