Automotif DCXXXII...

Here's a fresh shot of the 1955 Chevy Bel Air Sport Coupe that I first saw back in November of 2022. This time I noticed it before it got away and nabbed it with a Nikon Zfc and a Tamron 17-70mm f/2.8 zoom lens.

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Meme Dump!

Automotive History

Is the Cybertruck a bigger flop than the Edsel? Possibly so.

Meme Dump!

To Boldly Nerd Like No One Has Nerded Before

Any kid in my neighborhood when I was in elementary school would have cheerfully murdered people in their beds to get their hands on this USS Enterprise bridge playset.

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Houthis in the News Again

The Houthi announcement that they'd blockade Saudi tankers from transiting the Bab-el-Mandab has sent oil prices back toward the $100/barrel mark again.

Earlier this week, the Iran-aligned Houthis announced they had expanded their campaign against maritime traffic by targeting Saudi oil shipments through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the key chokepoint on the Red Sea, through which Saudi Arabia has re-directed most of its crude oil shipments to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

China-bound tankers appear to move through Bab el-Mandeb, but some others, including Denmark-flagged products tanker Torm Innovation, have made U-turns in the Red Sea and are now heading north toward the Suez Canal.

Despite the Houthi blockade, “two China-crewed, China-bound tankers loaded at Yanbu and cleared Bab al-Mandeb apparently untouched,” maritime intelligence firm Windward said on Thursday.

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Memes For Friday!

Meme Dump!

You probably weren't doomering hard enough...

Latest forecasts don't envision petroleum traffic to return to anything like normal through all of 2027.

Hey, look! (No, seriously, look. Don't just see.)

On the difference between seeing and observing:

The first step in the decision cycle is Observing. This is analogous to the “situational awareness” that is often mentioned but rarely defined.

If it’s described at all, it’s with phrases like “Checking one’s six” or “scanning the environment”, but it’s entirely possible to look around and not see, and even seeing isn’t the same as observing. Reducing it to the simplest example, if you are lying on your back in your bed and you wake up and open your eyes, then photons are going to bounce off the ceiling and hit your retinas. You are looking at the ceiling, you are even seeing it, but you are not observing the ceiling, let alone the entirety of your room...

Go RTWT...

How many people in this picture are really aware of their surroundings?

Midweek Meme Dump!

Life in the Panopticon...

Not only is your LG television spying on you, your LG computer monitor may be installing bloatware on your system behind your back...

LG's Smart TV features being overly intrusive is common among smart TVs, but LG's newer UltraGear computer monitors are now also taking liberties with user privacy and security.

On some Windows systems, connecting a new LG monitor will spur Windows Update to download drivers and the LG Monitor App Installer, which will then display pop-up ads for other LG applications or even McAfee antivirus software. This is disappointing news to say the least, but fortunately my LG UltraGear 27GL850-B doesn't seem to be impacted.

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Hey, look!

"Great-great-grandpa survived malaria, typhus and Spanish Mauser bullets and came home with his trusty Springfield floptop. In the intervening years, the wooden forearm had been shortened and the barrel had been chopped back to a more manageable length for stalking whitetail in the laurel groves of the Appalachians, and at some point, a Lyman peep sight had been added to the old tomato stake, but that timeworn militia rifle had been making meat every autumn since William McKinley was in office. It was just in for a checkup."

Bringback firearms, both captured war trophies and issued... uh, "souvenirs" ...were common among our nation's citizen soldiers for most of two centuries.

Meme Dump!

Tab Clearing...

• "Quick! Announce talks are re-starting before the markets open this morning!"


• Ghost Bikes


• Do the Euros have the stomach for a fight?

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Memes On A Monday!

Meme Dump!

Automotif DCXXXI...

A Mercedes-Benz SL class of the latest (2022-present) R232 generation, photographed with a Nikon Z fc and an 18-140mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens.

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Meme Dump!

Now it can be told...

The reason I was in Nebraska last month was for a product launch event for a new Leupold optic, the LCO Pro F2. The format of the event was a 1½ day class, followed a mini carbine match, during which I had the opportunity to put several hundred rounds downrange using the new dot.

Hornady hosted the event at the excellent Heartland Public Shooting Park just outside Grand Island.

Kyle Lamb instructed us media types in the use of the carbine...

...aided by Doug Koenig.

I'll expand further in print elsewhere, but in short, Leupold is gearing up to go hard into the high-end duty grade electro optics biz again, since they're one of a small handful of companies who can credibly play in that end of the pool.

Chris Cerino lighting up a target.

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