Goodbye Blogger

This is going to be the very last time I say this, or anything else, on this blog.  I was going to post this song to go along with it, but it was just too bad, even for me.  You'll have to click that link if you want to hear it.

Anyway, this is your daily reminder, that as of 2-29-2012, I am no longer blogging here, but instead am at

https://deadmandance.wordpress.com/

Please change your links.  See you on the flip side.

Annoying Scriptures

This is your daily reminder, that as of 2-29-2012, I am no longer blogging here, but instead am at

https://deadmandance.wordpress.com/

Please change your bookmarks and blogrolls.

And since it's Sunday, and you're probably getting annoyed at me, well, here's just a couple scriptures to support my behavior:

Luke 11 5-8
Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

 and

Luke 18 1-5
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

See? Being annoying is biblical! So change your links!

Viva la Resistance!

Just saying no to Google's descent into evil!

This is your daily reminder, that as of 2-29-2012, I am longer blogging here, but instead am at

https://deadmandance.wordpress.com/

Please change your bookmarks/blogrolls/underwear. And wash behind your ears, you philistine. Were you born in a barn?

Do I really have to say this again?

This is your daily reminder, that as of 2-29-2012, I am no longer blogging here, but instead am at

https://deadmandance.wordpress.com/

Please change your bookmarks/blogrolls/whatevers.

Reminder

This is your daily reminder, that as of yesterday, 2-29-2012, I am no longer blogging here, but am at

https://deadmandance.wordpress.com/

Please fix your bookmarks/blogrolls/subscriptions. Or you can just ignore me and get on with your life, but I figure if you bothered to read this post you probably aren't able to do that. You know you need your daily fix of Random. You know it.

Changes

This is your daily reminder, that as of today, 2-29-2012, I will no longer be blogging here, but will be at

https://deadmandance.wordpress.com/

Please fix your bookmarks/blogrolls... heck, if you're short on blogfodder you could even put up a post redirecting others to the new place! Or not. Whatever. But you just know that you're going to be missing out on some great stuff if you don't. All you're going to get here from now on is reminders to go there...

Diversify!

This is your daily reminder, that as of 2-29-2012, I will no longer be blogging here, but will be at

https://deadmandance.wordpress.com/

Please fix your bookmarks/blogrolls, unless you don't want to read my completely excellent stuff anymore, in which case, um... farewell?

Crazy Weather.

I guess winter is finally here. Sideways falling snow. Why it has to start at the end of February, well, only the clouds know.

Of course, that means I'd really rather sit in the easy chair reading a book than go to work. Oh well, huh? Onwards and upwards...

The last daily song I'll be posting here...

So make it a doozy, eh?



So long, blogger, and thanks for all the fish, I guess.

Decisions

Well, you probably have noticed that I've been talking about this a lot, recently--heck, I first mentioned it back last November, so it really should come as no surprise. But with the way that google is ignoring the "Don't Be" part of their motto, and me just getting plain fed up with blogger's interface and commenting (CAPTCHA SUCKS!, and anyone who tells you different is just trying to rationalize why their abusive boyfriend keeps hitting them), I am hereby announcing my imminent departure from Google Blogger to Wordpress.  As of 2-29-2012, the eve of google's privacy policy change, the only thing that will be posted on this website will be reminders for people to change their bookmarks/blogrolls to my new digs, at


https://deadmandance.wordpress.com/

I don't know if this is the smart decision, or the right decision, but it is a decision, so at least you will stop hearing me complain about blogger.  Over the course of the next week, I will be giving out daily reminders of this switch, and until the 29th, I will still be giving you your daily supply of random music videos/inane chatter.  If you would be so kind, please look at my blogroll on the Wordpress blog, and let me know if I am missing you. If I forgot someone, I would be happy to add you (as long as you don't look too crazy on my completely fair and objective scale)!

Diversify!

Thought for the day

I don't know what kind of black magic they put in the stuff, but I swear that BG44K fuel cleaner gets the job done.

Oh, and also, I am no longer buying the cheap gas at that particular station.

And I hope the bad gas is all my problem is...

Some epic music to start out your week

It's Monday, so you're probably going to need it, anyway.



I admit that I did buy the Two Steps from Hell album--which is basically just music made for movie trailers... well, in any case, go forth and defeat evil.

Thought for the evening

Just say "No" to gin and coke. Please.

Sunday Music

Andy Hunter is one of the few Christian DJ's out there. Actually, I think he's about the only one that comes to mind right now.



Despite sometimes falling into the "DUM DUM DUM DUM DUM DUM DUM DUM" repetitive trance beat a little too much, I quite like his music, one of the few artists I'll buy without listening to the music first.

Plus the video has some cool footage that the random youtoober who made it must have cobbled together from a bunch of Planet Earth wannabes. Pretty neat, when it's all put together.

Wooo!

Got my tax return from the State of Colorado, to the tune of almost $300. Now just waiting for the Feds to get it into gear--my mother is still waiting for hers and turned in her paperwork a couple weeks sooner than I did, so I guess I should get hopeful for a while yet...

Still, $300 would pay for a little lever action .22...

Speaking of Leisure...

I've got none. Going over to help the neighbor (the good one, not the crazy one) to set up what was described to me as a "Grilling Gazebo." Not sure what it is exactly, but this neighbor loves cooking out on his grill, and has a large patio set up with his grill, and a smoker, and all the accoutrements that go along with such things, so I imagine this is some sort of structure to cover the patio.

Then after that I'm hoping to get over to a friends house to work on a gun I have that has a very stuck screw. Bought a new one from Brownell's (10 bucks for a screw and lock washer?!?!?) so assuming we can get it out with some of his fancy tools, I'll be happy.

Also, I have been meaning to make a cold frame so we could get our vegetables started, so maybe I'll get going on that.

Supreme Beings of Leisure

I got one of my CDs that I ordered a week or so ago, at least. The Morcheeba album is coming from Jolly Ol' England, though, so I'm not expecting it for a while yet. Till then, I'm listening to the Supreme Beings of Leisure album:



I like.

Another Random Picture

This one is a screen capture from somewhere, but my brother sent it to me:

Honestly, that would be pretty awesome.  Some of those quips just write themselves...

.22 Bleg

So I am trying to decide what I want to save my pennies for--or use the tax return for, more likely, as a BAG-day gun. I know I want it to be a .22, but I can't decide. So here's the

What I want most is tied between a Ruger Single 6 or a lever action .22 of some sort (probably a Henry since I've wanted one of those since before I even had any guns!).  It's kind of funny to me that all the guns I really wanted before I started into this hobby were the old style single and lever actions, but when I actually got going everything I bought turned out to be more of the blacktical stuff... but I digress.

However, what I really ought to get, if anything, is more of a pocket .22, because lugging the Buckmark around to dispatch varmints in the trap is more difficult (and conspicuous) than I would like. On that front I would probably want either one of the new LCR 22's, but then I have an absurd desire to have one of those Taurus PLY's (ugly as sin, but who ever said wants were rational?). However, you all know Taurus' hit or miss reputation, and I know Butch, you really like that Beretta 21 Bobcat (I think it is) that the Taurus is modeled on. But then, looking around on the gun forums (for whatever that's worth, probably just as much as you paid for it), it appears that the newly made Beretta's don't really have a much better reputation than Taurus. (So, Butch, I was wondering what year the one your wife has was made--newer and the forums are blowing smoke like usual, or an older one with presumably "better craftsmanship"?) Now, all that being said, the smart choice would probably be to look for a S&W J frame type .22, since, well, I actually have a J Frame, and I could get some crossover use in terms of training.  But then again, what kind a features do you need on a double action revolver?  The manual of arms is pretty much identical across the board...

And then, all of THAT being said, the really smart choice would probably be to just spend the equivalent amount on 9mm and .308 ammo...

Anyways, that's what's on my mind, and I'd welcome hearing whats on yours.

A Short Dubstep Video!

Only 30 seconds or so, but you should like it:



It's a DUBSTEP CAT!

For anyone using Blogger, and who hates CAPTCHA

I have found that if you turn off the word verification step AND make it so anonymous commenters can't get through, you can still prevent ungodly amounts of spam but not have to deal with the horriblenous that is CAPTCHA.  YMMV, I leave it up to you to decide if it is worth it or not.

Not that anyone cares about my opinion

But about the latest "DICK ON THE INTERNET" thing going around the gunblogs, I found this just plain hilarious.

From a website that says it's the place bringing "a touch of class?" 

"Whew, I sure am tired of digging this hole.  I should go and get the backhoe!"

They sure are using the classic anti-gun debate strategies, as well.

Linkery, Cans of Worms, Etc.

The Czar of Muscovy is talking about abortion, and the attitudes and language used to discuss it.  His attitude is identical to mine:

Abortion is the least American thing we do: you can draw a smiley face on it and call it pro-choice, and say it is all about the mother protecting her body (from what, by the way?). But ultimately it is a violent, abhorrent murder against the absolute most defenseless people in our society—the sleeping fetus.

I know that this can be a hot-button issue, but the "My Body, My Choice" slogan is leaving out one of the major parties in the debate--the one that is most affected and least able to speak up.

Bonobo Remix

Anyone who has been paying attention here knows that I'm a big fan of the artist Bonobo, and while I don't like this version of the song as much as the original, when you add in the video it becomes something way neater:



Just so weird it's cool!

Added: And then I went to Amazon.com.  And then I saw that there was a real deal Black Sands Remix album.  And then I spent $8.99  or whatever it was.  And then I had it.  And now my ears are happy.

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!

So there I was, dreaming peacefully, when suddenly the entire house starts shaking.  Thinking that a freight train had somehow jumped the tracks and traveled the next two and a half miles on sheer momentum, I practically leaped out of bed, blinking blearily... wind.  LOTS of wind.  I don't even know the last time I was woken by wind.

But hey, I guess I didn't need the alarm clock this morning...

In case you needed it.

There exists, apparently, a walkthrough for PacMan:

So the next time you find yourself at the arcade, and need to impress someone, memorize it, and triumph.

"They are a small group"

So, according to Joan Peterson, women shooters hardly exist. Never mind that that somewhere north of 20% of women now own guns, and the percentage is rapidly growing. Or that on the front cover of the Cabela's Shooting catalog I got yesterday looks like this:

I don't know about you, but the person with the gun in the picture sure looks female to me.  Say what you will about Cabela's, but do you really think they don't know what way the wind is blowing for their marketing?

I'm sorry, Joan, but you are wrong.  You are a liar, or maybe mentally ill.  And you are rapidly going to become a minority, a footnote in history.

It is truly going to be Miguel's Year of the Dragon Lady.  And that can only be a good thing.

Why not?

More Burlap to Cashmere, this time from their first album, 1998.



It's just good music, pure and simple.

Sorry

Turned off anonymous commenting. My email inbox and sanity couldn't take the constant barrage of cyrillic advertisements. Maybe this will help. If you are anonymous and want to leave a message, well, you're SOL. Sorry.

Yep, that's what I thought would happen

Turned off CAPTCHA yesterday because it pisses me off to no end (oh how I hate thee!  Begone from the world, blurry and random letters!) and today got my first real spam in a looooong time, a bunch of links all in Cyrillic, which when I run through Google Translator, apparently are advertizing "women's bright colored motorcycle boots." 

For a company that does so many cool things, google sure is getting on my bad side awful quick...

Added:  Hilariously enough, right after I first wrote this, I got another spam... on this post.   Fail, Fail, FAIL.  And let me just point out again, in the past couple hours, the amount of spam I've gotten over the course of 2 years of blogging has doubled.  Is the hatred of CAPTCHA worth it? 

This blog kills Facists

Well, it annoys them anyway.

Borepatch and ASM826 both put down their thoughts on the matter. How many of the current crop of candidates are people who want you to be free? 

I say I annoy them, because, well, have you seen how many random Youtube videos I post? And that is something that really pisses off the media moguls, who are the very definition of "Radical Authoritarians."

Borepatch started it, and you should carry it on.

Atmospheric!

And it's called "Airship Academy," so it's cool anyway.

So there.

CAPTCHA absolutely sucks.  I think I just turned off all word verification here.  Blogger is pissing me off more and more.  Can you think of any real compelling reason to stay here? 

Cheesecake!

With rum sauce and strawberries:

My first cheesecake ever.  The top was cracked, but the rum sauce was nice and thick and covered it all up just fine.

I should do more foodblogging...

Just back the pallet up and put it right here...

Did you know that you can buy those freeze-dried marshmallows that are in Lucky Charms, without any of the troublesome bland and boring part?  95 pounds of marshmallows for $400 to live the childhood dream...

Worthy Alternative?

Well, I've been slowly messing around with Wordpress for a while now, tweaking it to get it where I think it's bearable.  Wordpress does some neat things, better than Blogger, but then, it has some serious issues in other areas.  But the way that Google seems to be running ramshod over everything they are connected with, the time of change may come sooner rather than later.  This CAPTCHA thing is something that I have a severe hatred for, but that seems to be the only option on Blogger anymore.  That may be the straw...  but really it would be prudent to diversify my internet presence, rather than having everything on one password.

As of right now I AM NOT switching over, but I am curious to see what you other people think about it:

https://deadmandance.wordpress.com/

The comment moderation over there is set up (I think) so that your first comment has to be approved by me, but after that you are good to go.  You can leave a comment over there, or probably preferably for now over here.  In this case more so than others I would love to hear from you--anyone out there have a particular hatred for Wordpress?  Do you just love the way the blogroll is organized on Blogger, but think it's too much on the other one?  I want to know.

And, as Butch suggested to me, if you click to over there, and then click back to over here from there, maybe we can get a tear in the time-space continuum going and invent perpetual motion.  That would be cool too.

This is a pretty neat concept for a music video

Morcheeba:

Wow

So I think we're getting our first real snow of the whole winter. All the other ones haven't really left enough to make an impact. But in the past couple hours, it has gone from nothing to this:

The moisture is very much needed, I think the last numbers I saw was about 75% normal snowpack for this time of year.  Plus, a good snow day is always fun.

Have a peaceful Sunday

Burlap to Cashmere. Quite a range they've got, from crazy scary flamenco-esque songs to, well, this.

Hooray!

Taxes filed, and supposedly my refunds will be back to me "within 7 days." That's a good feeling to have off my back, but it will be an even better one when I get my interest-free loan back from the government...

Your Geekout of the day

The Scale of the Universe

That is pretty darn cool.

Howabout some 90's U2?

Pop is my favorite U2 album. I know, I know, I'm a heathen heretic. Whatever.

Ah, screw it.

Boss is out, having to babysit some of his grandchildren.  I've been plugging along here productively, fixing contours on a map and listening to some gun podcasts, but I have suddenly come down with the desire to be doing anything else, somewhere else.

Time to blow this pop stand--bluesun, out!

Seen on a T-shirt

Zombies Eat Brains!

(don't worry, you're safe)

Location, Location, Location...

[Apologies to anyone who notices, but this post was apparently hijacked by the internet gnomes. It is my sincerest hope that you, the reader, is not unduly inconvenienced by these happenings. The person charged with guarding my blog against said gnomes has been... replaced. As an effort to keep you, the reader, happy, your check for the 100% money back guarantee is in the mail.]

So I'm currently working on a project turning an old gravel pit on the river into a breeding ground for some stupid endangered fish.  Besides the fact that this fish is so dumb that it can't survive unless enviroweenies spend lots of money on it, and that it doesn't fill any particular niche in the environment that other species can't cheerfully and willingly fill, this project bugs me (and my boss) because basically letting the river flow into a shallow and wide pit will just cause the pit to fill up with sediment in a season or two.  But the customer is always right, and more importantly pays with shiny money.  But all of that is beside the point.  While I was looking around the area I came across this house, on the other side of the river from where our gravel pit is: 

Now how do you like that? Built on another old gravel pit, right next to the river, so lots of water, with your own lake... a field that you could grow your food on, if you look close you can see that the big shop has solar panels, and only accessible over that nice narrow spit of driveway.  I immediately thought: Zombie Survivalist Outpost.  Oh yeah. According to my boss, there's a DuPont house around there somewhere, I wouldn't doubt it if this is the one.  It's got some of that type of flair.

So, I wonder how you make friends with a really rich person who lives on an isolated spit of land out on the river...

Yet another song where I have no idea what's going on

And they completely get "Glock" wrong. But then, Tricky is from "great" britan, where all they know about guns is that they are Glocks or gats, apparently.

Still, it's a pretty good tune.

Did this just happen to anyone else?

My fancy smartypants phone just gave me the notification (three times, no less) that there was a test of some sort of Emergency Alert System.  Digging into the settings it appears that there are four levels that it does, from AMBER Alert to Presidential Alert, and "Do you want to receive alerts in the future?"  Do I want to be able to listen to communications from my dear old Uncle Sam in the future?  I pressed no; it's freaky enough that there's a built in GPS, I don't think I could handle getting information from them to go along with whatever they're getting from me. 

Communication is a two way street, sure... but what if I just want to be left alone? Despite having this droid for over a year, I'm still not sold on the whole thing.

This is just wrong

Abraham LINKoln iPhone case.

If you don't get the joke, you weren't raised on old Nintendo games.  Don't feel bad, it's probably a good thing.

Lawyer Up!

I just found this little bit of legaleze to be very indicative of where we are as a country.

Sigh.

Cybernetic Mariachi!

You've probably all seen this before

But I haven't, so there.



What can I say? I really like things going in slow motion.

Life

My grandpa, who hasn't been to town for maybe nine years (he lives out in the boondocks an hour away in [very small agricultural town]), is coming down today to get a small skin cancer removed at St. [Big Town] Hospital.  I guess spending half your life on a tractor and the other half on the country mail route will get you that.  Hopefully it all goes well and he gets to see how much town has changed since the last time he visited.

WARNING. WARNING.

Weather Conditions: Alternating Wet and Icy
Traffic Conditions: Pickup Pinball
Faith in Humanity: Previously Unheard of Lows at Level -11 (i.e. one more than -10)

And yet, when I pulled off the interstate to the red light, I came in right behind the people who had passed me. Going 85mph only gets you something if you are going cross country, in all other cases your lead will be negated at the first signs of real traffic (or when you peel off sideways into a guardrail).

More Tricky

The mood of this song...

SAF Says: "Never Let a Crises go to Waste"

From the latest SAF release:

"We're delighted that Justice Breyer was not hurt during this incident, and hopefully this case will give him a new perspective on the right to bear arms for personal safety. Police cannot always be around when you need them, even if you're a Supreme Court justice. One does not leave his right of self-defense at the doorstep of his home when he travels.

If this demonstrates anything to Justice Breyer it is that crime does not happen just at someone's primary residence, and criminals do not make appointments, giving someone time to unlock and assemble and load a firearm. You must be able to protect yourself, even on vacation outside of your home state, at a moment's notice. That's not just a civil right, but a basic human right.

When Justice Breyer dissented in the Heller case he expressed concerns about keeping loaded firearms in the home for personal protection. Faced with a machete in the hands of a criminal, one wonders whether Breyer might have quietly wished he had a gun with which he could have defended himself, his wife and their guests. We hope this incident gives him new insight with which to temper his views."

--Alan M. Gottlieb

Mr. Gottlieb is a lot nicer than I would have been. My words probably would have been along the lines of "HOW DO YOU LIKE IT NOW, DISARMAMENT BOY? HUH? HUH?"

But I guess that's why the Second Amendment Foundation is winning court cases and I'm just sitting here waiting for a computer to finish rendering a picture.  Why don't you click on that link (or the picture on my sidebar) and let them know how much you appreciate them standing up for your rights when even a "Supreme" Court Justice won't?

Facepalm is right

I'm not sure that I really consider myself a "Libertarian," but I think this picture is still applicable:

I don't know about anyone else, but I've been in facepalm mode for a loooooong time.

On the Tube

Watched that "Full Metal Jousting" show last night, because Netflix wasn't cooperating for me to watch a random documentary about some WWII battle, which is my usual entertainment. Have to say, I was actually mildly entertained. There must be something about big mean guys dressing in 100 lbs of metal and running into each other over and over with polearms that keeps me interested.

Happy Card Sales Booster Day!

Alternatively known as "Singles Awareness Day," "Boycott Expensive Hippie Chichi Store Day," "Buycott Expensive Hippie Chichi Store Day," or, in some circles, "Valentines Day."

But really, this picture is my 1,000 words on the matter:

One more thing that I just don't care about.

An applicable song

Yes, it's a love song!

Ummm...

I'm pretty sure this isn't a real sport...



...but the way some of those british things go, I'd guess there's still a 10% chance it is.

Dear World

I don't care about whatever drugged up pop star died this week Really. I don't like their music, and I don't like how you are forcing me to listen to it. Go away. Please.

Quote of the Day

Adaptive Curmudgeon makes predictions for the future. Here's a sample:

The European common currency, which chains drowning and strong swimmers together, will persist even as everyone has a theory about how to deep six it. I’m not sure what will happen after 2012 but watching Brussels work though the mess they’ve created will be like seeing a sausage made back into a dead cow.

It boggles the mind that all these things can be seen to be happening and yet we just keep chugging along, towards the thundering roar of the waterfall, not even trying slow down, let alone turn the boat around. What can we do? Well, as I said in the comments over there, I plan on popping a lot of popcorn; watching the talking heads and rulers of the world fiddle while it burns down, at least I can get some entertainment value out of it...

Digging this song

"My Mistakes Were Made for You"



Another one of those songs that would make a good James Bond theme.

I think we killed it.

Sunday Music

Demon Hunter:



Yes, they are a Christian Band. No, you won't hear this Sunday morning in most churches.

I said it once, and I'll say it again

Just ordered a pizza, sitting in the living room, over the internet, from my phone.

I wish we had a moon base and star drives, but I guess this future thing is still pretty cool sometimes.

New Boots

I've been needing some new hiking boots, as my old ones are 6 years old, have started leaking, and shrank the last time I wore them on a big hike because they got submerged in a stream when I slipped off a wet log (fun times). Went into REI yesterday, and they would have gotten my hard-earned cash except no one there seemed particularly enthused with selling me anything, so I wasn't enthused to buy. Funny how that works. Anyway, this morning I went down town to the little old shoe store that's been in business since 1910 or something, was greeted by a cheerful sales lady who made me try on all sorts and sizes till I settled on some Merrel Chameleon mid-height boots.  Amazing what a helpful staff will accomplish over an apathetic one.

All leather upper, nice sticky Vibram soles (hopefully to prevent the falling off a log incident from repeating), and a solid, stiff construction.  Very comfortable, especially as I also bought some green superfeet insoles to go with them (I have narrow feet with high arches--the superfeet keep me from wallowing around in my shoes, and will hopefully keep me from following in my mother's footsteps (heh) of large, bothersome foot surgeries).

Looking forward to getting out on some more hikes, now!

You Wikipedia Page of the Day

"The Nine Nations of North America."

Haha!  I'm in the Empty Quarter!  No outside overlord interests to take over!

So much violence...

...for a food fight. Project 86 is always awesome:



I really need to pick up more of their music.

Yo, Dawg

Makes me a bit sad

Adam Adamowicz, the concept artist at Bethesda Studios who basically designed the entire world of Fallout 3, has died.  Go here to see some of his work, and some of the method behind the madness.

In case you didn't know, Fallout 3 is a post-apocalyptic game set in a world that diverges from ours from maybe the 50's on, and where the world has been nuked back to pre-industrial times.  With mutants (both good and bad), human settlers picking through the remnants, squabbling factions of people who still have access to high- technology, and a soundtrack of the most peppy 50's love songs, it is an amazingly engrossing and intriguing world.

For your consideration

Psalm 55 HCSB [brackets are stream of consciousness thoughts from me, which may or may not have anything to do with the passages around them].  I'd also urge you to click through some of those links.

God, listen to my prayer
and do not ignore my plea for help.
Pay attention to me and answer me.
I am restless and in turmoil with my complaint,
because of the enemy’s voice,
because of the pressure of the wicked.
For they bring down disaster on me
and harass me in anger.
[I have seen many people around the internet lately who almost seem to have given up any hope for the future whatsoever, and from the way things are going--crashing economies, governmental power grabs, and the complete disregard of the current administration for both the letter and spirit of the law--who could blame them?  It is seeming like disaster is upon us.]

My heart shudders within me;
terrors of death sweep over me.
Fear and trembling grip me;
horror has overwhelmed me.
I said, “If only I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and find rest.
How far away I would flee;
I would stay in the wilderness.
I would hurry to my shelter
from the raging wind and the storm.”
[Fleeing tyranny--Going Galt, if you will--used to be a great way to escape.  From Moses to the Pilgrims, right?  Too bad we're in the last place left that has any hope at freedom.  Where's my space drive, huh?]

Lord, confuse and confound their speech,
for I see violence and strife in the city;
day and night they make the rounds on its walls.
Crime and trouble are within it;
destruction is inside it;
oppression and deceit never leave its marketplace.
[Seriously, have you heard from places like Detroit, where justified homicide is 2200% higher than the national average? Or how Chicago was so proud that they finally had an entire 24 hour period without a shooting?  While I guess both those things are good, in a way... just, wow.  There are some major problems out there.]

Now it is not an enemy who insults me—
otherwise I could bear it;
it is not a foe who rises up against me—
otherwise I could hide from him.
But it is you, a man who is my peer,
my companion and good friend!
We used to have close fellowship;
we walked with the crowd into the house of God.
[Oh, President Obama.  Elected on populism, and then proceeded to throw every support group he had under the bus.  Too bad most of them believe him when he says "Oh baby, you know I love you, won't you please take me back?"  All the hallmarks of an abusive relationship, there. Perhaps with this latest Catholic abortions thing we will see a major group of voters stop trusting the restraining order and go out to buy a shotgun.]

Let death take them by surprise;
let them go down to Sheol alive,
because evil is in their homes and within them.
But I call to God,
and the LORD will save me.
I complain and groan morning, noon, and night,
and He hears my voice.
Though many are against me,
He will redeem me from my battle unharmed.
God, the One enthroned from long ago,
will hear and will humiliate them
because they do not change
and do not fear God.
[I truly do believe in just deserts... it's just that sometimes you really want to see them happen while you're around, rather than waiting for the next life. I know, I know, not very Christian of me, but sometimes you just gotta say what you feel, ok?]

My friend acts violently
against those at peace with him;
he violates his covenant.
His buttery words are smooth,
but war is in his heart.
His words are softer than oil,
but they are drawn swords.
[Hey, has anyone around here ever heard of a little thing called "Operation Fast and Furious"? It is the weirdest little thing, you know, arming the enemies of a nation whose last aggression against us was in like, what, in either 1916 or 1846, depending on what you count as aggression/aggressors?  Hmmm, well, in any case WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING? Ah yes, and that "violating his covenant" thing...]

Cast your burden on the LORD,
and He will sustain you;
He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.
[Righteous is a good word.  It doesn't mean "perfect."  It doesn't mean "nice." And it sure doesn't mean "pansy-ass pacifist."  Maybe a good way to describe it would be "Outraged at evil." Kinda like this. Or Gatling Good.]

God, You will bring them down
to the Pit of destruction;
men of bloodshed and treachery
will not live out half their days.
But I will trust in You.
[And sometimes that's all that gets me up in the morning...]

Ska Saved My Life!

No really, it did! I was driving home from Montana one semester, really early in the morning, must have been around 6:00 AM, still dark out of course, no one else on the interstate, my MP3 player was on random, and I was about to fall asleep. Then the OC Supertones came on:



Not sure what subcategory of Ska they fit in to, but the trumpets, the guitars, and the energy, woke me up! And I made it home aok.

A question

What's the proper response when a retail outlet (cough CABELA'S cough!) asks for your phone number before every transaction, cash, credit, or even things--like ammo--that are non-returnable? Why do they need it?  Why should I give it to them?

My response is to make one up off the top of my head, but I was thinking something like memorizing their manager's number, or maybe the number of the city police.  Or maybe you could look up from your texting and say "I don't have a phone" totally serious and look back down.

Blogrollin'

Newest additions, in no particular order:

Mudbug at Zydeco Ranch, a fellow Coloradan, though further down and east than me.

BK at Cowgirl Photography, who, in my humble opinion, has a gift with taking and making some pretty nice pictures.

CoolChange at Tranquility Lost, with some rather entertaining jokes.

Quizikle, thoughts from a Yankee, who lived in the south, and now lives in the west.

and

Ed Hering at Atomic Fungus, coming from the great quagmire state that is Illinois; no wonder he's still on livejournal...

All these folks have either commented, linked to me on a regular basis (or at least enough that I noticed), or put me on their blogrolls--as always, if you link to me one way or another, and I notice (not always an easy proposition) I'll be happy to link back to you if you don't look too crazy!

Yeah, that sums me up

I just ordered some used hard copies of the self-titled "Supreme Beings of Leisure," Morcheeba's "Big Calm," and "Songs to Burn Your Bridges By" from Project 86.

So that's American 90's trip hop, british 90's trip hop, and Christian hardcore (with some of the coolest album art... EVAR). Talk about musical whiplash.

Oh, and I spent a grand total of just over $12, including shipping. Why would you bother downloading them when you can get the real deal so much cheaper?

And in case you were wondering

Ska isn't dead. This time The W's, kinda more in the Ska-Swing category:



At least, not when you can find it on Youtube!

Death by Restraining Order

My boss is off to his cousin-in-law's funeral today; a very sad situation.  Seems this lady was in a bad relationship, bad enough that the guy was arrested back in January.  So what did the Sheriff do?

Let him out on $1,000 bond, put an ankle monitor and a restraining order on him, and sent him on his merry way.

He disabled the ankle monitor (the second time that has happened in the past year, I might add) went back up to where the lady was living (way up in the mountains, where even if the monitor worked, the cops would have been an hour away) and took a shotgun (don't even get me started on where he got a shotgun) to her and himself in a classic murder-suicide.

I'm sorry, but I can't see any way to get around it.  She was killed by the ineffective "justice" system.  Why anyone would have thought any other outcome was likely when they let him out, I don't know.

As Weer'd always says: "Carry your guns people."  You never know when an ex with a grudge might get let out of prison...

A simplification, sure, but...

Seen on the side of the interstate

A small "well used" civic hatchback with the words "Just Divorced!" painted brightly across the back window, dead on the side of the highway.

Somehow I doubt the owner of that particular vehicle was having the best of days...

Neato!

Now, I'm unclear as to whether or not Five Iron Frenzy just released a new song, or if they released a new album, but in either case, have some newest wave ska punk:

I'm not OCD

But sometimes I'm CDO. I can sympathize with this guy.

Fun while it lasted

Well, my Uncle's girlfriend had to come back from Belize a week earlier than him because of a little thing called "work" so she came by yesterday to pick up his dog. In honor of the occasion, here's a picture of the Corgi fitting in nicely with the general decor of our house here, more specifically, my mother's sewing room:

'Twas fun while it lasted, but it is going to be so nice to not have drifts of hair flying around anymore. That's the nice thing about our Schnauzers.

Caucuses Today

Boy, I sure hope [insert_team_name_here] wins!

(wait, didn't I do a post just like that on Sunday?)

Seriously, I couldn't care less. The whole spectacle is such a farce. I predict Tutti Romneycare is gonna win, with a full 10% of R-rated voters turning out at the polls.

The best thing that will come of this is that the endless robocalls slamming Newt will stop, at least for a little while. November can't get here soon enough...

A more mainstream song with the same weirdness

Coldplay, Paradise:



For some reason that unicycle is the funniest thing to me...

Drat

My stock that's supposedly on order, that was supposedly going to be in stock as of yesterday, is now supposedly going to be in stock in a week and a half. 

Why do they bother estimating a date when it apparently has nothing to do with reality?

A Meme in the air

I'm never very good at these things, but when such august company as Nancy R and North link to you, it's probably best to at least attempt to play along.

So here goes nothing (probably literally)...

The Award:

The Rules:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog
2. Link back to the blogger who gave us the award
3. Pick five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award
4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs

The Attempt at Compliance--trying to think up bloggers who haven't already gotten it, who I like, and who I think would appreciate it:

1. Runt Compound--Butch has at least as freeky weird taste in music as me, but often in places I don't often go, and comes toward tacticool from the wrong direction
2. Bells A Ringing--darts, bowling, shooting, beginner browncoats (it's always nice to see someone new come in to Firefly just to have their hopes and dreams crushed by the stupidity that is FOX)

...

...uh, can I auction off the other three spaces? The only other blogs coming to mind I either doubt would appreciate it, or are bigger than the 200 follower cutoff. Here's an idea, if you feel bad that no one has given you this Award, you can say that you're 3, 4, or 5.

There, crises averted.

Make you dizzy

Hula Hoop + GoPro Camera = Awesome Headache

Boy oh boy...

I sure hope [insert team name here] wins!

No but really, just using the game as an excuse to go over to my buddy's house and play minecraft while eating barbecue ribs and tons of guacamole...

Good

From The Book of Eli



Good flick, good message, good soundtrack. I need to see it again.

Molten Chocolate Cake

We had company over for dinner the other day, and my mother made these.  I have no idea what was in them--lots of chocolate, though.  They were cooked so that the middle was still basically warm liquid chocolate.  And real whipped cream on top.

Too bad you couldn't a been here.

Time waster of the day

From Prof. Mondo, who puts into words much better the nostalgia that these types of things can bring up:

Leftover Mixes, homemade art from homemade cassette tape mixes.  Very neat.

I want to know how they did that with such straight faces

A hipstery band:



From my brother, who notes: "the lead singer looks like that fat kid from an 80's movie..."

Indeed.

Short Movie Review: Red Tails

Despite having taken vast historical liberties at times (Really? Four ME262's shot down in the air in the same dogfight? And weren't the Tuskegee Airmen known for flying P-51B's and C's -- not the D? But I guess "sex sells" applies to airplanes, too, and the D was the most disgustingly sexy plane of the war...), a rather predictable romance subplot (here's a clue--the guy who falls in love is the guy who dies in the last battle), some terribly wooden acting (especially the bomber crews, who sound like they're reading their lines off of a card), Red Tails contained quite a lot of very excellent airplane porn. 

Make your own decisions on whether or not that matters to you--it's entertainment, not a documentary.  And I should point out that it's probably going to be the last Lucasfilm movie I ever see, what with the way ol' George is looking down his nose at his fans.

Quotes of the Day: "From the Mean Streets of Indiana" Edition

Now that I think about it, it's a little creepy and stalkeriffic when that Harvard lawyer from Hyde Park claims he's concerned about me.  

--Tam

Nobody running in the Presidential primary is your friend. No friend to gunnies, no friend to the small businessperson and no friend to free individuals. They see your liberty as a threat; Mr. Schumer over in Congress speaks for all Washington when he wants you injected, inspected, detected -- not neglected! -- issued a card and sat down, probably, on the Group W bench with "all kinds of mean nasty ugly looking people..." And not a one of them will even bother to ask, "'Kid, have you rehabilitated yourself?'"

I dunno about you but I still haven't.

--Roberta X

And when you put those two quotes together, all it does is make me want to go and buy more .308...

Oh good

I woke up this morning and it wasn't yesterday again.

More importantly, Sonny and Cher weren't playing for my alarm.

This song was



I know that I've posted it before, but Infected Mushroom sometimes just needs to be heard.

An Interesting Read

Military Times GearScout did a torture test on a whole lot of them there collapsible buttstocks.  Especially interesting is that they got comments from some of the manufacturers after they observed the failed products.

Since I've currently got a new stock on order (one of the ones on the list, even!) This is good information to know.  C'mon, Midway, ship it soon!

Is it something in the water?

Traditional Japanese weirdness:



Why?

Seriously, why?



Is this supposed to be comedy?

Oh, here's one in English:



WHYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?

Up to 11

So Butch is goofing off with an air rifle, and I think it needs something more.  What do you suppose the most ridiculously tacticool thing you could put on a rifle would be?  I'm thinking it needs more rails, and probably a black (of course) adjustable M-4 style stock.  Then, on the rails you could put a bi-pod, and a laser, and a flashlight...

Congratumalating myself

I just realized that I broke 2,000 posts on this here weblog thing this past Monday.

'Course, a third of all those are worthless Youtube videos, and another large portion are probably pointless three sentence things where I complain about stupid people or somesuch, leaving only a small minority of good, high quality, boring interesting posts.

So I'm over 2 years and 2,000 posts in, and still am managing to find new things on Youtube. Huzzah!

All I ask is that you, dear reader, realize that I'm not wasting your time. I'm wasting my time.

I have nothing to do with what you waste your time on--but thanks for wasting it on me!

Rush Day!

Professor Mondo points out that today is 2-1-12, or 2112, the name of one of Rush's songs/albums from their epic Prog-Rock days.

Here's to those wacky libertarian Canadian rockers!

More Bonobo

A while back I talked a bit about Bonobo. I believe my words were something to the effect of "laid back and sparse but still makes you want to floor it."

Well, I've been listening to Days To Come some more, and decided that this one is definitely a good driving song:



Such good stuff, Bonobo is.

So, went out for Chinese food...

...and my fortune read "If it seems that the fates are against you today, it's because they are." **paranoid glances back and forth**

I thought today was going pretty good, though! Guess I had better just go to bed, and not "tempt fate"...

Wheeee...

So now in addition to HEC-RAS, I'm installing ArcGIS and HEC-GeoRAS. Because if ever there was a program cobbled together from decades of DOS command lines even more than HEC-RAS, it would be ArcGIS... should be fun...

Your fun Wikipedia page of the day

List of Unexplained Sounds

Be sure to click through them all and listen to the ones with recordings, some of them are pretty spooky.

Old Old School Massive Attack

More of a short film than a music video:



One of those things where nothing much seems to happen, but I just enjoy the atmosphere of it.

How Exciting!

The "in stock" date of the buttstock I want for my rifle has been pushed back every time I've looked at it on Midway since mid December, until the past week, when the date went out to the end of February, and then started coming back the other way.  It's now looking like it may be shipping within a week...  at which point I will declare myself momentarily satisfied on my setup (though there's still the bayonet, and the sling, and the [_____]).

I MUST get out shooting more!

So True

Dr. Boli on the severity of different crimes. Sadly, I had to laugh. As they say, follow the money...

(Oh, and I would say "sorry" for the linky not thinky, but even when I'm not linky I'm not thinky, so I guess you just get what you get.)

Cold

I was warm in bed this morning and as soon as I got out I was cold. Went downstairs to eat breakfast and I was colder. Went outside to drive to work and I was colder.

...I hope I'm not coming down with a cold...

This one has everything

Morcheeba, Blindfold:



Exceptional lady singer, check.  Symphonic strings and turntable scratches, check.  Forced perspective and slow motion visuals, check.  Random fish being thrown across the screen to keep you on your toes, check.  One of my favorite songs ever!

Has anyone else noticed this recently?

My sitemeter statistics are showing that googlebot is on a mad tear through my blog. Usually I get a couple hits a week, but I'd say in the past 5 days a good 20% of my traffic is actually googlebot. Just wondering if it's just me, or if anyone else is noticing that too.

Sunday Music: Some Kind of Zombie

I can't remember if I have posted this song before or not, but it's been a looong time if I have.

Before zombies were in, Audio Adrenaline made this:



I quite like the comparison of being "dead to sin like some kind a zombie" (ahem, "dead man dance" ahem).  Doesn't hurt that it's a solid rockin' song, and a bizarre music video (in other words, right up my alley).  And it's from one of my favorite 90's Christian albums--I know I did the Chevette song, off of it a while back.

Dogs

There's our little annoying dog (taking a break from trying to pull off my socks) and my Uncle's Ridiculous Corgi (who was supervising him taking off my socks) I mentioned the other day.

Dogblogging!

Strangers

More trip-hop, this time Portishead. And live, with an orchestra!

To cut the grumbling in the air

Have some kittens on a vacuum.



Just doesn't get old, that.

While I'm at it

Since it seems that most of the driving population of the United States has a problem telling under what conditions you need your headlights, rather than give you some sort of list that you will forget here's a helpful hint to keep you safe, and more importantly, to keep me from dying screaming in a fire with you:

Just. Turn. On. Your. Headlights.

Since it is too hard for you to remember that you ought to turn them on in fog, just turn on your headlights when you get in the car.  Since it is apparently too hard for you to remember that you ought to turn on your headlights when the sun isn't up yet, just turn on your headlights when you get in the car.  Since it is too hard for you to remember to turn on your headlights when you are driving a little grey car in the twilight, just turn on your headlights when you get in the car.  One rule.  Keep it simple.  Turn on your headlights.  Broad daylight and it hasn't rained in a month?  TURN ON YOUR HEADLIGHTS.

With any luck you'll forget to turn them off and your battery will be dead, keeping your apparently too-dumb-to-breathe body off the road.

I don't care.

So apparently there's another group of crazy idiots who are going to boycott some coffee shop on valentines day, or thereabouts.  And there's some sort of counter movement going on in the gunblogs that will inevitably dwarf whatever feeble effort the three (or is it 14 million? Those anti-rights cultists can never seem to count...) people in Sheboygan paying attention to the National Counsel of Gun... Violence... Appreciation... Councilors (or whatever their flavor of the month is--good golly but those anti-rights cultists come up with some duuuh-uuuhmb names) twitter feed. 

I'm getting tired of this stuff.  I don't like coffee.  I don't like the chi-chi hipster atmosphere of coffee shops.  I don't even like the overpriced pastries they sell. In fact, it could be said that my entire life has been one long boycott of Starbucks et al.  I hate to say (write, whatever) this out loud, but I Don't Care.  Let it be put on the record that while I believe that this is a good cause, I also believe that no one is listening to the anti-gun groups, and so this is just an excuse to buy coffee. 

And I'd rather spend my money on ammo.  Harumph.

A mega creepy conglomeration for you!

From Yello's first album!



Especially the Assistant's Cry part.

Strange and wonderful*

It's very odd how you can rip all the skin off a knuckle and it doesn't start hurting till two days later, no?

*I say that because just thinking of the healing process is just so amazing it makes me freak out a little bit (kinda like looking at the stars, or the Hubble Deep Field photograph), and feeling the pain again means things are moving right along in there.

I don't think you think that means what I think it means

Is there another health provider I could go to first?

Rather than finding something more conventional

I am going in the wrong direction, I think.



What's weirder than Bjork? A Bjork remix!

That little guy behind her is just plain creepy. Actually most of this video is creepy.

Potato Chips!

Sliced a couple potatoes real thin, put them in a bag with olive oil, salt, garlic powder and pepper, shook them up till they were all coated nice, put them on a couple of baking sheets, and baked them for maybe a half an hour until they were all getting nice and crispy.

Note to Self

It is possible to crash a fancy new computer with 8GB of RAM by trying to edit a 80,421KB JPEG in MS Paint...

CRKT M16

Via Linoge's Soldiers' Angels fundraiser and giveaway, yesterday I came in to possession of a splendid little knife (well, biggish knife) from Columbia River Knife and Tool, a (an?) M16-13z.  A nice bright spot in an otherwise rather dismal day.  Because I like companies that support great charities like Soldiers' Angels, here's a little bit of free advertising for CRKT, in the form of some pictures and my initial impressions of the knife (note: did you see what I just did there, FCC FTC FAA FAC et al?  That's all you're going to get from me today. Go suck eggs.)

So let's see... zytel grips, spear point partially serrated 3.5" blade that flips out via a little lever (not spring powered, mind you), their "autolawks" locking system.  Sort of a diamond shaped blade, with a satin finish and a slightly off-centered edge (though very sharp), which I'm not sure the purpose of. Nice solid knife. Not huge, but big enough (and I guess big enough to count as a "weapon" in some jurisdictions, huh?).  Only thing to possibly disagree with is that it was made in Taiwan.  Some people care about that more than others, and I like to try sticking with Made in USA products, but it's hard to argue with quality, which this knife has in spades. But I thought I would mention it.

Put up next to my old standby, a Kershaw Scallion, you can see the size better:

The autolawks system is an extra little lever that blocks the liner lock until you pull it back, just an extra layer of safety, I guess, to keep the blade from coming closed on your fingers.

When closed, the blade snaps into place with what feels like a little detent of some sort to keep it from just flipping open in your pocket.  When you push on the lever (the protrusion with the hole through it in the above picture) it overcomes whatever it is that holds the blade in place and swings the blade out.  Depending on the position you are holding the knife, it may swing all the way open and lock, or you may need to give it a little flick to get it to go all the way.  When it's open, the lever acts as a bit of a finger guard to keep you from slipping up the handle.  Similar to how the Kershaw works, but without the spring power.

So to sum up, I like this knife very much. It fills a niche in my collection (a larger folder) that I was previously lacking.  Many thanks to Linoge for running the fundraiser for Soldiers' Angels, and to CRKT for providing this great knife as a prize.

Sigh, and sigh again.

So came out of work yesterday to be greeted by a very flat tire:

So, got the spare on, went by the tire store to hear the professional opinion... it was too far gone to save, the sidewall had torn. I'd known that the tires on the truck were going to be needing replacement soon, the tread was getting down there, so I just had her give me a quote.

$826.24 later (over a hundred dollars of which was taxes and fees, thanks fed.gov!), I got to walk out the door of the tire place with brand spankin' new rubber.  Yokohama Geolandar ATS--reading reviews you get a nice even spread of people praising and complaining about the very same things (They wear great! They wear worst of everything! Great traction in wet conditions! Worse than slicks in wet conditions!).  Averaging things out, I figure they're decent all around tires.  I will say that they ride noticeably smoother than the old tires.

So yeah, spent the equivalent of a nice new entry level AR-15 yesterday on molded rubber.  How was your day?

And since I'm in the weird genres of electronica right now

Why not some Bjork?



She's about as weird as you can get in modern music.

Sigh (no yay this time)

Decided to call the humane society about the little missing cat, just to see if anyone had dropped one off... though I'm not sure that they bother with cats anyway. And of course the office is closed on Tuesdays. So far things aren't looking promising...slightly depressing.

what is this i dont even

Herman Cain... at a Steven Colbert rally... singing Pokemon stuff?

Yet another one of my precious few marbles has been washed down the drain into a series of tubes...

Sigh (or Yay, I guess)

It's currently snowing, and the weather says it will be till 8:00 or so. Probably the best snow we've had all season down in the valley (not that that's saying much). No one's gone through our mailbox yet, which is a plus.

My uncle the mechanic sent an email yesterday from Belize; it was 85, he was sitting on the beach. Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

But it's good to finally get some snow, it's been really dry so far this year. Last week we set a record high of 58 one day. Coulda worn shorts! Today, though, I think I may just leave for work a little later than usual. A body gets tired of yelling at all the morons on the highway who are trying to kill themselves and you in a single impressive piece of burning wreckage.

I guess I'm back to Trip Hop

Tricky is always darker than the others for some reason.

Scoped

There.  Bushmaster ORC 308, with my new Vortex Diamondback 4-12x40 on a Burris PEPR mount.  I *think* it's boresighted in; as I've never done such a thing before, We Will See.  The front sight ordered for Christmas hasn't been heard from since the order confirmation email--Bushmaster either lost the order or they are really busy--but I did pick up a Magpul rear BUS.  And nowhere seems to have the butt stock I want in stock--or indeed any stocks.  The stocks are out of stock. For now I just need to get out shooting more...

It's Monday

Which means it's time for some sort of creepy music, right?



Can't I just get back in bed?

Give Us Rest

David Crowder Band released their final album (deliberately their 7th--remember 7 represents completion in the Jewish tradition) a couple weeks ago. Yes, my favorite band is going on to other things. But man, this album, called in typical DC*B tradition, "Give Us Rest or (a requiem mass in c [the happiest of all keys]" is a doozy. 2 disk set, genres running the gamut from bluegrass to quasi-death metal, from a Kris Kristofferson cover to Bill and Gloria Gaither hymn. Pretty impressive for a worship band.  And it has some pretty nifty album art, as showcased by this short video:



I, of course, love it all.

They also made this somewhat hilarious Rockmockumentary to mark the release:



I'm sad that they're over, but I look forward to what these guys come up with in the future...

Notes of Randomnosity

Quiche for supper tonight; egg, ham, spinach, cheese... yummy.

It's trying to decide if it wants to start snowing or raining outside; the mountains look like they're getting pounded in any case.

My uncle the mechanic left today with his girlfriend for Belize; he goes every winter, and someday I'll go too, dagnabbit. For now we are left babysitting his dog and his car (a ridiculously silly cardigan welsh corgi, and a classic BMW, respectively)

My rich uncle and his partner just called; they just bought (holy cow, how many hundred?!?!?) acres of land in upstate New York, in the middle of nowhere as a "retirement property." My first thought was "why did it have to be in New York?  I coulda snuck out there and built a shooting range if it were anywhere else..."

The cat disappeared yesterday, in between when we left for the concert and when we got back.  Haven't seen hide nor hair of him, though the cat food in the bowl was gone this morning.  I don't know if that means he came back, or if it means the [insert boogie monster here] ate him and then came back for his food...  needless to say there are a ton of raccoon signs out there, I think it may be time to renew my crusade against them.  It's just such a pain digging all those holes... I'm leaning towards pikes lining the canal bank...

So what kind of education do you need to be in a cowboy band?

The answer to that question is simple.  Ranger Doug (the idol of American youth!) has a Masters of Literature, Too Slim (the man of a thousand hats!) has a Masters of Wildlife Management, and Woody Paul (King of the cowboy fiddlers!) has a PhD in Theoretical Physics from MIT.  I kid you not.  Oh, and the new guy (only been with the band since the 90's) Joey (the Cowpolka King!) has only been playing accordion since he was 4.

Just thought that useless bit of trivia was pretty funny.

Groovy

No idea who the band is, or anything like that, but...



it's a pretty smooth tune, that.

Brussels Sprouts

Sauteed in butter, with sea salt, garlic, cayenne pepper, and then deglazed with balsamic vinegar when ready to serve.

Holy crap, that's hilarious

Don't get me wrong, it's a horrible, horrible thing **snerk** horrible thing

Freak washing machine accident boils lab monkey alive

Ok, fine, you win, I did laugh.

Seen at Sharp as a Marble

I just had the strangest desire

I need to listen to Journey.  Right now.  Don't stop believin', yo.

Quote of the Yesterday

I prefer to have my world view shaped by facts, rational thought, logic, and actual hard evidence, rather than the deranged rantings-and-ravings of charlatans whose continued employment literally relies on more people being shot and killed by firearms.

Linoge, "we do not claim; we prove" (and a nice use of a semi-colon in the title, there)

The anti-rights cultists have jumped the shark. It's kinda sad to see grown adults act the way they do, but then again, it's kinda fun to laugh at them...

Going to see these guys tonight

Riders in the Sky, because sometimes you just need some cowboy music:



I've loved them ever since I was a little kid--kinda exciting to see them live.

Buycott

In support Borepatch's "I am TJIC buycott" (or is it Jay's?), I present to you my latest excursion into beefing up my ORC:

I've been looking for a scope for some time now, so the buycott was really just a good excuse to pick one up. This is a Vortex Diamondback 4-12x40. Seemed to hit my quality/price ratio in the right place (and it was the same price as the 3-9x40, so >>shrug<<), and it's the one that my old roommate in MT put on his 300 RUM (hmmmm... it's hiding in the back of the last picture of this post), so I figure it ought to hold up to my measly little 308. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding, but before I can prove it I must mount it on my rifle...

Squirrel Suits

Chinese Scenes from BASE-Book - Matt Gerdes on Vimeo.

China has some pretty neat scenery. So why not jump out of a cable car and fly through it?

More SOPA Thoughts

Seems there are quite a few people out there in the "Pointless posturing/yeah, so? the Fed.gov's been doing this ever since the ink was wet on the constitution--why are you all butthurt now?" category. This is a valid point, I think, but I want to tell you a story to maybe hearten you. It's very short--about my brother, who was never interested in current events/politics at all--until SOPA. He was a standard American coputer-y geek, content to play his flash games and watch cats on Youtube--until SOPA. I can't say that he is now going to be the next campaign organizer for the Libertarian party (though that position sounds kinda like it would be herding cats, anyway)... but SOPA shocked him out of his comfort zone, made him realize that yes, the government isn't all happy sunshine people here to comfort and protect, and he's actually following the primaries, and can actually debate the pros and cons of the current selection of jokes running for bumbler in chief (and he realizes that they are all jokes, too).

If even a small percentage of all the internet kiddies out there have been caused by SOPA to actually care one tiny bit about the politics of the day, and realize that they do affect you who was content to sit in the basement on 4chan, I can't say as how that is a bad thing.

Hmmmm...

The internet oughta go on strike more often. That was kinda nice.

On strike

...be back the 19th.

There was more than just SOPA, you know.  The Senate is voting on their version (PIPA) on the 24th.

When did we let so many idiots be in charge of such minutia in our lives?

Signs of the end times

My boss cleaned off some of his 10-year pile of junk, and is finally upgrading from his Windows XP machine to Windows 7.

I feel like someone punched me in the nose! What's happening?  Who am I?  Where am I...

There's a word for that, I know... wait, it's coming to me

Democrats in Wisconsin finally turned in all their petitions to recall governor Walker.  But apparently the next step in their cunning plan is "?" and the step after that is "PROFIT!" because:

"Democrats don’t know who will challenge Walker. Party and union leaders say they’re not concerned about not having someone actively running against Walker and trying to match his fundraising. In fact, they say it was part of their strategy."

You went through all that trouble to forge all those dead people's signatures, and you never came up with anyone to run against him?  There's a word for this, it will describe you perfectly, but I can't quite remember what it is... I think it starts with "S-T" and rhymes with "Cupid."

Huh.

Went out to do the chores this morning in just a sweatshirt, and thought to myself "Wow, it's pretty warm out today."  Then I got in my truck and saw that the thermometer was telling me 8 degrees F, warming all the way up to 10 by the time I got to work.

Must be a dry cold?

Freeky Music Video

I believe I speak for everyone when I say: "Huh?"

A sad thought for the day

Butch pointed me towards GEMTECH's website (he's trying to goad me into buying a .22 suppressor), and looking at their map, I am saddened once again by how fuddish my town is.  130,000 people, and ONE real shooting range, which is not open to the public? Nowhere to rent a gun if you are shopping around? And no one dealing with silencers for miles around?  I mean, hell, Vail has a GEMTECH dealer, even!  For being such a Republican, "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition" type stronghold, I am very disappointed in the way things are.

And for today's commute...

...we have a rousing game of Pickup Truck Pinball!

Seriously people, SLOW DOWN.  If you go 5 mph faster than the speed limit, and I go 5 mph slower, we still get to the red light at the exit ramp at the same time!

I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!

I just have to put this out there--maybe greater exposure will trickle down till everyone gets the message--

Please, feel free to repost this... more people need to know.

Spent the Day Cooking...

6:30 AM--Got up
8:00-9:30 AM--At church
9:45 AM--Started cooking
4:00 PM--Finished cooking

That's not counting the 4 or 5 hours we did yesterday...

There is now enough food in this house to make the Department of Homeland Security absolutely crap their pants. Heck, for most of the day there was 7 days worth of food in one corner of the kitchen counter!

So the freezer's full, and to cap it off I attempted to make no-knead sourdough again.

I think my yeast may have died off too much between now and the last time I tried it.  I resurrected the dough at the last minute by mixing in some baking soda--it's still pretty dense, but sure tastes good with butter on top...

Added: and now I'm sitting here enjoying a nice rum and coke.  Good day.