The room we withdrew to was lit by a large fireplace and a few lanterns in nooks and corners that would otherwise escape the fire’s glow. A large table dominated the center of the space, a map laid out upon its surface. The map showed the eastern edge of the Empire along with the five Kingdoms, stretching from Zesrin to Quendaverus.[24] Positioned upon it were small carved figurines of knights and footmen. Each held a tiny paper pennant bearing a heraldric emblem. I reached to examine one, but Hubert stopped me.
“Please do not move those.”
“My apologies,” I said, withdrawing my hand.
“I’m glad to see that my letter reached you and that you came,” he said.
“No, I’m afraid I did not receive any letter from you.”[25]
“Then why are you here?” grumbled Partanen as he found a chair to settle into.
“Slagveld Mark is overrun,” I said. “I came in search of aid.”
“Some protector of the North,” the dwarf said.
“Alexis, Kord has not been the protector of the North,” Freinmarkt-Ziegeberg said. “Indeed, he is not even Furst of Karststadt yet.”
“Bonifaz Kirchner has been silent. The first we knew of the problem was when goblins began raiding the Salzheim road. Before I left, we had already destroyed two of their camps, but those were at the southern end of the Slagveld. We need more men to drive them from Imperial lands and restore the border.”
Hubert sighed. “Normally I would have no reservations about coming to help my friends in the North.” Leaning a hand on the edge of the table, he pointed at the map with his cane. “But my army is already mustering to aid Quendaverus.”
“The Drakoi are a client people of ours,” Partanen said. “They were well treated and suitably rewarded for their service. They were the prime source of our auxiliary troops, including our horse cavalry. But they have turned their spears against their proper masters and made a mess of the order of things.”
“Hengist and I have agreed to aid the Dwarfs. Stefek of Iokathra has thrown in his lot with the Drakoi. I had sent word to my friends in the North in hopes that we would be able to add Ritterblume horsemen and the famed scouts of the Slagveld to our efforts.”
“I’m afraid that the fighting men from Salzheim on north are otherwise occupied,” I said, dejectedly.
“If the goblins are stuck in the Slagveld, they are less of a problem than Iokathra and the Drakoi. There’s not as much to burn, pillage and plunder there. Stefak and Marcel are not contained and are free to ransack whole provinces,” Partanen said.
“I assume your plan did not hinge upon aid from the North,” I said.
“No. This whole tournament is cover for our muster,” Hubert said. “It allows disparate small bands of armed men to move towards the Small Sea without raising questions. So Stefak marches south.” He gestured with his cane at one of the clusters of figurines on the map. “Unaware that when he reaches Altenheim, I will be waiting for him.” Hubert pointed to another cluster, downstream of the town in question. “While I stymie his efforts to effect a crossing of the river, Hengist will march into Iokathra and lay siege to sites Stefak cannot afford to lose. Stefak will be forced to withdraw to protect his own kingdom, allowing me to turn south and meet up with the Dwarfs and face the Drakoi. It is this last stage where I most wish I had more friends upon the field. The Drakoi are the most nimble army in this war, and the possibility of being outflanked is too great.”
“Their speed complemented our strength,” Partanen said, “Which is why they were chosen to join us in arms.”
I sighed and tapped my finger on the map, trying to soak in the implications. Jost and Roland would have only their own forces with which to dig the goblins out of their boltholes and camps within the twisting maze of the Slagveld Mark. The fewer soldiers we had, the more the goblins would be emboldened to fight it out and bleed the Imperial response. The more people would die sending them back to where they belonged. That was assuming the smaller force would even be able to complete the task on its own. But I could just as easily see the threat posed by Iokathra and the Drakoi. A muttered oath slipped past my lips.
“I cannot offer you soldiers, but I can offer you advice,” Hubert said, “Go to Stirnberg, seek audience with the Emperor. Claim the Iron Diadem and become Furst of Karststadt. Beseech him as your liege to come to your aid. You will not be judged by the mistakes others have made during your juvenile incapacity.”
I stared at the map on the table. The Emperor would be no more inclined to help if I were wearing the empty title than as I stood already. It seemed to be a plan with entirely too many pointless steps. I shook my head.
“I probably should have found the time to visit,” the Herzog said.
“I’m sorry?”
“Your father was a friend of mine. I don’t just mean a military ally, but an actual friend. If not for the fact that I knew he wanted you raised a Northerner, I would have pressed for you to come live in Freinmarkt when he passed. But I respected Arend’s wishes, and being with the Castors was as close to growing up in his household as we could manage. As I said, I should have found the time to visit. But affairs piled up, and Ritterblume is very far afield.” He gestured off the corner of the table map, towards the back wall where the Castor estate would sit on that scale.
“I see.”
“I hadn’t just requested the aid of the North in my letter,” Hubert continued. “I had put forth the idea of celebrating your coming of age at this tournament.”
I refrained from pointing out the obvious fact that we were still a couple of years too early for when such a thing would be appropriate. I wasn’t sure if his pause was in anticipation of me responding, or merely to collect his next thoughts.
“This is why we expected a larger entourage.”
It sounded like an orphaned thought. He’d probably been expecting me to chime in. But what was there to say? My mind groped around for something.
“I’m not terribly fond of being the center of attention,” I said.
A half-laugh forced its way out of the Herzog. “You’re going to have to get over that. There is such a thing as too much humility.”
Partanen almost timidly approached from the side opposite where Hubert stood. Removing his fox fur cap, he revealed a crown of thinning hair. When he spoke, it was in Dwarfish.
“I should not have said what I did earlier. Even if you had not been able to understand me.”
“I understand. I doubt this has been a particularly pleasant assignment.”
In the corner of my eye, I saw Hubert hobble slowly out of the room. I neither tried to follow nor stop him.
“You do not look too pleased to be here yourself.”
“To be honest, I’m not. I dread the tournament,” I said.
“Any particular reason why?” Partanen asked, setting his cap on the table and finding a new seat. I picked a chair for myself.
“Practice at arms has always been a chore. I would much rather study magic than swordplay.”
“Aye,” Alexis sighed. “I know the feeling.” He looked down at his hands. They looked soft, and clean save for a few ink stains. “When I was a clean-faced lad, I wanted to be a potter. To draw art and beauty from the base mud. But I was too high born to get my hands dirty. A sympathetic cousin got me an apprenticeship as a bookkeeper at one of the more prestigious shops. There are few greater torments than to get to watch others do what you dream of doing and only be permitted to keep track of the coin it brings. I had to get out of there, so I took to negotiating trade deals to get myself as far from the workshop as possible. One negotiation led to another, and before you know it, the Emperor is sending me to seek aid in dire times.”
I nodded. “Sounds like we’ve been sailing the same course.”
“I have had to console myself with studying from afar. Among the lettered classes, I am the undisputed master of mud. I literally wrote the book on the subject.” The conversation wandered through the night, moving from pottery to geology, to economics and history. Partanen seemed to just be happy to have someone to talk to in his native tongue. Apparently a Lictor was forbidden from casually conversing with his charge. I didn’t mind, the Dwarf ambassador was a treasure trove of knowledge.
***
A pack of Zesrin Royal Guards was tasked with making sure my sleep-deprived self made it back to the villa as dawn was breaking over Farcairn. The four spearmen who met me just inside the gate were an unpleasant surprise. Looking around, the structure appeared to be the same one I’d left the evening before, but someone had raised banners bearing a crimson spider on a white and green field. The eight slices of the field were probably meant to suggest the shape of a spiderweb. The same mark was painted on the shields of the spearmen. My escort was unhappy at the way the four menaced me and leveled their halberds at the quartet in return.
“Hold on,” I said blearily, “What is going on?”
Another man approached from behind the spears. He had black hair and a neat beard. The same spider heraldry was stitched upon his lapel. His eyes darted across the various details of my attire and to what had to be a surly expression upon my face. “You must be Prince Kord,” he said in a conciliatory tone, clasping his hands together and giving a very slight bow. His eyes only left mine when he glanced back at the spearmen. “Put. Your. Spears. Up,” he snarled, punctuating each word by shoving a speartip skywards. He turned back to me, his voice returning to a slimy, obsequious tone. “My apologies. There is no hostile intent. Secure space is in high demand in Farcairn at the moment. When we found out that you had not brought anywhere near the expected number of retainers, we petitioned the master at arms to be allowed to make use of the space that you were not. You were away when we were given approval, and we coordinated with your adjutant rather than bother you.” Giving an uncomfortable glance at the spearmen, he quickly shooed them away.
“Who is ‘we’, and where am I now?”
“I’m sorry, I should have introduced myself. I am Gunther Heintze, Majordomo of House Banik. You and your party have not been displaced from the grounds, and have the entire northeast tower to yourselves.” Gunther gestured towards a square tower about three stories tall abutting the corner of the walled area. A set of horse stalls sheltered in the lee of the tower. I recognized the occupants. Both Graymire and Soren’s mare were difficult to mistake. I gently pushed the tip of the closest halberd up and the Royal Guards got the hint. They returned to a more casual posture. They continued to escort me until I reached the door of the tower, then headed back to wherever they were supposed to be as the sun climbed above the horizon.
The tower appeared to be laid out as guest quarters for the villa. The first floor contained a small kitchen and store rooms. The second proved to have a more open dining hall and the third, bedchambers.
“Are you just now getting in?” Lenz yawned from a doorway. He looked like he had just risen from sleep.
“I spoke with the Herzog Freinmarkt-Ziegeberg,” I said.
“And?”
“He can’t help us.”
“Why not?” Lenz asked, annoyed.
“He’s already committed to helping Quendaverus. He doesn’t have the troops to spare.”
“Zhal’s balls,” he muttered.
“I haven’t heard you say that in ages.”
“I could go into outright profanity if you think it would help,” Lenz said.
I shook my head. “So, back to Slagveld to tell your father?” I asked.
“We just commissioned arms and armor for the tournament. Are you going to tell your uncle we paid for them and never used them?”
I removed my glasses and rubbed my eyes. “No,” I said. “No, everyone expects us to compete. And now we really don’t have any excuses left.”
A smile cracked Lenz’s face. It was more of a smirk, actually.
“Leave me alone, I’m tired.” I looked at the doors around us. “Which one am I in?” Lenz pointed. I passed through that door and passed out on the bed.
***
I was unsure of what time I rolled back out of the bed and found a different set of clothes to wear. This one was simpler, a cream jerkin and black trousers. Pinning the over-jeweled livery badge in place, I headed downstairs. The lack of activity in the kitchen seemed odd. It slowly dawned on me what was wrong. There were no servants. We hadn’t brought any with us, and hadn’t found any in Farcairn. No one was tending the hearth, and it sat cold. It would not be an issue if we’d bothered to think about it. Ritter sat in the corner, diligently scrubbing down the side of a blade. He looked up as I entered the room.
“We should have cleaned this thing sooner.”
“What thing?” I asked.
Ritter held up the sword my would-be assassin dropped in Amber Town.
“Okay,” I said.
“I found a maker’s mark,” Johan said.
My interest piqued, I walked over and took the short sword. The mark was stamped into the metal of the blade near the hilt. It had been obscured by the bitumen covering the metal, but the remaining dark material stuck in the grooves now highlighted the image. It showed an anvil on which stood a bird holding a hammer in its beak. “Whose mark is that?”
Ritter shrugged.
“You know, I think I know who we can ask.” I headed out the door. Ritter hurried after me.
House Banik took over much of the courtyard. Their retainers stood around the perimeter. A gaggle of girls and their chaperoning ladies sat on a bench in the shade of a peristyle along the main house. A few were somewhat attractive, but they looked to be the handmaidens. In the open ground, a line of Baniks was performing basic sword drill. They all bore a family resemblance to each other, and appeared to be the father and a slew of sons. The father had a solid build and flecks of gray in his neat beard. He led the drill, with the boys moving in almost perfect unison with him. The only one badly out of synch was a mere toddler with a wooden stick. The eldest son looked to be as old as Ritter. He stood as tall as his father but had a leaner build. The sword drill concluded, and the toddler returned to the arms of a nurse in the shade. The elder Banik strode over to me and extended a hand.
“Lothar Banik, Baron Banik,” he said.
“Kord Grosz von Karststadt,” I said, shaking his hand. Were it anything more than courtesy, the gesture would be farcical. Neither of us was unarmed. Lothar had a longsword resting on his left shoulder. I had the gaudy sword on my hip and the assassin’s blade in my left hand.
“Thank you for being understanding about sharing the villa. My family was not doing well in the tents.”
“There was no way we were using all of it,” I said. What could I say? Soren had apparently agreed to it on my behalf before I knew anything. Creating a rift would not be productive. I made a mental note to tell Soren not to speak for me again.
“Forgive my ignorance, but where is Karststadt?”
“Do you know where Salzheim is?” I asked.
Lothar nodded.
“Go North and slightly West from there. It’s at the edge of the Slagveld karstlands.” Lothar clearly did not recognize the name ‘Slagveld’.
“So you are a Prince of the Northmen?”
“By some definitions of ‘North’.”
“Then perhaps you could tell me one other thing.”
“What would that be?”
“What is the difference between Ashmen and Kurzmen?”
“They used to be bloodlines, but there was a lot of intermarriage. These days it’s simply that Ashmen live North of the Small Sea, and Kurzmen live South of it.”[26]
The eldest son approached carrying a pair of practice one-handed swords.
“Not at the moment, Andrei,” Lothar said.
Ritter chimed in. “I’ll spar with you,” he said.
I looked down at the assassin’s blade and decided I didn’t have to rush off this instant to ask Sture if he recognized the maker’s mark. “If they’re close in skill it might do them some good.” Lothar shrugged, and I went to find a seat in the shade of the peristyle. I wasn’t sure when Soren had arrived, but he leaned against one of the stall dividers in the stables. In the open space, Andrei and Ritter squared off. Steel rang against steel as the two clashed. The two were fairly close in skill. Neither was particularly impressive, but with practice could do well. Andrei powered past Johan’s guard and scored a blow against Ritter’s ribs. Soren came forward and whispered a few words of advice to Johan. Lothar was less secretive about directing his son’s technique. I couldn’t help but root for Ritter in these contests. Andrei still won two out of every three times their blades clashed, but that just made it all the more exciting when Johan worked past his guard to finally score a hit.
Most of House Banik sat with me in the shade of the peristyle. Lenz was occasionally seated next to me, usually after a stern-faced Frau chaperoning the girls caught him surreptitiously chatting up her charges. I don’t think there was any substance to their conversations, just the clandestine thrill of doing something their elders disapproved of. Now that I had my introductions, I’d counted fourteen children among the brood of Lothar and his Baroness. They certainly had been blessed with fecundity, and again in that all of their children were still alive. The familial banter between the Baniks reminded me of home, though the Castors had only three children before the Grafin passed, and I’d made four.
The look I caught from the older Banik girls in the corner of my eye unsettled me, breaking the comfortable familiarity of the moment. I’d gotten the same look from Gisela before we’d left. It reminded me of the look merchants had when scrutinizing horses.[27]
[24] Given his later geographic mistakes, I’d wager the map actually ran from Neph to Quendaverus. From time to time, Prince Kord speaks as if the Dwarfs were a part of the Five Kingdoms region. They are not.
[25] That letter has never turned up. We don’t know what happened to it.
[26] Again, ‘true at the time’. The rediscovery of the Raven Coast and the wild Ashmen who live there rendered this a falsehood.
[27] It took me a while to figure out what Prince Kord meant whenever he made this type of comment. When he finally pointed out an instance of it in person, I almost ended up laughing. The look was nothing like that given to horses being appraised. It was the look women give towards a man they find attractive. My uncle is just clueless with regards to the feminine.
If you want your own copy, the whole book is available from Amazon in eBook, Paperback, and Hardcover variants.
Now that these are posting on Sunday afternoon instead of midday Monday, I actually have time to reread and comment! 😃
I’m trying to decide whether Kord considering the title “empty” is more due to his self-deprecation or to his father’s absence and the resulting dearth of exposure to other nobility. No one else seems to consider it an empty title.
Sounds suspiciously like “they got uppity.” 😉
When Airbnb goes wrong.
How would you like it if your client kingdoms rebelled?
Sunday is a good day for this.
I’m curious. Did these practice fights really happen? Specifically, were fighters able to throttle back the normal desire to kill?
Early tournaments were basically just battles. As time went on safety methods improved, and specialized equipment was developed to make it more into a sporting event. There was still danger but less so than the early bouts.
In short, yes.
Also, even in real battles, against peer-level opponants, it was much more valuable to take them alive for ransom. So a bloodthirsty slayer wasn’t going to get ahead.
Not just ransom, ,but the loser’s armor in some cases.
Ummmm…someone want to explain to me what I am looking at here?
Wild misjudgment by an AI narrator or someone pranking? Maybe the AI’s former employer had it narrating porn so it sees everything through that lens? WTH.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Biagyb7AcK8
Ok, a little more watching…it is parody..by an AI? Are they working on AI’s getting humor? That is one hell of a hurdle.
Ze Frank has been around much longer than AI, it is just his voice and narrative style.
New to me
This one is 11 years old
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKffm2uI4dk
This is amazing. Astonishing.
I have no idea what I am listening to.
But it is great.
Here is my favorite one
True Facts: Frog Fish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRP4nAGMYCY
Ze Frank is awesome. Sad Dog/Cat diaries are good ole fashioned fun. He does a whole slew of critters that is just entertaining.
Is it Monday morning already? Sheesh.
You overslept
It is almost lunch time Monday where I am. Been fairly decent so far. I think you’ll like this Monday.
Impermissible profitability
Khan noted at a joint FTC and Department of Justice public meeting that the cost of groceries “skyrocketed during the pandemic, due in large part to the higher costs and supply chain disruptions.”
“But we also know that in the years since, costs have fallen, and supply chains have improved,” she said. “Many items though, are still too costly, and many large grocery chains are still raking in enormous profits. The FTC is determined to understand why. To make sure we can do so, I’ll be asking [the] commission to join me in launching an inquiry into grocery prices, to shed light on why it is that prices and profits remain so high, even as costs appear to have come down.”
Whip inflation now.
I trust Lina Khan to set wages and prices. She knows what’s best for us.
Gee, it couldn’t have anything to do with the billions of dollars you created out of nothing, could it?
The largest part of the price increases is the rise in the cost of energy. They know this. They jacked the price of energy deliberately and plan to do so more. They are actively waging a war on prosperity while talking out of the other side of their mouths.
These people need to go.
It is an auto-da-fé of the left that command economies will work, hence price controls, rent controls, etc. are always a big part of the platform they espouse. The further left you go, the greater the command.
Remember, Top! Men! are always a part of the plan.
There is no competition in the grocery industry.
There’s also extremely high profit margins.
And greedy CEOs!
I don’t understand people.
In the last month we have had a former president and current leading presidential candidate shot under exceptionally questionable circumstances.
We still don’t know why the roof was left unguarded – but we know the head of the SS lied and said that the roof was too steep.
We have had the democrat nominee forced to drop out of the race, and nobody is saying how that went down. And nobody in the national media is even curious.
We have a new candidate for the dems who was announced by proclamation of the party…. and not only does nobody care, they all seem ecstatic about it.
I can’t wrap my head around it. Nobody seems to care about anything important in the slightest, and at the same time everyone is super angry about the most trivial nonsense (Trump using a particular word, dems opposing a candidate because he supports sending weapons to Israel are antisemitic)
I just don’t understand what is happening
+1 single cat lady
Exactly
That one comment got more analysis than sending hundreds of billions to Ukraine without a vote. More debate than blocking the enforcement of election laws in a half dozen states. More panic than the secret service leaving the only high ground at a presidential campaign speech unguarded.
It makes no sense at all.
We destroyed a major gas pipeline for Europe in Nordstream – nobody is even curious to find out who ordered it, not even our allies.
There have been several mass shootings where the FBI came in and squelched any investigation into motive or any outside support. Nobody even notices.
We have a president who clearly isn’t the president. Hasn’t been, probably since day 1. Zero curiosity as to what is actually happening and who is calling the shots.
We have a movement across all media – major movie studios, TV, etc. – to insert “diverse” characters and denigrate existing male character (put a chick in it, make it gay and lame). Too pervasive to be simply a coincidence, major harm to the bottom line for too long to be some misread of the market. Yet even as it is lampooned by Southpark, nobody is interested in why *every* movie and TV studio is following this model.
Obama opened the border by executive order. Biden opened the border by executive order. Trump showed that securing the border was not that hard. Yet we have tens of millions of illegals streaming in, and polite society says it is rude to notice. Why is nobody curious as to why the establishment wants millions of illegals who cannot legally even work?
(Sub-sus moment, a federal appeals court said Arizona cannot ask for proof of citizenship to register to vote, even for federal elections. It is illegal to vote if you are not a citizen. Why is nobody even curious as to why they want to prevent checking for citizenship?)
I mean, everywhere you look, something that would have been the *only* thing anyone was talking about at any point from the end of WWII to 2007 is happening- without any notice past the first day or two, and without any curiosity as to why at all.
I just don’t get it.
The only people who even notice are crazies in the corners of the internet.
crazies in the corners of the internet.
Don’t hate on my people.
It is banana republic monkey bullshit. This stuff has always been around, in fact it is normal most places but we told ourselves it could never happen here. It is happening here because one brick at a time the wall between dispersed and concentrated power has been removed.
Every time I hear an R say ‘reach across the aisle’, ‘bipartisan’, ‘work with my colleagues’, ‘compromise, or ‘get things done’ I want to kick the fucker in the balls.
They have compromised away the shining jewel of the enlightenment. That is how we got here.
What is happening? Bread and circuses while they slip you into chains.
Sane countries don’t facilitate their own invasion and destruction. Our “leaders” are our enemies.
There are Dems who are not happy with this, See this article. But opinions like that are considered heretical to the DNC, and the faithful, with little grumbling, abides by the DNC. The “Squad” got its tail cut off a year or so ago, and with Cory Bush about to be cut out of the loop, will have no say in anything like this again. So, no, the rank and file Dems will go right along with it.
As far as Trump almost taking a bullet? No, the “media” doesn’t care. That SS director has “stepped down”, which, in their minds takes care of it.
Right now the Dems are scarred shitless of the monster under their bed, Trump. And this same thing is happening all across the west – the liberal international project is under attack at every point, and they are going to use every weapon in their arsenal to fight.
Sad part is they have already lost, no matter of Trump or LePen get in office or not. The people, whom they proport to serve, do not want this BS.
Cool link, bro!
Sigh: https://leightonwoodhouse.substack.com/p/the-party-decides?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=363687&post_id=147323704&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=2n06q&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
It is all evidence that the left is in total control of every institution that matters. It happened slowly, then all at once.
What’s funny about that is that, even with all of that institutional advantage, they still only rate at 50% of the voting total.
Questioning current events because none of it makes sense ain’t
fetchbrat, it’s weird.We have a new candidate for the dems who was announced by proclamation of the party…. and not only does nobody care, they all seem ecstatic about it.
Her qualifications are impeccable.
I missed this one. Also, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/former-fbi-official-peter-strzok-reaches-12-million-settlement-with-doj/ar-BB1qHP1B
Here you go Mr. Crooked former FBI Man, enjoy your retirement on the backs of the taxpayers. What a bunch of bullshit.
The implication is that Lisa Page got her payoff too.
The moneyshot.
But enough about Kamala.
And not only are we not curious about the corrupt look here…. nobody is really even reporting on it.
They set up what is pretty inarguably a coup attempt, and after multiple “investigations” not only has nobody actually been held accountable, the DOJ who ran the whole thing decided to pay off the key players.
It’s a plausibly deniable way of saying that if you take a metaphorical shot at the king and miss you’ll be taken care if you choose an acceptable target. Enjoy your 1.5 million bucks you twat.
And a smug little douchebag smirking because he’s untouchable.
The thing is, they didn’t take a shot at the king. They took a shot at a pretender to the throne, at least in the eyes of the establishment.
Dissolve the FBI, along with 90% of the federal government.
From your lips to God’s ears. Won’t happen though.
Greetings from White Sulphur Springs, WV!
Racist!
State forestry dept has completely lost the plot. Totally worried about gas engined tools (that nowadays have spark arrestors over mufflers) and completely ignoring electric power tools. Perfectly ok to use an electric chainsaw during the day when gas saws are prohibited. Same with electric brush cutters. Hello McFly!
I doubt those dipsshits have ever ran a saw or seen wood smoking after have a dull chain inside. All off-season the forestry dept is grrrlpower bullshit for chicks.
And this means…? No gas saws on state land? Or none at all?
No gas saws usage on protected lands during fire season, including private residential land, when prohibited depending on fire danger* (moderate: 1-8pm, high: 10am-8pm, extreme: 24 hours)
* used to be just 1-8pm during fire season regardless of “danger”**
**they’ve been keeping level high for a while, should have dropped to moderate after the rains and lower temperatures but they’ve kept it high because they’re afraid people won’t take their fear mongering seriously. I’ve had enough. I’ll exercise my own judgement and discretion.
Basically any unincorporated property away from a city is going to fall under a state forestry or private forestry protection district.
the forestry dept is grrrlpower bullshit for chicks.
I’m petrified at the thought.
What up, party people?
On vacay!
Friday was my bday, we went to Mackinac Bridge
Hey everybody, it’s MichiganJ!
Living the dream, Firsting like a motherfucker, chewing bubblegum and kickin’ ass.
Reading anything good?
And also, Britain is burning, and the natives are being called thugs and far-right white supremacist extremists for being pissy about being held hostage to a hostile invading force their government welcomed with open arms and wallets.
When the protestants and Catholics of Ireland team up, there’s a problem and it ain’t the white folk.
We’ll look back on this and think, “That’s where the WWIII combat started.”
The yobs revolted over Fake News but it’s just what the Left were waiting for.
Nah, on this specific case it was but it’s been a long time coming and is a lot larger than this one incident.
Yes. I am talking about the current incident and the false reports of “Muslim refugee”. Now the elites have the excuse they need to push back against the hooligans while pretending that Rotherham et al. never happened.
So who was the assailant? I keep hearing that the rubes fell for misinformation, but I never see anything about who really stabbed those three girls.
Maybe if the authorities were open and honest about who the criminal was, this wouldn’t have happened?
Nobody, girls just sponteneously develop stab wounds, don’tchaknow
Child of Rwandans.
Sometimes, you get what you’ve been waiting for, and wish that, all told, after all, you hadn’t.
The Left has a firm grip on institutions that are of zero use in something like the Troubles, open revolt, Irish democracy, all the myriad ways the little people just say “no”. J6 was put down, but the next J6 won’t be nearly so easy. After seeing what happens to people who peacefully protest and submit to the legal system, no everybody will do so next time.
And it could be next January 6.
Wasn’t a Muslim (as far as I know), but was def not a native Brit, either.
Child of Rwandans
Did any of the victims cry out “Hutu, Brutus?”
Like I said yesterday, killing people with edged weapons is just his cultural heritage.
An interesting situation no doubt. Did the Brits somehow manage to retain more pluck than we have? Remains to be seen I suppose.
It looks like the Irish have retained the fighting spirit.
It’s a small island and most of it’s been overrun, so I think their tether is just a lot shorter because of simple geography.
We have lots of room, lots of suburbs that aren’t affected by anything going on in the urban areas. Also, we haven’t been completely overrun yet. Once the illegals get uppity and the fight spreads out to the suburbs, that’s when shit will start getting real.
We will ultimately have to liberate the old country. And take Canada for our troubles.
Also, we have guns. The Britons have table knives while the illegals have machetes. Now they’re fed up enough to make do.
We’re too busy stirring up shit in the Middle East to care about a bunch of white thugs in England.
“Also, we have guns.”
We?
*looks around*
Bring bacon and bourbon.
Well, I mean, I’m feeling the need to re-arm the household. After which they will be lost in a tragic boating accident, I’m sure.
Nah, Mother(or I guess Father now) will step in, quell the already tagged ‘right-wing’ agitators. Make an example to ensure the peace and wash your hands.
I saw a post the other day that listed the percent of the population that was immigrants in the major cities of Europe. They were all large majority immigrant population. Like 60 to 70 percent.
Conflict is bound to arise.
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=File:Cities_with_the_highest_proportion_of_foreign-born_inhabitants,_2014_(¹)_Cities16.png
This was from 10 years ago.
Tukriyëë dodged a bullet.
Today was the first real long distance road trip with the Jeep.
It drove itself here probably 80% of the drive.
Mildly scary, totally amazing.
↖️?
Highway assist. Adaptive cruise control and self steering. Just have to keep a light touch on the steering wheel.
It did a very good job. I got nervous with congested traffic a couple times and took over, but damn…made the drive time just fly by.
Only works on highways.
I just realized today that my cabin reservations for Honey Harvest are for the wrong weekend. We will be in MN Sep 19-23. So, we will be missing Honey Harvest this fall.
😱
Though you will be missed at the big shindig, I will be in your neck of the woods August 28th (Wednesday) and Monday Sept 16th.
We would love to meet up either or both days.
Lets plan for both so if anything comes up there’s still one on the calendar.
Sounds like a plan
What? The Kinnaths will be missed . A Honey Harvest without mead ? Say it ain’t so. With Jimbo gone you and PONick would have been the longest serving attendees. The Crown will be passed to PONick
We’ll come visit you the weekend we are there.
Hold on! PO’d Nick will tie me. The crown doesn’t change hands on a tie.
The people I feel sorry for are all the old ladies at the HH. Without me there to flatter and flirt with them, who will? Don’t try to pretend MikeS will. We all know he has no Honey Game.
Off Topic – Does anyone have a good recommendation for an entry level bench power supply? While I currently don’t need past 12v DC, I may need more capacity later.
If you only need one DC voltage at a time, these are neat: we’ve been using them a bunch at work.
DC Power Supply Variable, Bench Power Supply with Encoder Adjustment Knob, Output Enable/Disable Button, Adjustable Power Supply with USB Quick-Charge, Short Circuit Alam (30V 10A Black)
If you want the more traditional triple output power supply,
MATRIX Triple Linear DC Power Supply 30V 5A 315W, Adjustable DC Power Supply Variable 10mV/1mA with Low Ripple, Benchtop DC Power Supply with 4 Digits Display Series and Parallel Mode, MPS-3005H-3
The first is more in my price range for the work I’m doing.
Thank you
I like the type in the first link (which somehow didn’t show as a link, but I perceive that your copy/search was successful) because they are so small and inexpensive that we have them all over the lab.
Really nice to work with. Just got to choose the right power level.
The name was long enough that I was able to narrow it down, plus it appears to be on sale 🙂
The only real reason to get the traditional triple output supply is if you must have linear (as in heavy transformer based) instead of a switching power supply like the little one. For most things, the switcher will be fine, and if it’s not, you can add a filter.
I reckon it will meet your needs. Happy hobbying!!
“Taliban Gets $239 Million In US Aid After State Dept. Fails To Vet Recipients”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/taliban-gets-239-million-us-aid-after-state-dept-fails-vet-recipients
Well Allahu akhbar I guess…
The problem isn’t that the US was dropping millions into Afghanistan, it’s that they just didn’t screen their “partners”. 🤦♂️
Less than a year after Judicial Watch reported that the Taliban has established fake nonprofits to steal millions of dollars in U.S. aid to Afghanistan
Nice to see that the Taliban has become civilized enough to start stealing money the proper way.
I’m not worried, though. They’ll probably squander all that money trying to keep all that military hardware working.
Holy shit that’s more than I make in a year.
Finally, something the Biden admin. did that Kommiela won’t claim credit for. She was too busy torturing pharma execs to make them lower insulin prices.
PSA: Do not watch the steaming movie “Abigail.”
It is terrible in every possible way.
You’re welcome.
Okay.
I’ve not heard of it, so I’ll accept your assessment.
I meant “streaming” as in on Hulu, but steaming fits as well.
I bring it up now because I just tuned in to Hulu to browse for something good but they are pushing Abigail hard (“suspense”, “thriller”, “”shitty writing”, 2D characters etc)
“suspense”, “thriller”, “”shitty writing”, 2D characters etc
Sure, sure, sure. But what about gratuitous nudity? That is the metric real movie critics care most about.
But what about gratuitous nudity?
Joe Bob Briggs is waiting to provide his review.
My Raspberry Pi 5 wouldn’t boot. I ended up reimaging the SD card. I’m kinda sad, but the python code I lost wasn’t anything I can’t recreate.
“Nearly Half Of Dementia Cases Could Be Prevented Or Delayed: Lancet Commission”
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/nearly-half-dementia-cases-could-be-prevented-or-delayed-lancet-commission
A lot of unvarnished nonsense but here’s my primaries:
1. Avoid head trauma which is always a good idea.
2. Maintain an active mind (which more or less directly or indirectly covers about half of their list).
And cholesterol? Fucking please…
I’ve heard some rumblings that Alzheimer’s might be “diabetes type 3”.
I’d like to see some actual research in that direction.
It does fit with the ridiculous govt food pyramid matching the dramatic increase in Alzheimer’s disease.
But we need a mechanism of action.
I said some weeks ago while typing notes for a neurologist, that (some) (can’t speak for all) neurologists do not like having their patients on statins. One of the first things this doc does with a new patient coming to him for dementia-like symptoms or even just random memory loss or altered personality is ask them to stop the statins. He’s not the first neurologist I’ve typed for who does this.
My ex was put on statins about 5 years before we split up.
He always was a bit borderline for anger issues, but on statins, it was really bad. Aggressive, hateful, physical.
Being the observant type, I looked at his new meds and saw that statins can cause aggression.
He agreed to quit the “anger pills” so we stayed married a few more years.
My dad had Alzheimer’s, and believe me, he had an active mind (PhD in genetics, professor for 30 odd years, and was starting to work on another doctorate in metallurgy at the time of retirement).
Didn’t do anything to stop it.
Server error ate my comment.
I won’t bother retyping it.
Sorry for your loss; my dad went out with Alzheimer’s in 2020.
It sucks to hear things like that.
Will Iran have the balls to launch an attack or will it just be tit-for-tat? Hoping for the later, but I think any large scale attack from or directed from Iran will be hit and runs.
Iran will do what it has always done and bitch out and conduct attacks through third party proxies.
They spent 100’s millions of dollars to do almost exactly zero damage with their missiles a few months back. Getting your proxies killed is so much cheaper and easier for Iran.
Just got in from a weekend of ocean racing. Sat was 1/3 around Oahu and ended in Waimea Bay. We did okay. Today was the same trip in reverse. We were the 2d finisher and may “correct up” to first place. This was a pretty casual race and a good practice run for next weekend. We will race from Oahu to Kauai- around 100 miles of racing. Instead of rushing back we will sail up to a bay on the north end of Kauai just short of the Na Pali coast and hang out enjoying life for a couple of days- then we’ll do the long upwind back.
The highlights of this weekend? We caught a nice ahi (tuna) yesterday. It was big enough we made fresh sashimi, grilled the steaks, and even had enough that we gave away some steaks to friends last night. The bay was like a mirror and very restful. In the winter this is the same small bay known for hosting the “The Eddie Big Wave” contest. The contest won’t even start until the waves are a consistent 40 feet high. Our anchors were well inside the area where the waves form in the winter. But we had a glasslike night. The dolphins swimming around the boats while we were still anchored this morning was a nice treat.
That all sounds amazing, DE.
I don’t think I’ve asked, what sorts of boats are you sailing? My impression has been that you’re crewing friends boats vs sailing your own, correct?
So, you seem to be saying that “Eddie wouldn’t go?” Not with glass like waters on the lee side?
Japan gets another thing right
https://soranews24.com/2024/06/21/japans-pineapple-x-pizza-yes-or-no-general-election-results-are-in-and-its-a-landslide/
The pizza I had last night here in Kobe, Japan had corn and potatoes on it. And instead of normal tomato based sauce, it had mayonnaise. Like this, but without the ham.
Why? Because I was teasing my nieces about crazy Japanese pizza toppings so they bought that.
Any voting results that were cast by maniacs can safely be ignored.
Look, there’s two issues with that poll.
1: It’s Dominos. They don’t even qualify as food.
2: Japan will eat really weird combinations of stuff.
Good morning, U and any lurkers about, and good…whatever it is by now where you are, Your Holiness!
How goes?
So far, so good. With any luck, it will be a fairly quiet work week. ::knocks wood:: How about you?
I had a dream which felt all too real – In the dream they’d added a new feature to the work chat software which decided what it thought you meant to say, changed your text, and if it decided you meant to swear, chastized you for doing so. Of course it kept deciding my perfectly normal sentences were supposed to be profanity-laced.
Sadly, this dream doesn’t feel too outlandish.
It can tell you’re an intelligent, conscientious person working for the government. Of COURSE you want to swear!
I’m also not happy with the changes to the software that’s been foist on us.
Can you change the changes?
No.
😞
Well, not without a Change Change Request Form.
*waves*
Good morning, Sean and Teh Hype!
Hey, hey, hey!
😋🌄💫
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-TTPGAy5H_E
🎶🎶
Is Sean on vacation? I don’t know if I should get at it or not.
😎
Yes. Get some.
You’re up rather early for being on vacation! Are you going to take in the sulphur springs?
$110 for a 25 minute soak. So, no.
Time to shower and get breakfast though.
Uffda Mae.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ftse-100-sinks-amid-market-084542314.html
Good morning?
***SIGH!!!*** Oh, well! My three-years-younger boss doesn’t want me to retire until he does anyway. 😖
Good morning anyway, I guess, ‘slinger!
Good Morning GT
Good morning!
I’m pretty happy after this weekend. Lots of sun, lots of work, shitty hot weather, but fun and I’m officially the 2nd best PROD shooter in NY! Not counting all the other shooters that would be better than me but chose to shoot in other divisions of course. These targets at this range does negate quite a bit of the advantage of dot shooting, so it looks like I’m generally in the top 50 handgun shooters in the state. I did have one stage win, which is especially nice beating out two higher classed shooters
Which just goes to show that NY shooters are terrible.
I blame hoplophobia and hoplophobic laws which must be repealed in the name of skill equity.
There was a club in Lee MA that was very popular with shooters from this area. It has now been officially closed to non-Massholes.
I will be working to add PCC to the Kayaderosseras rules, but that won’t take effect until next season. If you’re still
such a slackertoo principled as to not have a handgun license.suh fam
whats goody
Good morning, homey and NA!
I thought it was tomorrow, but it turns out I have to get interviewed and retinal scanned today.
Oh, retinal scanned. I read that as something else at first.
Nice shooting, BTW.
I am assuming that they won’t arrest me at the site of the interview. They probably need to fill out a form first.
It’s a check box. On a tablet.
Ohhhhh……”retinal”
Nevermind.