Hello fellow glibertarians! I saw the bat signal from Swiss indicating that the hopper was empty, so you get the highest quality post pulled from my stream of consciousness!
I haven’t been around as much lately, but I still pop in from time to time to see how yall are doing. Life is much more peaceful and slow here in the middle of nowhere in the Ozarks. My neighbors are cows, and not the blue haired Biden voter kind.
- We have been doing homeschooling with both the 3 year old and the 6 year old. It’s amazing how much the 3 year old absorbs from the 2nd grade curriculum we’re teaching. The idea that kids need to be fed particular concepts at particular ages seems to be overstrict at best. Of course, some things build on other things and of course some things are easier to pick up when you’re older, but reading, writing, and arithmetic are not those things.
- My dad recently visited and it was very interesting to see how his perspective has diverged from mine over the years. I see the root cause being our differently founded worldviews. He’s perhaps nominally Christian, but in reality founds his worldview on secular conservative Americanism. I’m an active, devout Christian whose perspective on secularism, conservatism, and American patriotism has shifted significantly since my conversion 12 years ago. He and I identify many of the same issues in our society and in the world, but the resulting reaction is very different. He has become somewhat of a doomsday prepper, with a focus on being ready for nuclear weapons, economic crash, social upheaval, etc. The concern/fear in his perspective was palpable to me. The phrase that embedded itself in my memory was “when the stuff hits the fan, we’ll be able to survive, unlike most people.” Meanwhile, my wife and I are focused on building a more sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle, and one of the second order consequences is increased resiliency to societal chaos. We’re not afraid of such things happening, and we’re not afraid of dying if we happen to be insufficiently prepared for such things. Why worry about tomorrow when today has enough things to worry about?
- The longer I’m off of social media (YouTube is my one major exception) and not watching TV, the less I have in common with my laptop class coworkers and the more I have in common with my blue-collar neighbors and church community. Turns out that folks around here aren’t screen addicts to the same level as elsewhere, which is a welcome relief.
- I had a good discussion with my wife about voting. She’s for trying to change the system by electing better representatives. I’m for sitting on my hands until the electoral system is modified to be verifiably accurate. Her main point was “how do you expect to fix the system if you won’t engage in it?” My response was “I don’t expect the system to be fixed regardless of my participation, so I may as well stop wasting my time lending legitimacy to a corrupt system.” I likened the electoral system to a button on a vending machine. I’ve pushed the button enough times to deduce that it’s not connected to anything. I don’t have the key to open up the machine, so I may as well stay home rather than coming back every day in the hope that somebody fixed the button overnight.
- There are 1000 resources out there for “optimizing your taxes with a side gig”, and I’ve not encountered one that has been worth the read. They all point to the same 5 tactics and those tactics are all fine for what they are, but don’t really address how to structure the business. I’m sure a tax accountant could help.
- There are rumors of state reps trying to get rid of personal and corporate income tax here in MO. Count me as enthusiastically in support of that.
- How long until the state of TX flips blue? I know the TX democrats have had some cringy attempts to flip the state in the past, but the demographics are shifting in a way that brings a whole lot more single/divorced/soon to be divorced suburban women into the state. That group seems to be the core constituency of the left these days.
- The initial start with chickens was a disaster. The coop (more like a shed) was much more drafty than I thought and we lost 10 of 28 birds in the first week. Since then, we brought them inside for a couple weeks, acquired 6 more birds (wife thought they were cute), and moved them back out once the temps came up a bit. We haven’t lost one since. I had to rescue a few from under the coop, but I put a hardware cloth skirt on the coop to fix that problem. 3-4 months until eggs start!
- Biden, Trump, both, neither? At the end of the day, does it really matter? I’m increasingly convinced that the politicians are kept within a paddock of acceptable thinking by the Intel community, and a large portion of this Trump nonsense is the Intel community trying to get a rogue sheep back into the paddock.
Apologies to TPTB for the spartan article. I tapped it out on my phone while listening to some legal education courses.
He has a fallout shelter?
Hopefully a vault. And not one with a crazy overseer.
I talk Barstow into staying.
westernsloper has chickens. He seems to be doing well with them.
MO has always been reasonably pro-individual (see: Prohibition), even if the 3 major cities (and 1 minor one–Columbia) aren’t. MO just pretty much forbade Kansas City to become a sanctuary city after our idiot mayor said, “Please, all you illegal aliens who can drywall and plumb, come here!” MO said, “You do that, and you’re cut off from the $$$.” And the surrounding counties that are still in KC city limits are like, “Hol’ up. No.”
We still don’t have online gambling, but here, at least, you get your weed, then cross State Line Road to place your wagers.
Re prepping. I spent a lot of money prepping in 2008 during the Great Mojo Prepper Panic. I was living in constant fear. I can’t go back to that. Just shoot me in the head in the first wave, and we’re good.
On the voting question, I think you are mistaken in your approach of thinking that engaging lends the system legitimacy. Silence is counted as assent, so disengaging is in fact the most legitimizing choice you can take. The state will still gladly take your money and restrict your behavior if you don’t engage, so you may as well use what meager means you have to register an objection, IMO.
Even if silence implies consent, it is still delegitimizing; the opportunity cost of voting is the valuable time lost to preparing and casting a ballot that could be otherwise directed toward more worthy endeavors.
The point isn’t the message one is sending by not voting. There’s no point in sending a message to malign entity that isn’t inclined to give you any consideration. Choosing not to vote is very similar to choosing not to carry a picket sign and march back and forth in front of the statehouse.
It took me like 10 minutes to go out and vote on Tuesday.
I don’t go and vote in the primaries, and leave a lot of races blank. But I do make sure to vote against levies and tax increases when I can.
I think at the local/state level, and depending on your local/state government, voting can have some effect.
My town recently shot down a bunch of proposed spending which means no huge property tax increase.
This is my goal as well. Several years ago I was even interviewed as I was leaving a regular lunch haunt. I gave the most TV worthy version of “Fuck you, cut spending” as I could muster. Something along the lines of “I understand taxes are a necessary evil; however, with the growth we’ve seen, we should be able manage our school growth and budget without resorting to new bonds being issued. That bond was actually defeated that round.
I had friend in Livingston who used to go around on election day telling our other friends (the kind of staunch “independent voters” who would rather be boiled in oil than vote for a Republican), “I just cancelled your vote.”
The problem with that was he could only cancel one, and the other 49 got through.
Biden, Trump, both, neither?
Choose the form of the Destructor.
SCOTUS matters. So Trump v Biden matters.
Border policy matters too.
Trump was a mixed bad of good and bad policies.
Biden has been a total clusterfuck.
We need the Democrats to destroy everything they can, so that they AND the Repubs are both taken down. The Repubs will barely slow down the rot.
I’m not exactly sold on either Coney-Barrett or Kavanaugh, so Trump’s really only 1 for 3 there.
They are both meh.
And they are both light years ahead of KBJ.
That’s the issue at hand.
Would you like to swap Kavanaugh for Garland and Barret for another Jackson?
~shudder~
If you’re nasty.
Listening to the immunity case..I agree.
My wife and I have become more serious about our Christian faith over the past few years. I find myself vacillating between your Dad’s way of thinking and yours. Easier to think like you when unplugged from the bad news.
I’m increasingly convinced that the politicians are kept within a paddock of acceptable thinking by the Intel community, and a large portion of this Trump nonsense is the Intel community trying to get a rogue sheep back into the paddock.
I don’t buy that “blackmailed by the intel community” stuff. They don’t stray because they have no interest in straying. They all want to be part of the Cool Kids’ Club and sit at the best lunchroom table. It’s self-selection. Any disagreements are superficial and are merely a matter of degree.
I’d be inclined to agree if… the whole Epstein Island operation hadn’t happened, then all the evidence disappeared into the FBI. Same thing with the P Diddy thing.
The current speaker goes into the SCIF as Pat Buchanan and comes out of it like Nancy Pelosi.
Fuck all them guys.
I keep harping on age limits, even as a non-voter. No elected official should serve beyond their 60th birthday. I’ve heard all the reasons for exceptions but never that there are incompetent 30-40-50 year olds that are deprived of being allowed to screw things up. Somehow these post 60s are alleged to bring maturity to the table. Nope, they bring the same shit they brought when they were 49-59.
Airline pilots, military, Law Offs have age limits (other than elected ones).
When you’re 80 freaking years old and pathologically self-absorbed anyway, the long term affects of your policy decisions are probably not much on your mind.
What do you think Johnson saw in that SCIF
1. A rational set of strategic geopolitical reasons to keep spending money on Ukraine
2. A frightening, but highly plausible, scenario of the consequences of Ukraine’s losing
3. A list of things, true or deep faked, that Mr. Johnson would prefer not be publicly known.
#2
Agreed, if you swap “somewhat” for “highly”.
#3
The $61M won’t stop the Ukes from losing. Probably won’t even keep them afloat until the election.
I think they’re done by fall.
#4 The total sums donated to his campaigns from the MIC followed by the words pro quo.
The FBI went into Epstein’s NYC apartment with a search warrant. They found documents and I believe video recordings. They then said, astoundingly, “Gosh we only have a search warrant so we can’t actually seize this evidence.” When they came back latter to take it, it had mysteriously disappeared.
That’s their story, believe it or not. I suspect they just reflexively hoover up (see what I did there?) any potential blackmail material, but they only use it occasionally when the groupthink breaks down with somebody who matters enough.
Nor do I. For one thing, I’m too familiar with the IC as a whole – they’re just as incompetently self-absorbed as the rest of the government. For another, why would you need to blackmail people who already agree with you? The politicians and the deep state operators come from the same families, attend the same schools, belong to the same clubs, and have more or less interchangeable brains. They don’t need to be blackmailed.
From NYC I can tell you the ramp to full dysfunction takes quite a while. However, it’s usually quite brittle. When it breaks it isn’t going to pretty.
It is going to take some very hard lessons to teach the very stupid people.
We’ve reached Mencken time.
I think most folks’ first go-’round with chickens involves some disaster. When we started like 12 years ago, I got our roll-around coop built and we received the first batch of chicks and in the middle of the first night we found out that it wasn’t sufficiently dog-proof (our own backyard dog) so he killed them all. Replaced, reinforced, etc.
On your first paragraph on younger ones picking up stuff along the way: Our 5 kids are all spaced at 25 months apart (+/- 1mo), so when we started homeschooling the first one when he was about 6, the 4-yo was along for the ride, and “accidentally” gained a year. Net result is that she (the second one) was only 1 year behind him in school all the way through.
We had a hard time also this year. All six day-old Belefelders perished within the first week. Our brooder was the same setup we had last year with 100% success.
Of last years 16 chicks (Brahmas and Polish), 8 turned out to be boys and were turned into tasty, tasty sausage. Two hens ran away. Two got snagged by the foxes.
I bought 10 2- or 3- year old ISA Browns at Easter. One drowned in the waterer. The rest seem to be doing fine. They lay HUGE eggs.
I just bought 5 more year old hens last night. They are fenced in one wing of the couple for a few days before they join the rest of the flock in gen-pop.
That’s where I am as well.
soap box; jury box; ballot box; ammo box.
We are running out of options.
“Some men, you just can’t reach…”
Pine box
At this point I’d rather see the country run by people randomly pressganged into involuntary servitude in Washington than what we have now.
One drowned in the waterer.
*outright prolonged laughter*
Right? How dumb do you have to be to drown in 1/2″ of water?
About the time New York goes sane.
There’s an article up not at Itsnotthebee showing some Manhattan scenes of heavy Trump support – go have a look. Very briefly, imo, if Trump’s org is smart, flipping NYC (and the rest of NY) to red is realistic. He’s stuck there for this trial, in the news all the time, he’s a local boy, and still a celebrity and polarizer, and he has a good chance of turning all of those into a major focused effort at taking the proggies’ Strategic Center of Gravity. Long shot? Sure. But…
Still comes down to who does the counting. I’m fairly convinced Trump won NJ in 2020.
So what you’re saying is, some wiseguys are going to have to do some housecleaning?
Yeah, but it is NYC. So it’s been known to happen.
Is that the same NYC where I’m sitting right now?
Are there any wiseguys with a middle name ‘The’ still running around?
Little Italy has mostly become Chinatown.
Bronx?
Good point. I don’t know much about the current state of Arthur Ave.
The law of very large numbers means if you get all the Trump supporters in the city in one location, there’s going to be a lot of them.
Because tomorrow has a nasty tendency to become today. Today goes a lot easier when I’ve squared things away yesterday.
Who decided that Decibels should be a logarithmic scale? It makes them useless as a unit of measure.
The bigger the number, the louder it is. Sounds useful to me.
If it were linear, it could be used for more functions.
OT. Of course I’m in the Navy 20 years before I find out about Willis “Ching” Lee. How did this absolute Mad Lad not get covered by Animal’s Toxic Masculinity series yet? Don’t have time to do an article on him, but this video is awesome.
Crack shot with pistol and rifle (multi-medal olympic record holder) – takes that to 16″ Battleship guns. Great stuff!
Drachinifel did a more measured, if less fun, video on Admiral Lee, as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58lfaMFUQc0&pp=ygUVZHJhY2hpbmlmZWwgY2hpbmcgbGVl
I saw it in the sidebar – may check it out at work tonight.
I’ve recently spent a little too much of my free time going through Drachinifel’s back catalog…..
Checked out Montemayor’s videos, especially the Midway ones?
The last stand of the USS Johnston is great story. The destroyer fought just about half the Japanese navy alone before it was sunk.
***
At 1010, Johnston rolled over and sank. As she sank, the crew of the Japanese destroyer Yukikaze sailed past Johnston and saluted her crew.
***
Bravery is a universal virtue.
Purely for defensive use
The Pentagon confirmed Wednesday the U.S. had secretly provided Ukraine with a long-range Army Tactical Missile System that can reach deep into Russian-occupied areas — or even strike more deeply into Russia itself, potentially provoking a response from the Kremlin, though America intends them only for use in occupied territory.
The missiles, also known as ATACMS, have a maximum range of 186 miles. Ukraine first used them over the past week, two U.S. officials said.
In October, America provided Ukraine with mid-range versions of the ATACMS, which have a minimum range of 43 miles. But Ukraine continued to press the Biden administration to provide longer-range versions.
I’m sure they pinky swore to only use them responsibly. They certainly wouldn’t do something likely to provoke massive retaliation.
How to say we are providing target packages without saying we are providing target packages.
You may have these missiles, but only use them on your own land.
But I was told the US is only giving obsolete surplus equipment that needed to be replaced anyway.
Sure, except for this and all of the other exceptions.
“Well it needed to be replaced because they are built in my congressional district.” – Congressman Shmuckatelli.
though America intends
Is there any more perfect statement of progressive mindrot? Consequences? Who care about those – we had GOOD INTENTIONS.
This year there will be Breaking (2): Olympic Boogaloo.
And in 2028 they will have flag football.
Also cricket; and surfing in 2028.
California olympics alright.
GDP down, inflation up.
Let’s go, Brandon!
Let’s Make Jimmy Carter Great Again. I’m hoping Funk and Ludes comeback if we are going to go full Stagflation.
Blow in the morning and ludes at night. I draw the line at disco though.
I’m sure we’ll have to settle for vacant/burned-out inner cities and scary serial killers.
What do you mean “settle”? I think what you mean is “hope for”.
Good old google nooz- there is currently a headline saying “Dow drops by 700 after GDP report”. Directly beneath it is one saying “GDP report will have minimal impact on markets”.
Of course, this says a lot more about financial journalisming than it does about google.
Define minimal
Dr. Johnathan Chase, a crime-fighting superhero?
“My dad recently visited and it was very interesting to see how his perspective has diverged from mine over the years.”
My dad has stayed essentially the same, but my mom has morphed from a East Coast union Democrat to a die hard Trumper. She along with her extended family have become hard to listen to. I’m no fan of Biden, but what I’m hearing from her is OAN based BS. It reminds me of the Anti Bush and Trump Democrat rhetoric. Biden can’t be both senile, incompetent, and at the same time a malicious calculating boogieman. The first two are most likely and the last is due to his handlers and power brokers.
Both my dad and mom believe that the executive branch can and should make all decision and control the country. Just as long as it is their guy. In short they worship Trump as much as the Democrats worship Biden and team. In the past, neither of them were very interested in politics beyond the big things. Both were and are very patriotic and love god and country. 24 hour bubble news, social media, and the boredom of retirement are a bad combination.
Political discourse has become a never ending home town rivalry game. Each side is hopelessly biased and will excuse their team of any wrong doing while being critical of any call that goes against the home team.
Biden is senile and, at the same time, his handlers are malicious calculating boogiemen.
He was a malicious liar back when he had his marbles.
No doubt, but he was a Senator with little clout or respect.
Biden WAS a malicious calculating [evil] boogieman when he had his faculties. Now he’s just demented and some malicious calculating [evil] boogieman is pulling his strings.
Both my dad and mom believe that the executive branch can and should make all decision and control the country. Just as long as it is their guy.
And there are so many more of this type than our type. That’s the problem and that’s why we aren’t voting our way out of it.
Trump is going to fix everything!
My guess is that Trump, if elected, will be chasing all the boogymen that have been annoying him these past 4 years. He’s as bad on economics as the present guy.
Few of the electorate understand that the sheer amount of power we have given the executive branch is a significant part of the problems they are seeing with the “bad guy” they see on the screen every night.
First me, then you!
Quoth the Iron Law:
Me today, you torrow.
torrow, tomorrow, whatever.
Partisanship has never made anyone smarter or more reasonable. The Founders feared it for a reason (at the time, I think it was called “factionalism”).
Gladiator II?
https://variety.com/2024/film/news/gladiator-2-trailer-cinemacon-paul-mescal-pedro-pascal-1235966363/
Noooooooooo *ahem*ooooooooo!!!
Gladiator is one of my favorite movies of all time, but I have no interest in a sequel.
Do you like movies about gladiators?
If it doesn’t star an ass kicking lesbian girlboss of color wreaking havoc on the Roman Patriarchy, I’m out.
Rough road
Ford’s electric vehicle unit reported that losses soared in the first quarter to $1.3 billion, or $132,000 for each of the 10,000 vehicles it sold in the first three months of the year, helping to drag down earnings for the company overall.
Ford, like most automakers, has announced plans to shift from traditional gas-powered vehicles to EVs in coming years. But it is the only traditional automaker to break out results of its retail EV sales. And the results it reported Wednesday show another sign of the profit pressures on the EV business at Ford and other automakers.
The EV unit, which Ford calls Model e, sold 10,000 vehicles in the quarter, down 20% from the number it sold a year earlier. And its revenue plunged 84% to about $100 million, which Ford attributed mostly to price cuts for EVs across the industry. That resulted in the $1.3 billion loss before interest and taxes (EBIT), and the massive per-vehicle loss in the Model e unit.
But think of all the political goodwill they’re generating
Or think about the usual MSM practice of dividing fixed costs and variable by units produced by production to date.
Pay no attention to how many units are expected to be produced over the lifetime of the assets. It’s like why pharma is evil when it costs only $5 to produce a drug sold for $1,000s a dose. Pay no mind to the development and trials costs as well as the expected market size. Also make non mention for failed drugs that need to paid for. Quick get me Bernie Sanders!
But that won’t generate the clicks or the FUD desired!
Age-based schooling is nonsense. I have long advocated for achievement-based grade placement, e.g. first graders will not advance to second grade until they demonstrate mastery of subjects x, y, & z.
Of course, the underlying problem is compulsory schooling, this is a particular problem in high school. There are a great many kids that would be far better served starting an apprenticeship in the trades at age 14 than sitting in a classroom,
It used to be that way, the occasional 17yo in the 9th grade but at least they could read and do basic math when they dropped out.
And now a high school diploma is about as valuable as a T-ball participation trophy.
In prehistoric times if a kid couldn’t read at some level in second grade they were red-shirted. Another year seemed to make a big difference and they graduated a yea later than their peers.
Sounds like you’re doing well Trashy.
Homeschooling was awesome, my only regret is that we didn’t do it sooner.
Is there any more perfect statement of progressive mindrot? Consequences? Who care about those – we had GOOD INTENTIONS.
How were we to know?
“How long until the state of TX flips blue?” Don’t know. Signs point to turning more red. Only time will tell.
“…He has become somewhat of a doomsday prepper, with a focus on being ready for nuclear weapons, economic crash, social upheaval, etc.”
Yeah. What are you prepping for? Outliving everyone in a hole? For what?
Yeah, when death is the last major milestone you have to look forward to in any event – prepping is just kind of silly. Now, taking out a lot of dumb motherfuckers who contributed to the demise of our civilization – that could encourage to delay the inevitable.
For the hooker mods and expansion packs!
Food & water supplies for a few months in case of natural or man-made disaster.
Canned meats in case the locust-lovers get their way.
Bring bacon and bourbon.
I think urbanization drives the shift to Blue. Are there any major cities that aren’t Blue-dominated? It would be interesting to see a list of cities by size and the winning percentage of Blue v Red candidates. I suspect you’d get pretty far down before you started seeing much Red.
Aside from the cheating, that’s why I think AZ is now a Blue state for statewide offices at least. As TX continues to urbanize, it will shift Blue. Although it may not get there before the current system burns down and is replaced.
It sounds like you have a good life.
I’m increasingly convinced that the politicians are kept within a paddock of acceptable thinking by the Intel community, and a large portion of this Trump nonsense is the Intel community trying to get a rogue sheep back into the paddock.
I’ve got the Joe Rogan Experience episode with Tucker Carlson queued up. Supposedly somewhere in there Tucker touches on the Intel community controlling politicians through blackmail.
Yeah. Trump has no shame, so that doesn’t work. He does have that one advantage.
Funny to watch Tucker being interviewed. He’s laid back and fairly resigned to the destruction all around us.
I watched a lot of it. He has a case of the fuck-its. He assumes all of his personal communications, electronic records, and any interactions are monitored, because most are.
Pay no attention to how many units are expected to be produced over the lifetime of the assets.
That’s certainly true.
I like cast iron exhaust manifolds as a (poor) example. The first one costs fifty million dollars to make, and the rest are practically free.
https://www.youtube.com/@JAMSIONLINE
One of my auto channels. Small family owned engine machine shop. The do a good chunk of agricultural and industrial in addition to light vehicle. They just bought a CNC lathe and used it for it’s first part for a customer.
The dad quipped, that only cost $50k! After they ran the second the son said they were now down $25k each and the lathe would be paid for quickly.
That’s my go-to auto machining channel. I don’t think I could ever justify the expense of a good 4 or 5 axis machine. Although, I did spend an entire summer one time hand porting and CC-ing a set of Oldsmobile heads.
“Nina Jankowicz,the Biden administration’s short-lived disinfo czar, is back!”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/disinfo-queen-resurfaces-wont-disclose-donors-despite-vow-expose-wrongthink-greater
Started a nonprofit aimed at countering disinfo apparently. You know, maybe dismembering whatever legal structures ensure the existence of nonprofits would be a good idea. The world over everything they get involved with seems to be nefarious bullshit.
Sounds like most are psy-ops for hire these days.
I figured she would reappear.
Grifters grift. Her donors will keep donating and she will do nothing except maybe build a new house.
A non-profit that is stocked with “ex” spooks. It’s a tissue thin pretext.
Building a self-sufficient and resilient lifestyle is the way ‘prepping’ should be done. If you just buy a bunch of guns and dehydrated food and plan to hunker down in the basement, you’ll probably end up as a loot drop for someone like me (or worse.)
I know I’ve mentioned him before, but Paul T. Martin is probably the best writer going on this subject. Check out his website.
And one of the main pieces of that lifestyle is a network of like-minded folks.
Loners holed up in bunkers with beans and bullets are dead-ends. Old-fashioned communities of “self-sufficient (to the degree possible, since you can’t score 100%) and resilient” families or individuals can last.
What this guy says.
Churches are a useful seed to crystalize a self-sustaining community around. Interestingly, the community that I found is centered around my BJJ school.
Mine is centered around doers: cars, building, computers, farming, and music.
Shared interests are frequently better than shared geography.
This is one reason I’ve started going back to church. We’ve asked for help from the church, but we haven’t given too much back, so I feel the need to rebuild my/our place within our ready-built community.
Building a self-sufficient and resilient lifestyle is the way ‘prepping’ should be done. If you just buy a bunch of guns and dehydrated food and plan to hunker down in the basement, you’ll probably end up as a loot drop for someone like me (or worse.)
I’ve mentioned this before. I watched a few episodes of one of those prepper shows back when they were in vogue, and about the only guy who didn’t impress me as being some sort of mental case was the guy who was building the foundation for what could be described as a frontier trading post. People aren’t going to make it by hiding in underground bunkers made of old school buses. They are going to have to do things and make things and grow food and engage in voluntary exchange.
Goof grief, Joe. I know you’re pro abortion but do you really have rub half of America’s noses in it by making the sign of the cross in some sort of sick blessing?
I know Pelosi called abortion a Sacrament. These folks are into Molech.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13346467/biden-abortion-blessing-florida-catholic-church-fury.html
I’m gonna chalk this one up to senility.
At this point it’s impossible to decide if he did it on purpose or if his mind is so jelloed that he doesn’t know what he’s doing.
Got my first pension check this month. I was fully vested after working for 7+ years for the company that hired me out of college. At 67, I was eligible to start getting checks.
$160.88 per month. This is going to change my lifestyle dramatically.
Whoo hoo, party at Kinnath’s house! 🎉🍻
I’ll bring the Ripple.
I’ll bring the onion soup
I’ll bring some champaign to make champipple.
I’ll bring Winston’s mom.
Does that pay for mead supplies?
A couple of gallons of very high quality honey or a five-gallon pail of bulk local honey.
So, yes, to a certain extent.
What makes honey higher or lower in quality?
Quality is probably the wrong word.
Honey is derived from the nectar of flowering plants. If the honey comes from a mix of floral sources it is usually identified as “wildflower” honey.
It is possible to produce a single source honey by putting out hives at the start of the bloom of a specific flowering plant; gathering the honey at the end of the bloom; and then moving the hives somewhere else and starting over.
Single source honey is more expensive to produce. Some floral sources are well known for the wonderful aroma and flavor of the resulting honey (hello Tupelo honey). Other floral sources produce much less desirable honey. Those generally are avoided unless they wind up part of a wildflower honey.
I tend to specialize in meads made from hard-to-get single source honeys (very expensive). But I also make a lot of mead with bulk local “wildflower” honey (much less expensive).
I’ll put my pitch in for avocado honey again. I really like it – it’s dark and has kind of a molasses vibe.
Buckwheat is like that.
My favorites so far have come from tree flowers — lemon, orange, acacia. I was unimpressed with berry bush varietals.
I have not had avocado honey before. I’ve worked with upwards of 20 different kinds of honey for making mead. I have half a dozen I really like to work with.
Dark honey is great for eating but hit or miss for making mead.
Trees: Basswood, Eucalyptus, Sourwood, Tulip Poplar, Pine Forrest (mixed trees) and Tupelo
Berries: Blackberry, Raspberry, Blueberry, and Cranberry (this one is awesome)
Wildflowers: Fireweed (fucking awesome) and Goldenrod (not so pleasant)
Grains: Buckwheat and Alfalfa.
This is why db plans suck. Sure, you get a guaranteed payout that doesn’t come close to keeping up with inflation.
odds & ends
-11 days booze free today. That’s my best streak in over 3 years. Yay me. I want to go at least a month. Long term, I don’t think I can give it up entirely, but at least I won’t be dependent.
-I know my vote doesn’t count for much, but it gives me some satisfaction and is easy enough. I don’t think less of people who choose not to vote.
-I had to restart my wifi gizmo this morning after having 48 hours of uninterrupted internet access. That period began after I emailed an old friend a message containing the truth about 9/11. I hope I do not need to do that again. I’m tired of restarting it, and I have a good idea of why it’s been malfunctioning daily for months. That idea involves a certain government agency I used to work for.
-There are more details for the following on my blog if you start reading from the 15th part of my autobiography. Basically, it seems increasingly obvious that NSA has been spying on me and tampering with my electronics. As far as I can tell, their initial gambit was to silence me by making me think my computer had a virus. That morphed into harassment whereby they did things to me that would make me sound crazy if I told others. The goal of that was to discredit me. All the while, the possibility of getting a code breaker job was dangled in front of me to keep me quiet. They also have a goal of getting me to drink less. I appreciate the concern, but not the harassment. Given what happened, they have concerns about my health and also the danger that I might leak classified info out of spite/revenge. Things have quieted down mostly, but this ordeal has gone on for over 3 years now.
I wish they had simply been honest and direct from the start, but I guess that’s not the way of a spy agency. In the unlikely event they make me an offer, I’ll probably take it. Otherwise, I’m content to be a humble high school math teacher. Supporting America’s crumbling empire seems like a fool’s errand these days, though I’m content with shoveling in the tide if the money is good. Teaching math is more ethical and constructive. I like to say math is the most useful language besides English.
Good luck – particularly avoiding the booze when you ‘need’ it.
Thanks. The naltrexone I’ve been taking has been working well to eliminate cravings. The VA prescriber ordered another 10 months of it for me before I could object. I suppose if I really want a drink, I can just skip the pill that day. It works by blocking the dopamine release from alcohol.
My main goals are stable income, wife (or long-term gf), and kids. Failing that, I want to stay alive, off the street, and out of jail. I have few ambitions these days as I reach the halfway point of my life expectancy. It’s a good feeling.
I wish you all the luck my friend. I support your decision to rid yourself of addictions.
Original and apparently clueless NYT headline:
Columbia Says Student Protesters Agree to More Talks and to Remove Some Tents
Current headline:
During a Chaotic Day, Columbia’s President Fights for Her Job
Anti-Israel protesters at NYU admit they have no idea what they’re protesting: ‘I wish I was more educated’
Another story reads, “Anti-Israel students munch on Pret sandwiches, pricey nuts and sip Dunkin’”.
lol
All that matters are the intentions.
All my friends are doing it!
On the subject of survivalism, I think spending 2 years and change living on a few bucks a day in Africa conditioned me to live simply. I’m not worried about staying alive in the event of economic or social collapse. I have no dependents either, so that makes things simpler. To paraphrase Ray Bradbury, I don’t want to predict the future, I want to live through it.
The most likely scenario I foresee is a Venezuela-style meltdown. The difference is there will be a lot more people with guns. That will prevent some government oppression given the reaction to J6.
I think the unprecedented part of whatever contraction, collapse, whatever we are headed for is how heavily armed the country is. How that plays out, I don’t think anybody has a clue. But it’s bound to have an effect.
Hmmm…
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/poland-ready-help-ukraine-get-military-age-men-back-minister-says-2024-04-24/
The more Ukranian men get shipped off to the front lines, the more Ukranian women are available for everyone else.
Best go to Hungary fellas, and quick.
That sounds like blatant violation of international law when it comes.to the treatment of refugees / asylum seekers.
Unlike the people claiming that status on our border, these guys really will be killed if sent back.
Occasionally I still run into people (professionally) who live in the world of bullshit.
Them: Here is a samples of a mixture pd A, B, and C. We want you to tell us how much of each is there.
Me: *runs tests* Akshually, it’s made of A,B,C and D. That D is throwing off the calculation for C.
Them: No, there’s no D in it.
Me: What exactly do you think my job is?
More than once I’ve said about certain people, “I just don’t understand why reality won’t match my model”.
“Them: No, there’s no D in it.”
Do you want some D in it, wink wink, nudge, nudge
Western Digital can go DIAF.
That is all.
Sigh..
I’m assuming she will get something like 60% of that plus COLA for life and full healthcare. Meanwhile she’s starting her new career which I’m sure is also six figures. I can’t see why anyone has issues with public sector unions.
https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/passaic/wayne/2024/04/25/head-wayne-nj-teachers-association-eda-ferrante-job-state-union/73407162007/
Unrelated note: the Army review board is considering discharge upgrade petition again. The office of my congresscritter says it will take 3 or 4 years to get a response. How convenient.
Wifi gizmo says it’s getting a software update. First time I’ve seen that. I tried to take a picture with my phone, but it restarted. My phone frequently restarts when I try to take a picture with it. How odd.
It seems the Biden admin’s goal is to prevent defeat in Ukraine until just after the election is over. That way, the inevitable collapse can be blamed on anyone (Trump and most of team red) who opposed aid to Ukraine. So if Trump wins a 2nd term, he will be hounded constantly for being soft on Russia.
More good news on the Li ion battery front, seriously. If Samsung is giving out release dates in such a near term, they must have something beyond a lab curiosity.
Full Solid State cells that can be charged very quickly, have much less risk of fire/explosion, and will have a more compact structure.
“Samsung SDI, the Korean giant’s battery biz, on Tuesday promised EV batteries that can charge to 80 percent capacity in a mere nine minutes, plus models that can perform at that level for 20 years.”
https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/25/samsung_battery_twenty_years/
The challenge will be trying to figure out how to provide over a MW of power to charge a car in 8 minutes at your local Wawa/Circle K/Buckys.
Small modular nuclear reactors behind the counter, the assistant managers can maintain them.
Or just cut out the battery middleman, and put a Mr. Fusion in the car.
“I fix the Slurpie machine and maintain the thing that fills the Zap Zap hoses.”
The challenge will be trying to figure out how to provide over a MW of power to charge a car in 8 minutes at your local Wawa/Circle K/Buckys.
Steam generators out back, using old tires and trash for fuel.
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spiders-mars-surface-images-esa-orbiter/