Friday, August 14, 2020
Ambrosia
Last year, through the sin of sloth, I didn't grow any tomatoes. I have to grow them in raised beds or half barrels because of rabbit infestation, but that has never been a real problem, so I blame myself for last year's dearth of fresh, homegrown tomatoes. But this year I have two giant plants with about 30 green tomatoes and several just turning red.
Pepperidge Farm, white (privilege achievement), thin sliced bread, toasted; mayonnaise (goes perfectly with the white achievement bread); lots of fresh ground pepper and Kosher or Sea salt (perhaps a leaf of home grown basil); sliced home grown tomato -- and you have one of the top ten dishes of all time. Food of the Gods (the Nectar, drink, of the Gods is Prosecco with 20% St. Germain, just so you know).
Even in 2020, a year that will live in infamy, life is good.
This is an Interesting Development
As soon as I heard that former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith was going to plead guilty to falsifying evidence, I immediately thought that he was doing so as part of a bargain that included little or no jail time in return for truthful cooperation regarding the rest of the "coup" conspirators. That seems to be true, probably.
Here is what Ace and actual journalist Catherine Herridge have to say on the matter.
Who wants to bet against my prediction that these smug assholes involved in many very serious political crimes against the President of the United States aren't already planning to turn on each other in an effort to save their own cowardly and worthless skins?
UPDATE: John Hinderaker of Powerline blog is a little bit defeatist in his well worth reading comments on this development here. His comparison of the Democrat party to the mafia is funny but, alas, probably true. He lays out the facts, which I ignored in my enthusiasm, that the current prosecutors of Mr. Clinesmith cannot offer him enough of a deal to make him roll on others, who were probably little fish anyway. If he respects the Omerta, the Democrats will take care of him when he comes out of however many weeks he will be in prison, and he knows this.
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Sometimes I Laugh
I used to read both conservative and liberal articles at about an 80/20 ratio, four times more conservative than liberal. But over time, I have noticed that it is hard for me to maintain even a 98/2 ratio. I know this is not good; it's like moving into a bubble of thought from like minded individuals, rather than hearing other views which challenge mine. But it was the ever rising stupidity quotient in lefty articles that is primarily the cause of my abandonment of lefty articles. There is no challenge for me to react to when the article is written by someone without actual knowledge of history or science -- by a moron, in other words.
But, I have begun to try to read more articles on the left and I have discovered something of value. I laugh at them when they are particularly stupid, where I used to just growl in annoyance. Here is a sentence from a particularly moronic article about how Joe Biden should react to President Trump in order to beat him in November (yeah, good luck with that).
Imagine it is October. Americans have forgotten about Trump’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is subsiding as vaccines come to market or mask wearing and social distancing take hold and finally work.
Yeah, the mask wearing and staying 6 feet away from other people, which has not actually slowed the transmission of the slightly more deadly new flu, will certainly work if we just stick with it long enough.
Surgical masks came into existence, starting in the late 1800s, to stop bacteria, the smallest of which are about 80 microns across, from escaping the mouth or nose of the surgeon operating on a patient and landing in the incision and causing an infection. Obviously, you can't wear a mask, that stops any air from reaching your nose and mouth, for long before you are passing out from hypoxia. So, the weave of the masks creates holes in the mask, which, in the best masks, measure about 10 microns across. These surgical masks can indeed stop most harmful bacteria. But viruses are smaller. Covid 19 is less than one micron across. There is no reason to think these masks stop the spread of the virus.
Sometimes the makers of the masks will be honest about their product.
Labels: Mask Lore
Monday, June 22, 2020
The Invention of Slavery
Wait, I was assured by Virginia Senator Tim Kaine that America invented slavery, yet here is a painting from 1882 depicting a slave market in Rome 2000 years ago.
Senator Kaine must therefore be a moron, or a Democrat.
Labels: Gustave Boulanger; Slave Market
Saturday, June 13, 2020
Bending the Knee
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
My Nomination for Next Year's Pulitzer for Poetry
Labels: Autonomous Republic Seattle; Pulitzer Prize for Poetry 2021
Saturday, May 23, 2020
Funny Because It's True
A very useful guide to applications of common tools – you may want to review frequently:
DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted project which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it.
WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, 'Oh shit!'
DROP SAW: A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.
PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.
BELT SANDER: An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.
HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle... It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.
VISE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.
OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting on fire various flammable objects in your shop. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race.
TABLE SAW: A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles for testing wall integrity.
HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.
BAND SAW: A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to cut good aluminum sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the trash can after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the outside edge.
TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.
PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.
STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER: A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws and butchering your palms.
PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.
HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to make hoses too short.
HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit.
UTILITY KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.
ADJUSTABLE WRENCH: aka "Another hammer", aka "the Swedish Nut Lathe", aka "Crescent Wrench". Commonly used as a one size fits all wrench, usually results in rounding off nut heads before the use of pliers. Will randomly adjust size between bolts, resulting in busted knuckles, curse words, and multiple threats to any inanimate objects within the immediate vicinity.
SON OF A BITCH TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling 'SON OF A BITCH!' at the top of your lungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need. H/T Cousin
h/t Ace of Spades HQ
Labels: Ace of Spades Humor, Guide to the Applications of Common Tools
Sunday, May 17, 2020
Rule 48 and General Flynn
Labels: General Flynn legal musings
