Taken To The Woodshed

I certainly was, in comments at Ace's, by some uber-patriotic twit who took offense to my opinion that it's going to burn, there's nothing I can do to stop it, so I'm going to sit on the porch and drink icy drinks and watch the light show cause life is way too short to be pissed off all the time.

Apparently he thinks I should be marching two by two up and down the battlements to die gloriously in combat against all enemies foreign and domestic, never mind that "our side" can't even be assed to make a harshly worded statement concerning all the usurpation of powers that has occurred in the last six plus years, much less join battle against the same.

So I'll just keep the blender busy enjoying the fireworks, and then when the fires die down I'll see what happens next. I know my downhill neighbors are of like mind, so perhaps we will sit on our rooftops pointing out targets to one other until we run out of ammo. But until it comes to that I'm not going to get wrapped around the axle about things I cannot change, which is why you won't see a lot of* ranting and raving on this page.


Besides, this guy does it so much better.

*note that I said "a lot of", not "any", because I do reserve the right to rant and rave on my page as I wish, even though I don't exercise it regularly.

Since RA Asked So Nicely...

Merry Christmas!

OK, this one technically isn't Christmas...

Fair Use

You keep using these words. I do not think they mean what you think they mean.

I like to put pictures up on my posts, in my headers, and generally sprinkled throughout the blog. I like pictures, probably because I'm a knuckle dragging mouth breathing moron and need the visual stimulation, but for whatever reason there it is.

Oftentimes I will take these pictures myself but just as oftentimes I will pull them from the 'net. Whenever I do pull them from the 'net I try to leave a link and credit the creator whenever possible. Sometimes the pics I find don't have attribution so I can't always do this, I do still leave a link to where I found it if possible (meaning if I remember where I stole it from).

With that being said if I use a picture of yours and you want credit, or if you just want me to take it down, please do shoot me an email (address at my profile link) or leave me a comment on the offending post (I moderate comments so I will see it as long as you're not a spambot, in which case you must die by fire) and I will take appropriate actions.  No muss, no fuss, no bullshit.

What I will not do is use someone elses work for profit without their permission (one of the many reasons I don't do ads on this here blog). Using someone elses stuff without their say so is just plain rude and could be illegal depending on the circumstances (ask Major Caudill if you don't believe it).

This PSA has been brought to you by the Association of Annoyed Gunbloggers. We now return you to your regular programming.

Rabbit Holes

Any time any sort of discussion regarding disaster preparedness, be it natural or "man made", takes place it doesn't take long before the rails completely disappear into the sand (or in this case, the comments section).

I was following along pretty well, even through the inevitable "AR's SUCK!!!!" "No, YOU SUCK!!!" portion, until the space aliens (or more accurately, their reverse-engineered conveyances) showed up.

And to think...these people are walking around un-medicated, without muzzles or leashes or anything...

(for the record, I'm gathering up all the ginger wimmenz for my post-apocalyptic underground secret bunker fortress-like compound to become my world-conquering Amazon army. They will likely then kill me in my sleep so the Amazon Queen can take over the whole shebang. Such is the life of a nascent dictator.)

As Expected

I turned off the word verification because there were some problems with commenting here.

Since then I have had to delete several spam comments being attempted on older posts. Spam-bots must die by fire.

This is one of the reasons comments are moderated, but I'm hoping that those of you who want to leave legitimate comments can now do so.

Thanks for dropping by!

Genius of the Week

This guy!

HT: Stephanie from Terminal Velocity, in comments at Marko's place.

You Gotta Be S*&#ing Me Files, Item 201548

Never saw this one coming.

According to Jalopnik, the Dodge Rampage (and I'm assuming the 83 Plymouth Scamp as well) is number 5 on the "Ten Desirable Used Cars That Are Impossible To Find" list.

And to think...I just gave mine away...

Compensation

I am on the book of faces primarily because Youngest Daughter in Wyoming posts pics of the grandkids there.  I do have other contacts, however, and one of them opined thusly:

"I'm quite certain that many more innocent people are killed by the guns owned by people who have them for private protection than are saved ."

To which I replied, "The stats would prove you wrong."

To which she replied, "No they would not. Quite the opposite."

To which I replied, "Show me yours and I'll show you mine..."

She will not believe, of course, and nothing I can say will change her mind. Having traveled this path before I know this to be true; there are none so blind. Anymore I don't even waste my time trying.

I made the mistake of reading upthread and of course I found the usual drivel about how carrying big bad guns makes us gun nuts feel all large and threatening because we have tiny boy parts and, obviously, self-issue problems (sorry ladies, I don't know what all of you would be compensating for).

Rather than continue the "debate" there (since it seemed like it would be like trying to teach a pig to sing  - you just waste your time and annoy the pig) I would like to make my statement here.

I carry a gun because I'm compensating.

There. I said it.

I'm compensating for the fact that I am likely twice the age of my would-be assailants. I'm compensating for the fact that I am carrying 50+ pounds more than I should be. I'm compensating for the fact that as I have gotten older my eyesight has suffered and my reflexes have slowed.

I'm compensating for the fact that things hurt now that didn't before. I'm compensating for the fact that I am all too convinced of my own mortality. I'm compensating for the fact that no matter how much I have, I still won't have enough for some SOB to steal. I'm compensating for the fact that my life, and the lives of those I love, have value far beyond what little worth there is to a punk.

I'm compensating for the fact that I'm too old to fight, too fat to run, and too young to die.

I'm compensating for the fact that I will not be a victim, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Oh, I See

THIS is what FAIL looks like!

UPDATE: I was wrong. THIS is what FAIL looks like.

Self Inflicted Wounds

If you have an internet based business, and your business has anything to do with guns, you are going to attract the attentions of gun bloggers, big and small.

Some of these gun bloggers may buy your goods or try your services out and write reviews on them. Some might request samples for this purpose, but the ones that I know will purchase the goods or services themselves so that they can write neutral reviews without alienating the suppliers or running afoul of .gov regulations.

If this is your business model you would probably do well not to irritate the very people that can make or break you, lest they turn you into an object lesson (or an internet verb).

And for the record, I've checked out GunsAmerica a time or two, and what I've seen gave me the opinion that almost everything they have is priced 2-3 times their value. I've always been able to find the same items at better prices elsewhere.

HT: George and Bob Owens

Time Waster Of The Day

Click on the picture.

Try to touch his nose with the cursor.

See you later!

Road Wars

El Capitan tells a tale, brought on by more tale swapping otherwhere on the Intertubies, of idiots behind the wheel and the comeuppance that rarely follows, but when it does it is oh-so-sweet.

The only one I have to share is the race that I "lost" when I got the Mustang. I had already been awarded my first speeding ticket in about 18 years and wasn't really fishing for another, so when the brand-new Camaro SS lined up in the next lane wanting a go at me I wasn't very interested.

Especially since I knew Johnny Law was waiting in the shrubbery just a half block down.

Well this kid, he insisted, so I turned the traction control off and gave him a chirp of the tires to let him know he had something coming to him! When the light turned green he hit the throttle like the hammer of an angry god.

I turned the traction control back on and sedately went on my way. A half block later I waved at him as I drove by.

This was just before dyno day, and lo and behold the Camaro was there. He pulled a bit over 700 horses at the rear wheel, so he would have ate my lunch.

Funny thing is, he didn't really want to talk about it.

INTP

And it would work just fine if you would leave it alone.

HT: Ambulance Driver

Video

Yeah, it's Hanson. Bite me.

The Blues Brothers tribute is a nice touch.

Bonus points if you can name the guy on the tamborine.

Just Because

Awesome

I found this at The Other McCain. I don't even remember what the post was about, but these guys RAWK!

Cospunk? Steamplay?

Whatever it is, you can thank McGoo.


























































Click to embiggenate.
(This last one seems to be pretty well armed.)

The Wisdom of Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett, creator of the Discworld:

"In every case there was a chorus that forecast, more or less the end of the world. Well, here we are and if the world is ending it would appear to be for other reasons. People, you and me, are not trusted. The right doesn't like us because we don't do what we're told by our betters, and the left doesn't like us because it secretly thinks we would be on the right given half a chance and a lottery win. And both think we should not make our own decisions, because we might make the wrong ones."

and

"We are presented with a version G.K.Chesterton's game 'Fool the Prophet'. Governments and religions make rules that the compliant populous puts up with right up until they decide not to."

It is probably fortunate for him that he is not an American citizen, otherwise I would write his name in for President. I might still.

Just Caught This

Apparently there was a thing going around the interwebtubies about some girl who quit her job via 33 pictures with a dry erase board. This is right in line with the airline attendant who quit his job by similarly spectacular means.

The difference is that Steve Slater is a real live person and "Jenny" is not.

Should have known, coming from Chive, but enjoy the pictures anyway!