Dad Joke CLXV

I broke a finger today.  Don't feel great.

But on the other hand, I'm fine.

C. W. McCall - Convoy

Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy ...

The #1 song from 1975 (and #98 on Rolling Stone's top 100 song list) is suddenly current again, as the longest truck convoy in history rolls into Ottawa.  The big rigs have been joined by smaller trucks, pickups, and cars, so there may be 100,000 vehicles involved.  Canadians have donated around $8M to pay for the trucker's gas as they flip the middle finger to the hosers in Parliament.

Good.

Convoy (Songwriters: Bill Fries (aka C. W. McCall), Chip Davis)

Ah, breaker one-nine, this here's the Rubber Duck. You gotta copy on me, Pig Pen, c'mon? Ah, yeah, 10-4, Pig Pen, fer shure, fer shure. By golly, it's clean clear to Flag Town, c'mon. Yeah, that's a big 10-4 there, Pig Pen, yeah, we definitely got the front door, good buddy. Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy...

Was the dark of the moon on the sixth of June
In a Kenworth pullin' logs
Cab-over Pete with a reefer on
And a Jimmy haulin' hogs

We is headin' for bear on I-10
'Bout a mile outta Shaky Town
I says, "Pig Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck"
"And I'm about to put the hammer down"

'Cause we got a little convoy
Rockin' through the night
Yeah, we got a little convoy
Ain't she a beautiful sight?

Come on and join our convoy
Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way
We gonna roll this truckin' convoy
'Cross the USA, convoy

Ah, breaker, Pig Pen, this here's the Duck. And, you wanna back off them hogs? Yeah, 10-4, 'bout five mile or so. Ten, roger. Them hogs is gettin' in-tense up here

By the time we got into Tulsa Town
We had eighty-five trucks in all
But they's a roadblock up on the cloverleaf
And them bears was wall-to-wall

Yeah, them smokies is thick as bugs on a bumper
They even had a bear in the air
I says, "Callin' all trucks, this here's the Duck
We about to go a-huntin' bear"

'Cause we got a great big convoy
Rockin' through the night
Yeah, we got a great big convoy
Ain't she a beautiful sight?

Come on and join our convoy
Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way
We gonna roll this truckin' convoy
'Cross the USA, convoy

Ah, you wanna give me a 10-9 on that, Pig Pen? Negatory, Pig Pen; you're still too close. Yeah, them hogs is startin' to close up my sinuses. Mercy sakes, you better back off another ten

Well, we rolled up Interstate 44
Like a rocket sled on rails
We tore up all of our swindle sheets
And left 'em settin' on the scales

By the time we hit that Chi-town
Them bears was a-gettin' smart
They'd brought up some reinforcements
From the Illinois National Guard

There's armored cars and tanks and jeeps
And rigs of ev'ry size
Yeah, them chicken coops was full'a bears
And choppers filled the skies

Well, we shot the line and we went for broke
With a thousand screamin' trucks
An' eleven long-haired Friends a' Jesus
In a chartreuse micra-bus

Ah, Rubber Duck to Sodbuster, come over. Yeah, 10-4, Sodbuster? Lissen, you wanna put that micra-bus right behind that suicide jockey? Yeah, he's haulin' dynamite, and he needs all the help he can get

Well, we laid a strip for the Jersey shore
And prepared to cross the line
I could see the bridge was lined with bears
But I didn't have a dog-goned dime

I says, "Pig Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck
We just ain't a-gonna pay no toll"
So we crashed the gate doing ninety-eight
I says "Let them truckers roll, 10-4"

'Cause we got a mighty convoy
Rockin' through the night
Yeah, we got a mighty convoy
Ain't she a beautiful sight?

Come on and join our convoy
Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way
We gonna roll this truckin' convoy
'Cross the USA

Convoy! Ah, 10-4, Pig Pen, what's your twenty?
Convoy! Omaha? Well, they oughta know what to do with them hogs out there fer shure. Well, mercy
Convoy! sakes, good buddy, we gonna back on outta here, so keep the bugs off your glass and the bears off your...
Convoy! tail. We'll catch you on the flip-flop. This here's the Rubber Duck on the side
Convoy! We gone. 'Bye,'bye

 

Why are kids pansies these days?

Because they didn't grow up with equipment like this in their local playground: The teeter totter ladder:

Of course, neither did I.  There were some still around in the 1960s when I would have had a go at them, but this was really Mom and Dad's time - the 1930s was the high water mark of dangerous (and fun!) playgound equipment.  9 others are listed here, so go read.

And if you hurt yourself, just rub some dirt on it and walk it off, ya pansy.

Dad Joke CLXIV

What's orange and sounds like a parrot?

A carrot. 

Who benefits from the US in Ukraine?

One thing that I have not been able to figure out is who would benefit from the US sending 8,500 (or 50,000 - the number keeps changing) US troops to Stalingrad in winter.  We've seen this movie before and we all know how it comes out.  There are pretty much no good arguments to do this - nothing but huffing and puffing about "deterring aggression" and "stopping Putin's land grab" and "country borders are sacred".  Let's quickly dispense with these arguments and move on to who really wins.

Deterring Aggression.  It's not 1939, and the US Establishment isn't Neville Chamberland.  A quick review of the first two decades of this century will establish the wars we've fought: Afghanistan (2001-2021), Iraq (2003 - present), Libya (2011), Syria (2013).  The problem isn't an American meekness; on the contrary.  Vladimir Putin knows this, and doesn't have to read between the lines to understand what NATO expansion plans for Ukraine would mean to a Russia that shares a border with it.

Putin's "Land Grab".  So Russia has demanded guarantees from NATO that (a) Ukraine will not be admitted to the coalition (as this would compel NATO to defend Ukraine in the future, by treaty), and also guarantees that NATO offensive weapons will not be stationed in Ukraine.  The NATO General Secretary has explicitly rejected both demands, as has the US State Department (at least according to the Russian foreign ministry; while this is not proof, it does concur with the NATO General Secretary's public statements from two days ago).  So what options does Putin have?  More importantly, what options are we giving him?

"National Borders are sacrosanct".  Well, except for the US-Mexico border, I guess.  This doesn't pass the "red face" test - the fact that people can say this without shame only shows that our elites are, well, shameless.

So who wins in this showdown?  We know who is facing the risks - you know, that whole Stalingrad in winter thing, but Russia is facing substantial risks as well from sanctions, a military with some good units but many not so good ones, potential guerrilla war, etc.  NATO appears to be splintering before our eyes as Germany, France, and others refuse to do any heavy lifting (Germany's offer a a few thousand mil surplus helmets to Ukraine speaks volumes on how tight this "alliance" is).  

Oh yeah - Russia has a bunch of nuclear missiles aimed at us.  That would never go sideways, right?  So there are lots of potential losers here.  

Who wins?

China.  This is long, but clearly and plainly laid out.  I highly recommend you spend the time to watch it:

Other winners: The Military Industrial Complex (Defense suppliers and retired 4 stars who get cushy and well paid gigs on their boards of directors).  The Biden Administration which gets to keep the Hunter Biden Ukrainian payoffs swept under the carpet.  The Democratic Party which is desperately looking for something - anything - to change the electorate's focus from the disastrous Afghanistan bug out, or inflation, or the increasingly unpopular Covid lockdowns, or the Teacher's Unions destroying public education, or the weakening economy.

I guess that the Democrats aren't smart enough to figure out what adding that whole "Stalingrad in winter" thing to that list will do in the run up to the elections.

Tucker Carlson quite rightly asks: how does any of this make America stronger?  Clearly it doesn't - to the contrary.  But if you don't pound the jingoistic War Drum with the idiots in the media you're Putin's Stooge or Neville Chamberlin or unpatriotic.  Or something.

I'm so old that I remember Democrats shouting that they were tired of their patriotism being questioned.  Times sure have changed.

But remember: these people are all so much smarter (and nicer!) than you are.  You stooge, you.

UPDATE 27 January 2022 17:46:  Divemedic has a detailed post about another downside - our diminished military capability and top-heavy brass.  You should read the whole thing but this is the summation:

The US has cut its ability to project power so severely, that it can no longer afford to be, nor can it be, the world’s policeman.

Russia and China know that.

But hey - on to Stalingrad!

UPDATE 27 January 2022 18:40:  LOL:

The other things the BBC were moaning about were the winter famine wiping out the children of the Taliban and the poor pitiful Ukrainians who are ill-equipped to fight the Red Army. I see a confluence of benefits here. The Taliban have $89 billion dollars in high tech weaponry they manifestly don't need and the Ukraine produces most of Europes wheat. They could trade weaponry to the breadbasket of Europe for food. Win win!

Helpful. That's me.

Maybe $89 B of food would give them enough weapons to get to Stalingrad, amirite?  Who says that Atomic War can't be hilarious?

UPDATE 27 January 2022 19:01:  Yeah, yeah, I can stop anytime.  Kurt Schlicter (LTC USA, Ret) has an informative post about the difference between the Cold War NATO of his service days and today's NATO.  He echos and amplifies what Divemedic highlights, from an Army (vs. a Navy) perspective.  He is even more pessimistic (and sarcastically so) than Divemedic is.  But he gets deadly serious in his key point:

It seems like we might have trouble achieving our objectives. And one of the biggest reasons is that it’s not clear what our objectives would even be. Since none of the usual hawks can be bothered to articulate a vital American interest involved in defending Ukraine’s borders, that makes it hard to come up with objectives for the military. “Stop Putin” is not really a military objective; it’s sort of an amorphous goal.

So what does victory look like? Putin held off to the outskirts of Kiev? Putin tossed back over the Belarus and Russian borders? What’s our desired end state? Or are we not going to articulate that either? Maybe we can just sort of exist in a tense status quo over some sort of demilitarized zone for seven decades or so. Gee, sound familiar?

Now all these questions deserve answers, but don’t look for any since none of the answers are good. And bad answers would slow the rush to war, so we can’t have them come out. Instead, the establishment is going back to the classics. If you ask what America’s vital interest is, you love Putin. If you ask what our military objectives would be, much less how we can rev up the combat power way over there to attain them, you love Putin. Yeah, it’s always a delight to be a vet of the Cold War being who is told he digs the Russians by a bunch of DC saps whose experience with the Bear is trying a Moscow Mule once, deciding it was icky, and asking for a white wine spritzer instead.

The Ukrainians are getting a raw deal, and I hope they drown their invaders in a river of blood. But it’s not our fight. And, if we did fight, there’s a significant chance we would lose. Then every two-bit tyrant on Earth will be coming for a piece of the helpless giant. We’re weak right now, folks, and the worst thing we can do is get up in front of everyone and prove it.

This.  This exactly.  The Administration looks like it is trying to draw into an inside straight.  With the potential death, destruction, and risk to America's international position, I'd sure like answers - any answers - to the question what do we get out of any of this?

When people are taken out of their depth they lose their heads, no matter how charming a bluff they put up.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Thanks 11,000,000

Sometime in the next couple of hours this blog's odometer  will tick over 11 million views.  Actually, it's already past this - the first 18 months of the blog's history are not reflected in that since Google wasn't yet tracking views then.

Last year was the best year ever here for traffic.  The last megaview has happened in only 10 months.  Thanks for everyone who stops by regularly.  

As a thanks to our viewers, all blog content today is free of charge!

So what do you do when they stop reporting Covid deaths?

The Fed.Gov is going to stop asking hospitals to report deaths from Covid.  Since all that will be reported is case counts (and possibly hospitalizations, although that is far from clear), what do you do over the next few months?

Retired ER doctor Tim Wolter has an outstanding summary of the current - and likely last - set of actual data and what it means.  I recommend that you read the entire information-dense post and bookmark it.

In particular, the data he shows from Florida are extremely interesting: 7 day moving average of cases in January: 60,000.  7 day moving average of deaths in January: 9.  That's a case fatality rate of 0.015%.

And this is particularly telling:

Digging deeper into [Minnesota] stats you find that the average "case" is 36 years old, the average ICU hospitalized patient is 63 and the average age of those dying from Covid is 80. That stat caught my eye. To have an average age of 80 there must be some real oldsters in the sample set. Indeed, deaths were recorded in patients ranging from age 1 to age 109.

Remember, this data will no longer be reported so it will no longer be possible to use actual death data to show that Covid is a disease that is dangerous almost exclusively to the very old and very sick.  Remember to get your 2 year old quadruple vaxed and always masked up - never mind that she's not yet talking because she's developmentally stunted.  Got to protect those sick Boomers!

It's getting very hard indeed to avoid straying into the fever swamps when you look at the crude propaganda coming from our health care institutions.  Qui bono, indeed?

Note: it's been a while since I've tagged a post with my tag "evil".  But here's an excerpt from that last post which seems more and more to apply to the CDC and other "elite" institutions ostensibly tasked with keeping the population safe:

The ancient Romans were said to make a land into a desert, and then call it peace.  I mean, there were no more folks opposing their rule after they had killed most of the folks, amirite?

The Fed.Gov will make a desert and then call it "health".  This is the end game.  Don't let a crisis go to waste.

* It's not The Virus From Hell.  You want to see a disease from Hell?  Here you go.

Yeah, this is a bit ranty.

Interesting stories that the (US) Press is ignoring

Both of these are about the virus, and neither is being reported here on these shores.

Item the first: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is done - stick a fork in him:

Nigel Farage has slammed Boris Johnson over the Prime Minister's attempts to defend a series of parties in Downing Street while the rest of the UK was under Coronavirus lockdown. The former Brexit Party leader has suggested Mr Johnson would have been best owning up to the parties.

...

"When you are clearly lying to the nation that I'm afraid is what's done for him," he added.

"I can't tell you whether he's going to last a week, a month or four months.

"But I can tell you, Boris is toast."

Farage is the man most responsible for BREXIT, and is former head of the BREXIT political party in the UK.  Rumors have it that Johnson may get dumped by the UK Tory Party as early as Friday, but we will have to see.  Whether that happens or not, this story represents the rage of the common voter against an arrogant, out of touch elite that is smothering them with COVID restrictions that they exempt themselves from.

[UPDATE 26 January 2022 15:44]  Canuck Glen Filthie says the truck convoy is 70 km long.

Item the Second: Canadian truckers aim to shut down Parliament on Friday:

The number of truckers involved is huge. As in “that’s gonna leave a mark” huge. Now just figure that to the extent a Truck and Trucker are in this event, they are not delivering the goods on time to somewhere else. This will be felt fairly fast. There is one guy in one video who says he’s not vaccinated, but is delivering “medical supplies”, and appreciates the irony of it ;-) So some of the trucks may just be “slow rolling” their delivery elsewhere along the route.

Just how much support are Canadian citizens giving them?  The truckers set up a Gofundme campaign to raise money for fuel (they're driving from the Pacific coast to Ottawa).  Right now the campaign has raised $5M (CAD).  That's a lot of gas.  And just what do those normal Canadian citizens feel about the Canadian.Gov?

“Everyone is Essential”. “It’s time for the Lions to start eating those Hyenas”.

Friday is shaping up to be an interesting day, despite the complete lack of coverage here in the US.  The "elites" are trapped in a Twitter bubble, spending their time only talking to themselves - while the 80% of the country that counts is moving on without them.  Smartest kids in the class, right there.

Dad Joke CLXIII

 Unfortunately Superman won't fight the vampire this evening.  He won't go past the crypt tonight.

Dad Joke CLXII

What is sticky and brown?

A stick. 

Dad Joke CLXI

What is a pirate's favorite letter in the alphabet?

You might think that it's "R" but it's really the "C". 

I guess I'm feeling better

I feel like I need to clean my guns.  Actually I do, but I have for a while.  I'm a lazy gun owner.

But must be getting back in the saddle. 

Dad Joke CLX

Chemists can tell you that alcohol is always a solution. 

Dad Joke CLIX

Kids think that dad jokes are not cool.  The reason is a parent. 

Monoclonal antibodies - a report from the field

So our doctor said to go get them.  Actually, she was kind of lukewarm on the subject - our Internet digging said that they may or may not handle the new variant, but the test doesn't tell you what you have and the doc said that it wouldn't do any harm.  So off we went.

Remember last fall when President Biden cut off monoclonal antibodies to Florida?  This looks like one of the many shoot-from-the-hip and then backtrack policies from this Keystone Kops administration.  You can get them, although we had to drive a bit.  There's actually a pretty nice web page to find the location nearest to you.

And so off we went.  It was the better part of an hour drive which wasn't too bad.  This was a pop-up clinic in a community center.  There were a bunch of folks there as walk-ins; we were glad that we made reservations.

The procedure can be given two ways - an infusion (The Queen Of The World got this) or a set of four injections (I got these thinking it would be quicker - it was, but they keep you for an hour after the procedure "just in case" so it really wan't).  Then we drove back.

A couple hours later I started feeling worse - not a ton worse, but I had felt like I was on the mend before and then I didn't.  Even today it feels like I took a step backwards, although this is pretty impressionistic.  TQOTW doesn't seem to be much different.

So, did it do any good?  Beats me.  What I think I learned from this is that all the panic porn has an effect - I'm kind of glad that I took TQOTW because she wasn't doing great - but this is an emotional side of me that has been manipulated for two years.  The logical side of me thinks that maybe it didn't do anything.

Your mileage may vary, void where prohibited, do not remove tag on penalty of law.  Oh, and the Biden Administration can suck it.  Thanks for nothing, guys, you vindictive pricks.

UPDATE 25 JANUARY 2022 13:10:  Aaaaand they're gone.  The FDA removed the Emergency Use Authorization for monoclonal antibodies in Florida.  Looks like it's the only State subject to this restriction.  I'm glad we got ours last week.  Man, the Democrats suck.

Let's go, Brandon!

The ghosts of Stalingrad

Peter doesn't think we have any compelling national interest to get into a war with Russia over Ukraine.  I agree, and would amplify it like this:

Why on earth are we talking about getting into a war in Russia in the winter?

I mean, you could ask Napoleon how that turned out, or the German 6th Army.  Heck, you could ask the Afghani allies we just left behind how good an idea this is.  Since our military has such a good track record this century.

Peter's take is that the Powers That Be are getting desperate as the economy is mired in stagflation, the vaxx mandate is increasingly unpopular, and Biden's approval rating drops lower than any President in my lifetime.  A foreign adventure is often the prescription for what ails them - politics ends at the water's edge, right?

Except no - firstly, this is nothing but madness.  Bill Clinton at least had the good sense to bomb a Somali aspirin factory rather than Sevastapol.  Secondly, we've heard from Democrats for 20 years that politics does NOT end at the water's edge.

Quite frankly, it's time for Congress to step up as the Adult Supervision* and pass a resolution saying that we do not have a compelling national interest in NATO expansion into Ukraine, and we sure as heck don't have a compelling interest in Americans getting killed over that.  It sure would be something to see the Democrats filibuster that.

It's been a long time since I've tagged a post "Atomic War" ...

* This just goes to illustrate how weird things are.

UPDATE 22 January 2022 18:17:  J.Kb has a must read post about this.

Dad Joke CLXIII

A ship carrying red paint collided with a ship carrying blue paint. 

Both crews are said to be marooned.

Oh noes! Covid cases are going up!

Well, they are here in Florida.  More specifically, they've gone up by two - one for me, one for The Queen Of The World.  It feels like a really bad flu, or how you feel at the onset of bronchitis.  It isn't any fun at all.

Would not recommend.  This is how I prefer my 'rona - with lime.

Dad Joke CLXII

What kind of doctor is Doctor Pepper?  A Fizzician.

Hat tip: Miguel, via email.

Sunday, puppy Sunday

Sophie, Beretta, and Wolfgang at the dog park.  It was German Shepherd day.

 

Kindness in the depths of winter.

Because it's the depths of winter.  I found this pretty touching. 

Dad Joke CLXI

A plateau is the highest form of flattery. 

IMPORTANT: Southwest Florida Blogshoot postponed

I think most people saw my post from earlier in the week but if not we have postponed the blogshoot.  I'll update with the new date when we have it.

Dad Joke CLX

A golf ball is a golf ball no matter how you putt it. 

Dad Joke CLIX

I know a guy who collects blunt pencils.  Frankly, I think his hobby is a bit pointless. 

Southwest Florida Blogshoot - POSTPONED

The Queen Of The World and I both are sick, and not getting better faster.  We don't think it's Covid (probably something less lethal, like yersinia pestis) but it's just not feasible to have the blogshoot this weekend.  We will pick a date in the next few weeks, so watch this space.

Sorry to everyone about the change.  

Dad Joke CLVIII

6:30 is the best time on the clock, hands down. 

The Managerial Elite's funeral pyre

The Right Sort of people are losing their minds:

For me, at least, it’s hard to read any of the literature of [the 1920s and 1930s] without getting a potent sense of déjà vu. The same autumnal sense of an era past its pull date, the same spectacle of people and institutions going through motions that stopped functioning a long time ago, the same plaintive voices wondering why the world just doesn’t seem to make sense any more—it’s all present and accounted for, the familiar backdrop for the last few decades of public life in the United States and a good many other industrialized nations. The sole remaining questions are what combination of crises will topple the hapless ruling class from its position, and how soon that inevitable moment will arrive.

Yet admitting that the managerial class has turned out to be incompetent at running societies is unthinkable, to members of that class. It’s not just a matter of status panic, either. The entire collective identity of our managerial aristocracy is founded on the idea that they’re the experts, the smart kids, the people who really know what’s what. They justify their grip on the levels of collective power by insisting that they and they alone can lead the world to a sparkly new future. That’s the theme of the slogans under which they seized power, and it remains the core of their ideology and their identity: “We can make the world better!”

This is John Michael Greer, who used to blog as The Arch Druid.  He seems pretty optimistic that the wheels are finally coming off of the Managerial State and that this is probably a good thing:

For the last six years now, accordingly, the failures of the managerial class have become a massive political issue across much of the industrial world. Britain’s Brexit referendum and the 2016 US presidential election both marked important turning points in that process, as significant numbers of ordinary people decided that the experts didn’t know what they were talking about and refused to vote as they were told. The various tantrums thrown by pundits, politicians, and self-anointed influencers since that time haven’t accomplished much, aside from convincing even more people to ignore the increasingly shrill demands of a failing elite.

That’s sending waves of stark shuddering terror through the managerial aristocracy. If the deplorable masses stop bending the knee and tugging their forelocks whenever one of their self-proclaimed betters mouths a platitude, after all, how long will the authority of the managers last? That terror, in turn, gives rise to the displacement activities discussed above. Since it’s impossible for them to admit to themselves that they’ve failed, much less that everyone else is aware that they’ve failed, they find other things on which they can focus their feelings of panic. The Covid virus is one of those. It wasn’t the first and it doubtless won’t be the last, but it’s serving its purpose now, which is to allow members of the managerial class and its hangers-on in the media and the academy to distract themselves from the end of their era of power.

Peter thinks that they are trying to crash the airplane into a mountain - create enough starvation and impoverishment that a desperate population turns to them to fix the crisis they created.  I could see them try this; I don't think that the reaction will be what they think it will be.

The problem is that the only people who will trust them to "fix" their problem are the ones who already trust them.  That is a continually shrinking portion of the public despite the increasingly shrill social shaming that they are doing.  They are not convincing anyone and indeed are doing the opposite:

My liberal friends (and yes, I do have a few still, though most tossed me under the bus as soon as there was any societal pressure to do so) will constantly chide me about my words, or my attitude, and go tsk tsk, how rude! But then when people on their side go bat shit fucking insane, they sit there meekly and stand for nothing, because they know the beast they fed will just as easily turn and eat them too.

Besides, as soon as a democrat stands for principle outside of the narrative, they get tossed. Pick any of them in media, punditry, or academia. Any at all. Glenn Greenwald. Tim Pool. Jordan Peterson. Those were all mushy moderates, until they say hey wait, the left is going nuts, and boom, now the left thinks they are the second coming of Satan-Hitler. The party is currently enraged at Sinema and Manchin.

And I’m not alone in this. Most politically alert non-leftists will tell you the same thing. You belong to a cult which will not abide heresy. You want to show us that you aren’t all authoritarian statist trash, DO SOMETHING.

J.Kb has an outstanding example of their closed - and clueless - world view.  This is the Elite that will solve the Republic's problems?  As John Michael Greer points out, Tomorrowland has fallen.

This so-called "elite" knows nothing of history.  Basically every revolution in history was started by a starving underclass.  While I think that Peter is right that they could very well pitch this country into that sinkhole, they do not seem to realize that each of these revolutions was against the Powers That Be who were running things.  Just how they will harness all this underclass rage against The Man when they're him is beyond me.

They're desperate, and they're out of gas, and it sure doesn't look like their scheme to start revolution in the streets can do anything other than build their own funeral pyre, the Sardanapalus option:

“The Death of Sardanapalus” by Eugène Delacroix depicts the tale of Sardanapalus, a king of Assyria, who, according to an ancient story, exceeded all previous rulers in sloth and decadence.

He spent his whole life in self-indulgence, and when he wrote his epitaph, he stated that physical gratification is the only purpose of life.

His debauchery caused dissatisfaction within the Assyrian empire, allowing conspiracies against him to develop. Sardanapalus failed to defeat the rebels, and then enemies of the empire join the battle against him.

After Sardanapalus’ last defenses collapsed and to avoid falling into the hands of his enemies, Sardanapalus ordered an enormous funeral pyre.

On the funeral pyre were piled all his gold and valuables. He also ordered that his eunuchs and concubines be added to the fire, to burn them and himself to death.

Nobody did romantic doomed fate better than Byron and Delacroix.  Alas, I feat that Hollywood will not be up to this level of artistic achievement for what the "elites" are bringing down on their own heads.

Dad Joke CLVII

I heard that Humpty Dumpty is having an awful winter.  This is a shame because he had a great fall. 

Kenny Chesney - Don't Blink

This song reminds me of my neighbor Don who passed on this week.  He had a lot of quiet wisdom built up from a lifetime of experience.

Don't Blink (songwriters: Casey Beathard, Chris Wallin)

I turned on the evening news
Saw a old man being interviewed
Turning a hundred and two today
Asked him what's the secret to life
He looked up from his old pipe
Laughed and said, "All I can say is

Don't blink
Just like that
You're six years old and you take a nap
And you wake up and you're twenty-five
And your high-school sweetheart becomes your wife
Don't blink
You just might miss
Your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads
Next thing you know
Your better half of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend
A hundred years goes faster than you think
So don't blink."

Well I was glued to my TV
When it looked like he looked at me
And said, "Best start putting first things first
'Cause when your hourglass runs out of sand
You can't flip it over and start again
Take every breath God gives you for what it's worth

Don't blink
'Cause just like that
You're six years old and you take a nap
And you wake up and you're twenty-five
And your high-school sweetheart becomes your wife
Don't blink
You just might miss
Your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads
Next thing you know
Your better half of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend
A hundred years goes faster than you think
So don't blink."

So I've been tryna slow it down
I've been tryna take it in
In this here-today-gone-tomorrow world we're livin' in

Don't blink
Just like that
You're six years old and you take a nap
And you wake up and you're twenty-five
And your high-school sweetheart becomes your wife
Don't blink
You just might miss
Your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads
Next thing you know
Your better half of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend
A hundred years goes faster than you think
So don't blink

No, don't blink
Don't blink
Life goes faster than you think
So don't blink
Life goes faster than you think
Don't blink
Don't blink
Life goes faster than you think

Ave atque vale, Don.

Southwest Florida Blogshoot Update (please read)

We are on for the blogshoot a week from tomorrow.  This is an update to the last post that I am reposting because we only have partial info for some of you who are planning on attending.

1. The Gun Club has an online waiver that everyone will need to fill out.  If you don't fill this out online you'll have to fill out a paper form when you get there which will be a pain for everyone.  If you haven't already, please send me confirmation that you've filled this out.

2, Please forward an email to me (at borepatch at gmail dot com) listing your actual name, your blog name (if applicable), your email address, and how many are in your party (we collected some of this info previously but the royal scribes seem to have misplaced it).  This needs to be done, even if you've left a comment that you will be attending because we have to verify everyone's forms have or will be completed.  If you haven't already, please send this.

3. IMPORTANT: We need to have some NRA certified Range Safety Officers.  If any of y'all are certified RSOs and would volunteer, please send me an email and attach your credentials so we can clear it with the club that we have the required RSOs.   Right now we have one but need more.  There are a couple of you who were figuring out if you could make it, so please let me know if you will and can RSO.  Otherwise I probably need to line extra help up.

And note to self: since this will be a regular event here I need to get myself certified.

Rest in peace, Don

My neighbor who taught me to turn wood on a lathe just died.  I find myself to be very sad about this.  It's more than that he was a kind and generous man - in some ways he was a bit of a father figure to me.  Working in the wood shop (or drinking beer on his front porch) was the sort of thing that I haven't done with a man from the previous generation since, well, Dad.  And it was since the 1970s that I did woodworking with him.

Don was smart, and was a good businessman, and led a long life until Parkinson's took him.  His last four months were spent in Atlanta in assisted living.  We missed him, but he got to see his daughter and grandkids, and great grandkids.  The Queen Of The World and I went up to see him in October, and I'm very glad that we did.  He liked TQOTW and his daughter fussing over him together, and I liked sharing a beer with him.  He also found someone who was selling a new-in-box lathe for an unbeatable price, so now I'll have to figure out how to squeeze that into our space.  I think I need a shoehorn, but I'm not done with woodworking and I think that Don wanted to ensure that.  Just one of the many people whose lives he touched, and left richer for that.

But there's a terrible finality when the ship sails for the Undiscovered Country.  Fair winds and following seas, Don.  Give our regards to Alice.  We'll raise the Parting Glass to you.

Bank transfer scam alert

Many banks use Zelle when you want to transfer money to someone at a different bank.  There is a scam going around that you need to know about.  Basically, it goes like this:

1. You get a text message claiming to be from your bank, asking if you authorized a large cash transfer.

2. When you text back that you did not, you get a phone call from your bank's "Security group".  The scammer spoofs the outgoing caller ID so it looks like it's coming from your bank.

3. To "verify your identity" the caller asks you for the email address associated with your account.  They then tell you they are sending you a text with a security code, and ask you to read it back to them.

Do not do anything in #3!  What the scammer does is initiate a "forgot password" request at your bank's web site which generates the security code.  If you give them the email address and security code they can log in as you and drain your bank account.

Remember, your bank will never ask you for your email address, or password, or to read them a security code.  That's why you have to set up a "security question" for your account - what was the name of your first pet, that sort of thing.  They will use that to verify that it is actually you.

Brian Krebs has a detailed writeup on this.

January 6: we've seen this play before, done a whole lot better

History repeats itself: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.

- Friedrich Engels

The airwaves are filled with huffing and puffing about an "insurrection" a year ago.  Ignore that literally none of the hundreds of those arrested and held without bail have been charged with actual insurrection - this is political theater.  It's political theater that the Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) think will help them win a great political victory.  As political theater, the facts are entirely beside the point - what's important is the drama that can be stirred up.

Alas for them, it's a wet firecracker.  In our divided Republic, nobody remains unconvinced (either pro or con), and this will not move that needle.  And in any case, the "drama" (such as it is) is underwhelming.  You want drama?  Look at the Catiline Conspiracy in the death throes of the Roman Republic.  That comes down to us via Cicero, so it's top shelf drama.

Catiline was a Roman Senator, bitter that he lost his bid to be elected Consul (kind of sort of President).  He was said to have organized a band of ne'er-do-wells to overthrow the Senate and take power for himself.  Cicero gave a famous address to the Senate laying out his plan, and as he spoke the Senators one by one got up and moved away from Catiline, who came to a bad end.

Now that's drama.  Unfortunately, the drama of the story has overpowered the actual facts of the matter.  We only have Cicero and Sallust as sources and both of them are highly biased against Catiline.  There's a very good chance indeed that Catiline was railroaded by the finest orator of his day, and smeared for the last 2000 years by a biased media.

Does that remind you of anything?

And so today is rather a bore.  The story is certainly hyped, very likely manufactured (hello, FBI!), and the "drama" pales in comparison to not just what we've seen before, but what we've seen 2000 years ago.  I hate to break it to the media, but they're no Ciceros.  Or even Sallusts.

U.S. Army War College: How Taiwan can stop a Chinese Invasion

All they have to do is threaten to dynamite their computer chip plants, and the Chinese will simply not invade.  Simple.

"Simple", of course, applies to the authors of the paper.  All you have to do it listen to all the hysterical talk about what happened a year ago in Washington, and look at what the current Administration is doing to the economy to get a sense of what governments will do to consolidate power - even at the expense of economic damage.

Oh, and it seems that this article is the one that was downloaded most often from the War College web site in 2021.  Oooooh kaaaay.

No warming in Tokyo in 45 years

 

Data from the Japan Meteorological Society.  Hachijojima is an island a couple hundred miles off the main island of Honshu.  What's interesting is that we don't see an Urban Heat Island effect from Tokyo (this is where a city's growth leads to higher recorded temperatures because the sun heats up the concrete and asphalt which replaced plants/grass/etc).

But "hottest year ever".  Yawn.

(via)

Dad Joke CLVI

Where did the crayon go for its summer vacation? 

Colorado.

Sunday, puppy Sunday

Wolfgang has a girlfriend.  Sofie and Wolfgang go to the dog beach.

 

Dad Joke CLV

Did you hear about U2's lawyer?

I hear he works pro Bono. 

Happy Birthday to all horses

The Queen Of The World informs me that today is every horse's birthday (offer void in Southern Hemisphere).  I hadn't known that, but it seems worth a celebration.

Oh yeah, Happy New Year, too!