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! 

Traditional - The Parting Glass

We are come hard up on the end of the year.  Modern New Years' Eve celebrations include the singing of Robert Burns' Auld Lang Syne, a traditional Scottish ballad.  But that's not the only song that was included in the party.  This one is older, perhaps almost two hundred years older.  It sings of the sorrow of parting, of reminiscing of times now gone.  The "parting glass" was the final toast offered to a departing guest, frequently served when the guest mounted his horse (i.e. a stirrup cup).

Burns referred to this song, so it was not only common but famous in his day - the music was incorrectly attributed to Joseph Haydn (!).  But the song dropped into obscurity.  It was Tommy Makem and The Clancy Brothers who re-introduced it into popular use; it became a signature number of theirs, and they would typically close concerts with it.

So this New Years' Eve when everyone dusts off the old Robert Burns, hoist a glass of cheer to the anonymous authors of this.  We even now saddle up to ride into the New Year; a parting glass is not too much to ask from 2019.



The Parting Glass (traditional)

Of all the money that e'er I had
I spent it in good company
And all the harm I've ever done
Alas it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit
To mem'ry now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be to you all

So fill to me the parting glass
And drink a health whate’er befall,
And gently rise and softly call
Good night and joy be to you all

Of all the comrades that e'er I had
They're sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I had
They'd wish me one more day to stay

But since it fell unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I gently rise and softly call
Good night and joy be to you all

A man may drink and not be drunk
A man may fight and not be slain
A man may court a pretty girl
And perhaps be welcomed back again
But since it has so ought to be
By a time to rise and a time to fall
Come fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
Good night and joy be with you all

To all our readers, we wish you a happy and healthy New Year!

St. James Infirmary - Hugh Laurie

Who knew that Huge Laurie had blues chops?

Dad Joke CLIIII

What did the ocean say to the shore?

Nothing.  They just waved. 

Joe Bonamassa - Christmas Boogie

Long time readers know that I love me some blues.  And I love me some Christmas music.  And I love me some Joe B.

You're welcome.

Southwest Florida Blogshoot - Important Update

We are confirmed for Saturday, January 15 at Manatee Gun Club in Myakka City, FL. The club is now under new management so there will be a few changes from previous shoots.  Please do not arrive prior to 10:30am.  Do not stop in the office, just follow the signs to the end of the road where our range is.  Prior to January 15, please review and follow the 6 easy steps below.

Manatee Gun and Archery Club, 1805 Logue Rd, Myakka City, FL 34251

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 bit of a pain for everyone.

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.  

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.  

4.  When you get to the range, follow the signs that say "Borepatch Blogshoot" to the private range at the end of the road.  We have that reserved just for us.  Shooting stands are covered, and there are 180 yard rifle and 25 yard pistol ranges.

5. We're asking everyone for $20 to cover range costs.  As usual, TQOTW will cater lunch which is included in the cost.

6. Lastly, bring whichever guns you want to.  Last time we had enough firepower to invade Canada.  We will have targets and stands, but the more targets, the merrier.  Of course, bring eye and ear protection.  Also, bring clips to attach the targets to the stands since no staples are allowed at the range.

Many of you may be interested to know, we have some different out of town visitors this time:

Co-blogger and my brother-from-another mother ASM826, down from North Carolina

Long time commenter Libertyman, down from New Hampshire

(tentatively) B from In The Middle Of The Right, from Indiana (I am looking into airports and will email you shortly)

Autographing a rifle

Not just any rifle, an M1 Garand.  And not just any autographers, World War II vets:

There’s a story behind every name on “The Rifle.”

Soldiers who landed on the beaches of Normandy, sailors who hunted down U-boats, Marines who drove back the Japanese, one island at a time.

There are more than 200 names on the M-1 Garand rifle owned by Andy Biggio, all of them World War II veterans, all of them sharing stories in Biggio’s book, “The Rifle: Combat Stories from America’s Last WWII Veterans, Told Through an M1 Garand.”

Andrew Biggio was a Marine in Iraq and Afghanistan.  When he returned home, his parents mentioned that they had his Grand Uncle's letters if he wanted to read them.  Grand Uncle didn't make it back from World War II, but Biggio was interested and read the letters.  In one of them, his Grand Uncle went on and on about how much he loved the M1 Garand.

And so Biggio went out and bought one.  After he'd been to the range to shoot it, he wondered OK, now what? There was another former Marine - a WWII vet - in Biggio's neighborhood, one who never talked about what he saw in the war.  Biggio figured he'd take his new-to-him rifle over to show him.

And then something magic happened.  His neighbor light up, and talked for hours about what he'd seen on Okinawa and other places.  Biggio was stunned at the change that had come over this old veteran, and got him to autograph the rifle.  When he got home he thought There must be others like him still out there.  I wonder if I could find them.

And so he did - 207 others that he met, and wrote down their stories, and got their autographs on his rifle.  He has a book out, one that now is sitting on my coffee table (thank you to my darling Queen Of The World).  

They are a remarkable group, as you'd expect.  The Stars and Stripe article linked above includes this:

The oldest veteran present was 105-year-old Henry Maruszevicz, of Lowell, who served in the Army with the 276th Armored. He was also a recipient of the Legion of Honor. According to his daughter, he still lives alone, mows his lawn and drives.

You can listen to an interview with Biggio where he talks about what caused him to seek these old veterans out on the History Unplugged podcast.

Dad Joke CLIII

Why do Dasher and Dancer love coffee?

Because they're Santa's star bucks. 

Building a medieval castle using only medieval technology

It seems that this is a thing, and has been for a couple decades:

Guedelon Castle in Burgundy, France, is built using only techniques and materials that were available in the Middle Ages. Michel Guyot and Maryline Martin started the project in 1997, and it has been nearing its inevitable completion ever since. Today, it has created over 55 jobs and draws more than 300,000 visitors every year.

It looks pretty cool:

Here's their web site, Building A Castle From Scratch.  I'd go there, if I ever get the chance.

Irving Berlin - White Christmas

Not only is it the best song I ever wrote, it's the best song anybody ever wrote.

- Irving Berlin

A regular feature for Christmas television is the 1954 film "White Christmas".  But the title song was a lot older than that, originally appearing in the 1942 film "Holiday Inn" - for which it won the Academy Award for best original song.  While a ton of artists have recorded this song, Bing's versions make up roughly half of the 100 million copies sold.  Irving Berlin knew he had a hit with this one.

Huron Carol/Twas in the Moon of Wintertime

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Philippians 2:5-8

We all know the story, that's the problem.  We know it so well that we don't think about the story, and what it means.  It helps to put the story in a different setting to make us think on the meaning again.

Huron Carol is the oldest Christmas Carol from Canada, and perhaps from the New World.  It was written in 1642 by Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary to the Huron tribes.  It tells the story of the nativity in terms that were familiar to the Huron: instead of a stable, the baby was born in a lodge of broken bark.  Instead of three wise men there were three chiefs from far off tribes.  Instead of frankincense and myrrh there were gifts of fox and beaver pelts.  He wrote in their native language, as necessity called for.  If you would tell a tale, you must use words the listener will understand.

Tomorrow is the feast of the Redeemer.  Amidst the holiday cheer, gifts, and yes, feasting, think on the familiar meaning as explained in a different tongue, a tale made new again.

Huron

The original words of the carol in the Wyandot language (Huron).

Ehstehn yayau deh tsaun we yisus ahattonnia
O na wateh wado:kwi nonnwa 'ndasqua entai
ehnau sherskwa trivota nonnwa 'ndi yaun rashata
Iesus Ahattonnia, Ahattonnia, Iesus Ahattonnia.

Ayoki onki hm-ashe eran yayeh raunnaun
yauntaun kanntatya hm-deh 'ndyaun sehnsatoa ronnyaun
Waria hnawakweh tond Yosehf sataunn haronnyaun
Iesus Ahattonnia, Ahattonnia, Iesus Ahattonnia.

Asheh kaunnta horraskwa deh ha tirri gwames
Tishyaun ayau ha'ndeh ta aun hwa ashya a ha trreh
aundata:kwa Tishyaun yayaun yaun n-dehta
Iesus Ahattonnia, Ahattonnia, Iesus Ahattonnia.

Dau yishyeh sta atyaun errdautau 'ndi Yisus
avwa tateh dn-deh Tishyaun stanshi teya wennyau
aha yaunna torrehntehn yataun katsyaun skehnn
Iesus Ahattonnia, Ahattonnia, Iesus Ahattonnia.

Eyeh kwata tehnaunnte aheh kwashyehn ayehn
kiyeh kwanaun aukwayaun dehtsaun we 'ndeh adeh
tarrya diskwann aunkwe yishyehr eya ke naun sta
Iesus Ahattonnia, Ahattonnia, Iesus Ahattonnia.

English

The 1926 English version by Jesse Edgar Middleton.

'Twas in the moon of winter-time
When all the birds had fled,
That mighty Gitchi Manitou
Sent angel choirs instead;
Before their light the stars grew dim,
And wandering hunters heard the hymn:
"Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born,
In excelsis gloria."

Within a lodge of broken bark
The tender Babe was found,
A ragged robe of rabbit skin
Enwrapp'd His beauty round;
But as the hunter braves drew nigh,
The angel song rang loud and high...
"Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born,
In excelsis gloria."

The earliest moon of wintertime
Is not so round and fair
As was the ring of glory
On the helpless infant there.
The chiefs from far before him knelt
With gifts of fox and beaver pelt.
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born,
In excelsis gloria.

O children of the forest free,
O sons of Manitou,
The Holy Child of earth and heaven
Is born today for you.
Come kneel before the radiant Boy
Who brings you beauty, peace and joy.
"Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born,
In excelsis gloria."

Man, it was cold this morning

 It was maybe even colder than that.  Maybe.  And yes, it does look like the bottom picture.

Don't blame me, The Queen Of The World found this.

The Christmas Truce

The opening weeks of The War To End Wars were nothing like what we think.  In many ways it was worse for the men on the ground, which only makes the spontaneous outbreak of peace even more amazing.  The bitterness that the soldiers of both sides must have felt would have burned bright, and yet the feelings of the season overcame all that.

When we think of that war, we think of trenches, barbed wire, and machine guns.  That's quite a good description of the western front, but not until 2 or 3 months into the conflict.  Initially instead of a slog over No Man's Land, it was a war of movement, with massive armies covering hundreds of miles.  August and September 1914 saw men pushed to their limits because they had to march 15 miles and then fight the enemy, and then wake up and do it all over again.  And again.  And again.

The losses were unbelievable.  The first six weeks saw the following killed, wounded, and missing: 300,000 (France), 300,000 (Germany), 300,000 (Austria-Hungary), 250,000 (Russia), 200,000 (Serbia), 15,000 (Britain).  That last seems out of place with the rivers of blood from the other combatants, but Britain's army in 1914 was not a mass of draftees - rather, it was a small force of professional veterans.  15,000 was a quarter of the entire force.  

October followed up these million and a half with the Kindermord, the "slaughter of the children".  The generals were horrified at the losses, not so much because of the incredible human loss but because their forces were so rapidly depleted.  Trainees were rushed from basic training straight to the front.  At the First Battle of Ypres 60,000 of these kids were mowed down as they marched, singing, into the rifles of the Cold Stream Guards.

The German artist Käthe Kollwitz made a sculpture in remembrance of her son, Peter, killed in the Kindermord.  He, like most of his comrades, was 18.  You can see it if you go to the Vladslo German cemetery in Diksmuid, Belgum.  The grief and bitterness is captured in stone.

It may be that as many as 10% of all combat casualties of the entire war occurred in the first three months.  Only then did it settle down to trenches, barbed wire, and No Man's Land.  So if anyone was justified in holding a grudge, it was everyone in a trench on the Western Front on December 24, 1914.  And yet, this happened instead.
 

Image from the Illustrated London News, 9 Jan 1915

The Generals were less than amused, and cracked down in following years.  Captain Sir Iain Colquhoun was Court-marshalled for his participation.  After they convicted him someone recalled that he was related to the British Prime Minister, and so they swept it all under the carpet.

Historians now occupy the field of battle because all the eye witnesses are now long dead.  All that we have are stories from those who remember those witnesses. But we know that December 1914 saw something unique in trench warfare: Christmas showed that the human heart still beat on the front lines.  This song from 1984 was back when some of those men still lived, and John McCutcheon tells of how some of them came to his concert because they heard the song on the radio:

All our lives, our family our friends told us we were crazy.  Couldn't possibly have happened to us.  Then we heard your song on the radio and said "See? See? We were there."

Christmas In The Trenches (Songwriter: John McCutcheon)

My name is Francis Tolliver. I come from Liverpool.
Two years ago the war was waiting for me after school.
To Belgium and to Flanders, to Germany to here,
I fought for King and country I love dear.

It was Christmas in the trenches where the frost so bitter hung.
The frozen field of France were still, no Christmas song was sung.
Our families back in England were toasting us that day,
their brave and glorious lads so far away.

I was lyin' with my mess-mates on the cold and rocky ground
when across the lines of battle came a most peculiar sound.
Says I "Now listen up me boys", each soldier strained to hear
as one young German voice sang out so clear.

"He's singin' bloddy well you know", my partner says to me.
Soon one by one each German voice joined in in harmony.
The cannons rested silent. The gas cloud rolled no more
as Christmas brought us respite from the war.

As soon as they were finished a reverent pause was spent.
'God rest ye merry, gentlemen' struck up some lads from Kent.
The next they sang was 'Stille Nacht". "Tis 'Silent Night'" says I
and in two toungues one song filled up that sky.

"There's someone commin' towards us" the front-line sentry cried.
All sights were fixed on one lone figure trudging from their side.
His truce flag, like a Christmas star, shone on that plain so bright
as he bravely strode, unarmed, into the night.

Then one by one on either side walked into no-mans-land
with neither gun nor bayonet we met there hand to hand.
We shared some secret brandy and wished each other well
and in a flare-lit soccer game we gave 'em hell.

We traded chocolates, cigarettes and photographs from home
these sons and fathers far away from families of their own.
Young Sanders played his squeeze box and they had a violin
this curious and unlikely band of men.

Soon daylight stole upon us and France was France once more.
With sad farewells we each began to settle back to war.
But the question haunted every heart that lived that wondrous night
"whose family have I fixed within my sights?"

It was Christmas in the trenches where the frost so bitter hung.
The frozen fields of France were warmed as songs of peace were sung.
For the walls they'd kept between us to exact the work of war
had been crumbled and were gone for ever more.

My name is Francis Tolliver. In Liverpool I dwell.
Each Christmas come since World War One
I've learned it's lessons well.
That the ones who call the shots won't be among the dead and lame
and on each end of the rifle we're the same.

This Christmas Eve, remember those caught up in the killing fields of Flanders, and the Ardennes, and Khe Sanh. And remember those who still stand post far from home and family tonight. 

(This is something that I've posted each year for quite a while) 

Michael Bublé - Silver Bells

 

Why we celebrate Christmas on December 25

A lot of people know that this goes all the way back to the Roman Empire - not surprising when you think that the Emperor Constantine made Christianity the state religion of the Emperors in the 320s AD.  But a lot of people mistakenly think that the date for Christmas was chosen to coincide with the old Roman holiday of Saturnalia, a goofy end of year celebration where slaves were given the opportunity to act as masters for a day (as long as they really didn't try to).  No, it was something different, and more important for the development of the early Church, something that grew out of one of the most difficult times in the Empire's history and came from one of their very greatest Emperors.

The third century AD was a terrible time for the Empire, with a succession of generals usurping the Imperial crown and the empire assaulted by external enemies like the great Persian king Sharpur II.  Things got so bad that the Empire split into three pieces - a "Gallic Empire" in the West comprising Britain, France, and Spain; the rich eastern provinces of Egypt and Syria falling under the domination of Queen Zenobia's oasis city state of Palmyra, and a rump Empire of Italy and Africa.  It was really possible for a moment that the Roman Empire would simply dissolve - the bonds holding it together looked too weak to hold.

A gold coin from Aurelian's reign

But the Empire was saved by emperor Aurelian, who brought the whole thing back together.  A grateful Senate awarded him the title "Restitutor Orbis" - Restorer of the World.  Mike Duncan in his great History Of Rome Podcast describes Aurelian as the Sandy Koufax of Roman Emperors - he didn't have the longest career or the most strikeouts or wins, but while he played he was simply unhittable - Left Hand Of God.  You really should listen to the first couple minutes of this podcast episode as it is Mike Duncan at his very best.

So in five short years Aurelian restored the Roman world.  But he wasn't just one of the best generals in Roman history, he was also a great statesman.  He turned his mind to why the Empire was so fragile; if he could knit it more tightly together he might be able to prevent a repeat breakup.  Aurelian believed that a big problem was that the Empire was a collection of diverse peoples - Gauls and Britons and Egyptians and Syrians who all had different cultures and beliefs.  In short, they had little in common other than the Emperor of the day and everyone had just seen how that had worked out.

And so Aurelian tried to overlay some commonality on his peoples.  Each worshiped their own local gods, but most of these religious systems were fairly flexible.  Aurelian introduced an Empire-wide cult, thinking that having some similarities would help create a common sense of Roman-ness.  Aurelian chose a cult that was popular with the Army since the closest thing that the Empire had to a single common institution throughout the Empire was the Army.

Sol Invictus was popular with the troops, the Unconquered Sun god.  Most parts of the Empire adopted this seamlessly as one of the many gods, although it seems that Aurelian seemed to believe that Sol Invictus was the only god who took many forms which were interpreted as the local deities. This was an emergent idea in the Ancient world and an expression in the chronicles say the one wax takes many moulds.

Aurelian introduced his cult on December 25, 274 AD and it became really the first Empire-wide holiday.   He succeeded in founding a common belief across the Empire, perhaps succeeded more than even he hoped.  Because the idea stuck: Emperor Constantine didn't just introduce Christianity. It's from him that we get the word Sunday, since he decreed that across the Empire the weekly day of rest would be the day of the sun - the dies Solis.

And so the early Church had a challenge from a popular cult, but this was also an opportunity for them. Sol Invictus was the first half step towards monotheism and identifying Jesus Christ with the unconquered sun didn't actually turn out to be all that hard for the early Church Fathers.  Indeed, what is Easter if not the celebration of the Unconquered Son?  December 25 stuck in the calendar.  It's been celebrated all the way down through the ages - ever since 274 AD.

It wasn't the silliness of Saturnalia that had to be co-opted, it was the Feast of the Nativity of the Unconquered Son.  May this week's feast day be festive indeed.  You might even want to offer a toast to Aurelian Restitutor Orbis. 

Dad Joke CLII

When your iPhone battery is almost dead it means that you're just about out of Apple juice. 

Jimmy Buffett - Mele Kalikimaka

It's 70 degrees here in Florida.

Is Log4j the security bug from hell?

I'm getting multiple people asking.  The short answer is that this is very, very bad.  However, for most readers there's nothing they can (or should) do.

The long answer is, well, long.  Security guru Bruce Schneier thinks that it's really bad.  Lawrence has an excellent post for the non Security nerd that goes into some depth on why this is so bad.  It will also be obvious to you why there's nothing you can do about this (unless you're a professional IT Security Geek).

The medium length answer is that Log4j is an open source logging program included in just about everything on the Internet.  Logging is A Good Thing, because if someone messes around with your system the logs will tell you a lot about what they were up to.  However, Log4j doesn't check the data that it writes to the log file, and in particular allows a malicious attacker to include executable code that the system will run.  So an attacker can attempt to log in using a made up username that executes all sorts of malicious commands.  It's basically an Internet-wide Bobby Tables situation:

And like I said, there's pretty much nothing you can do.

Global Warming causes snowfall in Alexandria, Egypt

That's some righteous Global Warming:

Residents claimed this is the first snowfall in the city in over a decade, and flooded social media with pictures and videos of the snow-covered city as they excitedly shared their experience witnessing this “European” weather.

The Egyptian Meteorological Authority (EMA) predicted that most parts of Egypt will see very cold weather on Monday.

 ZOMG!  It's the HOTTEST YEAR EVER!!!11!!eleventy!!!

This mockery is brought to you by Mother Nature, who noticed all of the breathless hyperventilation about the heat last summer ...

(via)

Dad Joke CLI

What do kangaroos like the best about beer?

The hops. 

Dad Joke CL

What did the sheep say on Christmas?

Fleece Navidad. 

Aurelius Prudentius Clemens - Corde Natus ex Parentis

Prudentius was a Roman poet who lived in the province of Hispania in the late fourth and early fifth century.  He blended classical themes with Christian ones, and became enormously influential in the middle ages.  C. S. Lewis thought him over rated but there is no doubt that he authored the second oldest Christmas Carol.  It is still performed today, 1600 years later.

Alison Kraus and Yo Yo Ma - Wexford Carol

This is so so not "Who put the pecker on the snowman".  It's actually the opposite of that song.

I mean, you can listen to this with your kids.  Srlsy.

Dad Joke CXXXXVIIII

What did the hat say to the scarf?

You hang around for a while.  I'll go on ahead. 

FreddyB - Who Put The Pecker On The Snowman

They say that Country music is music you can listen to with your kids.  Especially at Christmas.

Ahem.

The Queen Of The World laughed until she cried.

 

I usually post the lyrics but yeah, not happening.  

Dad Joke CXXXXVIII

How do trees communicate with each other?

They bark. 

Southwest Florida Blogshoot - January 15

I've had some scheduling hiccups but have secured the private range at the Gun Club.  180 yard rifle range and 25 yard pistol range.  Private (only us!) and covered shooting.

Here's the venue info - please RSVP in the comments if you will come.

The Venue:

When: Saturday, January 15 at 12:00 noon until 4:00 PM.

Where: Manatee Gun and Archery Club, 1805 Logue Rd, Myakka City, FL 34251

Facilities:  Some of our readers are bringing their betters halves (as am I) and the fairer sex will be relieved to know that there are proper, civilized facilities in the club house.   

Cost: $20 per person to cover range rental and sundries.

Lunch: Will be catered by The Queen Of The World and is included in the price.

Mike at Cold Fury needs our help

Late to the posting keyboard on this, but Mike over at Cold Fury has some really serious - maybe critical - health issues.

Here's his GoFundMe. 

Here's info over at Cold Fury.

Here's info at Big Country's place.

Mike's one of ours, and has been blogging since the really early days of the blogosphere.

Robert Earl Keene - Merry Christmas from the Family

 

Dad Joke CXXXXVII

Parallel lines have so much in common.  It's a shame they'll never meet.