Thoughts about last night's debate

Boy, howdy, Carly Fiorina is impressive.  Holy cow.

Boy, howdy, Rand Paul was a disappointment.  He was really good going after Bush on medical marijuana.  But he wasn't impressive.

Boy, howdy, Donald Trump is a d-bag.  That doesn't disqualify him from the Oval Office, but wow.

Jeb Bush walks, talks, and quacks like the establishment.  Big applause line when Jeb stuck up for his brother, but I think he's actually befuddled about how to campaign.  Likely this is because his donors don't want him to actually say what he'd do.  Likely that's because he's not as smart as they are.  Dead man walking.

I really want to like Chris Christie.  I really do.  "Who's going to prosecute Hillary Clinton?"  LOL. I loved it when he said a 55 year old construction worker doesn't care about Donald Trump's or Carly Fiorina's careers.  His story about 9/11 was good.  Of course, he'd ban guns.  Good thing he's toast. 

Sen. Cruz may be closest to most of my positions.  He should get more traction, but probably won't.  I don't like him because he's a conservative, I like him because he's a maverick that is willing to drive the herd rather than run with it.  He had a great shout-out to Gun Owners of America.

Rubio will go pretty far, but not this election cycle.  He's pretty impressive, and very young.  He's great on Global Warming.  I wouldn't be surprised to see him offered the Vice President slot.  I also wouldn't be surprised to see him turn it down.

Not sure what I think of Carson.  I suspect that he's anti-gun, but don't really know.  He's what I should like -  the Thinking Man's thinking man.  But I'm not sure.

I'd say something about John Kassich, but very time he opened his mouth I fell asleep.

Nobody is talking about regulations.  This is the biggest gap in the entire campaign, and probably the biggest argument against Trump (who as a big businessman uses them for his competitive benefit).

Who cares about foreign policy.  Nobody will cast a vote based on this next year.

Huckabee was the only one who mentioned the second amendment.  Don't think I like him, but he's there.

Did I mention that Carly Fiorina is impressive as hell?

Lord, Donald Trump is a jerk.

I guess there were others on the stage, too.  Whatvs.

The CNN moderators were pretty goodc, even with the expected gotcha questions.  And the format was decently debate-ish with the candidates challenging each other.

We're not voting ourselves out of this.  None of the men (or women) on the White Horse are going to save the Republic.  But the circus is entertaining and the bread is free.  Are you not entertained?



I did this for you so that you don't have to.  No need to thank me, it's all part of having a full-service blog.

You need some duct tape to go with those beer cans

You know, to make it a more permanent repair ...

Harry Potter's resume

Heh.

(via)

The road goes ever on and on

A new job opportunity has come up, one that's a big step up from where I am.  And so on Monday, I'll start a new gig at a tech company in the Washington DC suburbs.  I'm not a fan of that area but the offer was too good to turn down.

And so when Camp Borepatch finally sells, I'll point the tires north and find myself back in my old stomping grounds of Maryland.  I left there in 1996, bound for London.  Then Atlanta, Boston, and Atlanta again.  Now this.

It seems like a lot of moving.

And it will be strange to have the kids gone.  That was going to happen anyway, but I thought they'd be across town, not hundreds of miles away.

Those of you here in the ATL who would like to meet up sometime in the next month or so, leave a comment.

Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.

- Seneca

Kentucky Headhunters - Big Boss Man

Because it's awesome to ride the Harley with this blaring from the speakers.

On the limitations of intelligence

Totally Stupid Agency screws up your locks

Facepalm:

Air travelers who don’t have firearms in their checked luggage probably use a special Transportation Security Administration (TSA) approved lock. What is a TSA approved lock? I’ll let the TSA’s very own Blogger Bob explain:

TSA has worked with several companies to develop locks that can be opened by security officers using universal “master” keys so that the locks may not have to be cut. These locks are available at most airports and many travel stores nationwide. The packaging on the locks indicates whether they can be opened by TSA.

In other words TSA approved locks are locks with an included backdoor that can be used by TSA officers to access your luggage. I will take a moment to note that the use of TSA approved locks is not lawful when firearms are in your checked luggage so those of us who do fly with them do not, and legally can not, use TSA approved locks.

Guess what happened with the TSA's backdoor key?

Golly gosh, let's all remember to thank the Republicans for this smoking crater of a failed Agency.  And let's make sure to vote for some more Republicans so we can get even more!

Sometimes the good guys win

David Ortiz was a huge part of the revitalization of the Boston Red Sox in the aughties, when they finally emerged from the New York Yankee's shadow to win three World Series championships in a decade.  One of the few things I look back on with fondness from my days in Massachusetts was their 2004 series win.  New England went nuts - people would go to the cemeteries to leave "Boston Red Sox World Champion" hats on the tombstones.  Tough Irish cops in Boston were unashamed to have tears running down their faces.

I even did my own part, one Halloween:

Box score of the final series game, by yours truly.  The neighborhood moms were (mostly) a little mystified, but the neighborhood dads thought that it was the cat's meow.

But back to David Ortiz, who is playing out what is likely his final season.  Ortiz has always been a ray of sunshine in the Red Sox clubhouse, with a perpetually upbeat attitude that was mostly missing from the Sox in the '80s and '90s.

Well, the good guys win sometimes.  Ortiz has achieved the following milestones: over 500 home runs, 3 world series rings, and if he hits another 22 doubles he will have 600 doubles.

To put that in perspective, only three other players have had 500+ home runs and 3 world series rings:

• Babe Ruth
• Mickey Mantle
• Reggie Jackson

That's some company, right there.  and there are only two other players who had 500 homers and 600 doubles:

• Hank Aaron
• Barry Bonds

Bonds was a cheater, but Big Pappy's numbers kept coming after the league cracked down on performance enhancing substances.  It's not often we get to watch the closing of a career when we know for an absolute fact that this is a hall of fame player.



Hat tip: Chris Lynch, who gave the stats that led me down this memory lane.

UPDATE 14 September 2015 16:22: Here's an example of the feeling in New England in 2004.  While this is a parody, it really isn't.  I was there.

"Surely this wound will get me home."

A dying Tommy's last words at Ypres.

Your NFL team cheats

Really.

Hat tip: Rick via email.

Maurice Duruflé - Requiem

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine

Et lux perpetua luceit eis

Amen 

Intelligence Agency chiefs shocked to see public distrusts them

Shocked, I say:

WASHINGTON, DC – On a stage in a ballroom in the Walter Washington Convention Center on September 10, the heads of the United States' intelligence community gathered to talk about the work their agencies perform and the challenges they face—or at least as much as they could in an unclassified environment. But the directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency also had one particular mission in mind as they took the stage at the Intelligence & National Security Summit, an industry event largely attended by government officials and contractors: stopping the poisoning of the public debate around their missions, and especially around the issue of encryption, by unreasonable haters.

CIA Director John Brennan suggested that negative public opinion and "misunderstanding" about the US intelligence community is in part "because of people who are trying to undermine" the mission of the NSA, CIA, FBI and other agencies. These people "may be fueled by our adversaries," he said.

FBI Director James Comey referred to the backlash against his lobbying for backdoors into encrypted communications provided by the technology industry as "venom and deep cynicism" that are making a rational discussion about what could and should be done nearly impossible.

Let me explain it for you scooter: after repeatedly lying to the American public you want the to put their trust in you so it makes your job easier?  That takes a special kind of stupid.  You want trust?  Free Edward Snowden and jail General Clapper for perjury.  No?  Thought not.

Yo, Intel big cheeses!  Since it's Saturday and I need a country music song, here's one for you.

National Review: still idiots

Trump doesn't use the words "Freedom" or "Liberty":

Did you ever think you would see the day when the GOP front-runner rarely uttered the words “freedom” and “liberty”?

Perhaps some Republicans can be accused of loving liberty and freedom too much — or at least using those words as rhetorical crutches. Donald Trump is not one of them. The current GOP presidential front-runner rarely uses the words “freedom” or “liberty” in his remarks at all.

Yeah, well so what?  Since when has the Republican Party stood for freedom and liberty?

• USA Patriot Act rushed into law in 45 days after 9/11, containing a grab bag of power for the Police State - thank you, GOP.
• NSA domestic surveillance using secret warrants in a secret court, started under a GOP administration.  And this super spying couldn't prevent the Ft. Hood massacre or the Boston Marathon bombing.  Thank you, GOP.
• General Clapper perjured himself under oath before Congress denying domestic spying.  He's still a free man man.  Thank you, GOP.
• The TSA gropes my junk every time I fly.  The TSA was started under a Republican administration.  Thank you, GOP.
• Lois Learner is still a free woman.  The GOP won't do anything about it, because they hate the Tea Party.  Thanks, guys.
• Republicans swept to control of Congress promising to repeal Obamacare, which tells me that I have to purchase as much of a product that I don't want as the Fed.Gov says.  The GOP won't do anything about it.  Thanks, guys.

At this point I'm about ready to vote Democrat.  The GOP will still vote for all the things that will take away my freedom, but they will weep and rend their garments when they do.  At least the Democrats will be happy when they cast their vote - may as well vote against the Congressional Theatre Troupe.

And nobody at National Review has the two brain cells it took to rub together to arrive at this conclusion?  Good golly.

Mea culpa

Uncle Jay describes the five stages of blogging.

I am so busted

Magic Sam - All Your Love

Interesting TV introduction, then awesome Blues.

Climate "Science" is just about the money

Shot:

In a just world the United States would pay back the $4 trillion dollars it owes, according to new research, for trashing the climate.

Global warming wasn’t created equal. Rich, industrialized nations have contributed the lion’s share of the carbon pollution to our currently-unfolding catastrophe—the more CO2 in the atmosphere, the hotter it gets, of course—while smaller, poorer, and more agrarian countries are little to blame. The subsequent warming from our carbon-stuffed skies will, naturally, impact everyone, often hitting the poorer countries harder. So, since the rich fueled the crisis that’s about to soak the poor, they might help chip in to soften the blow.

That, in super-basic terms, is the concept of climate debt, which guides current emissions negotiations and efforts to distribute funds for adaptation to nations most affected by climate change. If you acknowledge, as the UN does, that there’s a carbon budget—an amount of greenhouse gas pollution the world can collectively churn out before we land in dangerous warming territory, currently figured at a 2˚C threshold—then it follows that nations that have overstepped theirs should pay back those who haven’t.

Chaser:

The long and model-unpredicted Great Pause of 18 years 8 months in global mean lower-troposphere temperature as recorded in the RSS satellite monthly dataset is inexorably driving down the longer-run warming rate, when the IPCC’s predictions would have led us to expect an acceleration.



The graph shows the entire RSS lower-troposphere satellite dataset for the 440 months January 1979 to August 2015, with the bright blue trend on the entire series equivalent to just over 1.2 C°/century. Overlaid graph in green is the zero trend in the 224 months since January 1997 – more than half the entire 440-month record.

So the USA owes the world $4 Trillion because SCIENCE™! but the IPCC "scientific" climate models are mystified as to why it's been almost 20 years with no warming.

Seriously, this whole Global Warming thing is nothing but phlogistonated luminiferous aether.

Milton Friedman explains Europe's immigration crisis

I think that this is from the 1980s.  Not sure if I agree with him on the benefits of illegal immigration - I doubt that he included the cost of unassimilated immigrants (schools, law enforcement, etc).  But he explains the entirety of the crisis in Europe.

Happy birthday, Dad

Today would have been Dad's 87th birthday.

It's strange, but four and a half years after his death, I still think of him every day.  Some days it's a sad remembrance, but mostly it's situational - I will be doing something and I will suddenly hear his voice whispering in the back of my head.  Dad was never short of advice, although it was almost always good.

I'm moving furniture here in Camp Borepatch as I get it ready to sell.  I almost always hear him remind me Skin grows back; varnish doesn't.  Thanks, Dad.

But some memories are deeply embedded.  A long forgotten scent can bring a sudden cascade of them, an unexpected upwelling of that part of our soul that tells us who we are.  Brigid writes of this and her Dad, and the scent of after shave.  My Dad used Mennin, and the one time I smelled it in the last few years all I could think of was him and all the memories of times long ago.

Thanks, Brigid, for all those memories.  And this bit made me laugh out loud:

I think the perfect man natural scent would be some sort of mysterious combination of gun cleaning fluid, coffee, bacon, woodsmoke, and dark beer (with a slight undertone of 20 year old British Motor Car Wheel Bearing Grease.)

Because there is absolutely nothing in this whole wide world that's not improved by bacon ...

Kilted to brûlée the crème

Who is that mysterious man at the Outlet Malls and why is he wearing a kilt?  It's just your humble blogger getting a butane torch to make some crème brûlée.

I'd never done it, but the Queen Of The World loves it.  As it turns out, it's dead simple:

Warm 2 cups of heavy cream and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract in a sauce pan.  You're not looking for boilage or even a simmer - wisps of steam means you're fine.

In a bowl, whisk 3 egg yolks and 1/2 cup of sugar for 2-3 minutes until the eggs are light yellow.  SLOWLY pour the cream into the eggs, whisking the whole time.  If your cream is too hot and you pour too fast you will curdle the yolks which will be kind of nasty.  So don't do that.

Pout the mixture into ramekins and put the ramekins into a large flat baking dish.  Fill the dish half way with hot water (the water will moderate the oven baking and give you a yummy smooth consistency).  Bake at 300° for 35-40 minutes.

Cool the ramekins.  Now it's time to brûlée.  Sprinkle the top of each with sugar - at least a teaspoon and maybe two.  You want good coverage.  Now take the torch and play the flame over the top, moving constantly.  The sugar will melt, then it will bubble, then it will turn brown - that's where it's just starting to burn (brûlée) a bit.  That's when you're done.

But the reason for the kilt is the Kilted To Kick Cancer fundraising.  Donations for Team Borepatch are appreciated, but the point it to fund prostate cancer research.  100% of donations go directly to research.

Get kilted, get checked.

Some of you have emailed saying that the site isn't taking your credit cards.  I've notified the admin, so please keep trying.

Acting panzer!

I was riding the motorcycle to Frye's Electronics when I passed the Alpharetta VFW Post. Now, I've been past there a hundred times but this time I looked more closely and then I rode over for a closer look at this:




That's an M60, almost as old as I am. Darn it, I could have brought the kids here when they were little.




While there's no climbing allowed on the tank, you're welcome to sit in the 40mm AA and scan the southern sky for sneak attacks from neighboring Roswell.

It's an unlikely event as Alpharetta has established air superiority with its Shooting Star, one that dates from just 3 years after the end of World War II.



It's odd how you can miss something interesting so many times. I'm glad I stopped missing it.

UPDATE 7 September 2015 11:48: The post title was supposed to be "Achtung Panzer" but the iPhone autocorrect changed it in a way that kind of kicked over my giggle box.