A Texas cathedral???

 

I had to laugh at Japanese visitor Nobunaga's description of his first time at a Buc-ee's gas station.  A couple of excerpts:

I had been warned about the bathrooms and I had dismissed the warning as the pride of a loud people.

I was wrong to dismiss it.

The bathrooms are famous across the whole state and they have earned it.

I have slept in worse hotels. I nearly bowed upon entering.

. . .

I came out with fudge, a shirt printed with a joke I do not fully understand, forty dollars of jerky, and a feeling I can only describe as having been to church.

I did not need any of it.

I needed all of it.

I have walked through the great cathedrals of the old world. I lit no candle there.

I lit no candle at Buc-ee's either.

But I did fill the truck.

And I understand now that in Texas, this is the same thing.

There's more at the link.  Go read the whole thing.  You'll smile.

I was delighted to find that Nobunaga has compiled about 100 of his "discovering America" posts into a book, "A Samurai Loose in Modern America".

The blurb reads:

All of it. One samurai, one impossible year, one hundred field reports.

This is the complete collection: every dispatch from a man who woke up in modern America in full armor and decided to treat all of it as real. The free chips. The bottomless soda. The neighbors who will not let him pay. The stadium that adopts him in six seconds. The nurse named Brenda who undoes eight hundred years of his philosophy with a juice box.

The table, the counter, the street, and the crowd, gathered in one volume, each of the hundred stories now closing with a note from the samurai himself, written afterward, reporting how far the misunderstanding has been allowed to go.

He came to understand America. He failed, completely, and the failing is the book. He gets the small things wrong with total conviction and the large thing right by accident: that the only law of this country is that no one is ever unkind.

A hundred stories. Pull up a chair. The chips are free, apparently bottomless, and he intends to honor all of them.

It's free to read on Kindle Unlimited.  I think I'm going to enjoy it.

(BTW, Nobunaga isn't alone in his bemused wonder at Buc-ee's.  YouTube has a range of videos showing the reaction of World Cup visitors to the gas station, which they appear to treat more as a tourist attraction than anything else.  Go watch a few and have fun with them.)

Peter

I think I've met some of these critters...

 

Some of these (heavily edited) clips from karate and Kung Fu movies made me laugh out loud.  I figured they'd be a good way to brighten up your Friday morning.

What's the Marine Corps motto again?  "Be polite, be professional, and have a plan to kill everyone you meet."  I think at least some of those cats were Marines!

Peter

Not false advertising - just different transatlantic meanings

 

I enjoyed a BBC article on the various ways and means British workers had used to wake up in time for their jobs.  Here's how it begins.

During Britain's industrial revolution, new factories faced a need for strict timekeeping – including far more specific start times for workers.

A worker arriving even five minutes late could hold up an entire assembly line, losing their employers' profit. They needed a means to wake up on time, especially in the darker winter months, and while early alarm clocks existed at this time, they were far too expensive for a typical worker.

Factories tried using whistles and bells to wake and summon workers, but they often proved unreliable. Instead, an entire profession dedicated to awakening people sprouted up: knocker uppers.

These human alarm clocks would work their way down streets and sometimes whole neighbourhoods knocking or tapping on windows, or shooting peas at them, says Arunima Datta, associate professor of history at the University of North Texas. "They would stand there until they got a response from their clients, they wouldn't move."

In fact, jobs akin to knocker uppers have been used in many other societies around the world, says Datta, especially in Muslim communities during the holy month of Ramadan, when people needed to wake up early to pray and have their first meal before dawn.

Throughout history, people have had plenty of other inventive ways of waking up, from simply keeping roosters to clever candle clocks that dropped needles into metal trays every hour. 

Learning how these past societies slept and woke up could even help us improve our own sleep – and awakenings – today.

There's more at the link.

I had to smile at the mention of "knocker upper".  In England, that expression meant a job that woke up workers so they could get to their jobs on time.  In the USA, however, to "knock someone up" means to make them pregnant.

My mother always used to smile broadly when she heard the expression.  During World War II, she was in England "keeping the home fires burning" for my father, who was fighting the war overseas.  She acted as a "knocker upper" for her colleagues from time to time:  they took turns at waking each other up to be on time for their jobs.

When the first American troops arrived in Britain in 1942, they were enthralled to learn that there were actually job openings for "knocker-uppers".  In fact, some of them tried to apply for part-time employment as such at the Labor Exchange, thinking the expression meant in Britain what it did in the USA.  You can imagine their disappointment when they learned it had nothing to do with sex!  The British thought the Yank servicemen were weird, but funny, and used to joke with them about it.  "Yes, I'm a knocker-up, mate, but not that kind of knocker-up!"

I'm still amused by the thought.

Peter

The look I'm getting right now...

 

... from Kili, our elderly owner of the house pet.  (The photo isn't Kili, but the expression on her face is identical!  A tip o' the hat to Midwest Chick for the image.)

In my case, the look isn't because I'm offering her salad:  it's because I pulled the wrong container out of the fridge.  She expects a dollop of milk and/or half-and-half and/or sour cream now and again, and I didn't produce any of them!

Who's in charge around here, anyway?  She knows - it's just that her dumb human servants keep getting it wrong!

Peter

A reminder to those of us...

 

... who may not clean our ears as thoroughly or as often as might be necessary.  Click the image to be taken to a larger version of the cartoon at its Web page.

How do you know if your ears aren't clean enough?

1. The farmer next door offers to run his harvester through them.
2. Your spouse offers you shampoo to use on them.
3. Every time you shake your head, the hairs in your ear shiver and scare the bats into flight.

Let's hear your own contributions in Comments!

Peter

The lighter side of ICE operations

 

Supporters of ICE operations against illegal aliens, and of President Trump's policies towards them, seem to be enjoying themselves.  Click the first or second link in this sentence to go to the social media posts concerned.

As my friend Lawdog would say, Gigglesnort!

Peter

Heh - seasonal edition

 

I do enjoy the "Foxes In Love" comic strip.  The author/artist gets so much right about human relationships.  Here's his entry for December 17th:  click the image to be taken to a larger view at the comic's Web page.

I would say "heartwarming", but I think "footwarming" is more the pursuer's intention!

Peter

Life and death in a social media age

 

Speaking as one who's had to deliver many sermons at funerals, I couldn't help laughing at Stephan Pastis' modernization (?) of the field.  Click the image to be taken to a larger version of the cartoon at the 'Pearls Before Swine' Web page.

Given the number of people I see with their heads buried in their cellphones, despite everything else going on around them (including their kids running amok!), this rings eerily true . . . I wonder if any pastor has looked down from his pulpit and found most of his congregation doing that?  I've heard of some churches putting the lyrics to hymns on their Web sites, so worshippers can follow on their phones and sing along during the service, but I've always felt that merely encouraged further slavish concentration on electronic devices rather than God.  Does that make me a spiritual Luddite?

Peter

The sting is in the tail... sort of

 

Since I'm doing physical therapy at the moment, to recover from the removal of my kidney a couple of months back, this . . . er . . . resonated.  It's not as family-friendly as stuff I normally post, but it had me laughing out loud.

Is that "Get fit fast" or just "Get fast!"?

Peter

Quote of the day

 

From a reader over at Larry Lambert's place:

"I like to think that my Scots-Irish ancestors came to America in the early 1700s because it later gave them one more chance to shoot at the British."

Now why is that so instantly believable?  Could be because I have Scots and Irish ancestors as well . . .

Peter

That's one way to get there...

 

From XKCD a few days ago.  Click the image to be taken to the original at the comic's Web page.

The mouseover text at the original site reads:  "We should have you at the gate in just under two hours - two and a half if we get pulled over".

Given the number of travel disruptions airlines have reported over the past summer (most recently just yesterday), I daresay more than a few of their pilots must have considered that option!

Peter

Germany "streamlines" its armed forces with an unpronounceable law

 

I had to laugh at this headline:

Germany passes ‘Bundeswehrbeschaffungsbeschleunigungsgesetz’ law to streamline army

Ironically, the law, which is supposed to make life easier for defence contractors and trade negotiators, is one of the longest words in the German language and difficult to pronounce.

. . .

Running at 43 letters long, Bundeswehrbeschaffungsbeschleunigungsgesetz is one of the longest words in German.

Germany is no stranger to having very long names for laws and business regulations, such as “Rindfleischetikettierungsueberwachungsaufgabenuebertragungsgesetz,” an archaic rule about beef standards which was once the longest German word.

The longest official German word, at 72 letters, is “Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft”, referring to a trade association for steamboats.

There's more at the link addressing Germany's military purchasing reforms (as opposed to its grammar and vocabulary, which could probably use some streamlining too).  Meanwhile, if Russia tries to sabotage Germany's military buildup, as it's been doing to its efforts to interrupt the supply of weapons to Ukraine, it now has a new problem:  how can it tell its saboteurs to target something they can't pronounce???

Growing up in South Africa, where the Afrikaans language is widely used, I'm accustomed to the problem.  Afrikaans is basically a derivative of Dutch as it was spoken during the 17th and 18th centuries, brought to South Africa by the original settlers;  and that, in turn, was a derivative of medieval Germanic languages.  It led to some very long and convoluted words.  Examples:

• There's a very dry part of the country named Putsonderwater (literally, "hole without water").  However, when a flood came down the Orange River during the 1980's, for a while it became known as Putonderwater (literally, "hole under water"), much to the amusement of everyone except those living there.
• A famous (and probably exaggerated) tale from colonial days tells of the hunter who managed to kill two Cape buffalo with a single shot from his 4-bore muzzle-loading rifle.  He proposed to immortalize the feat by naming the place where he made the shot "Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein" (meaning, in colloquial translation, "The spring where I killed two buffalo with one shot").  Expressing all that as a single word usually led to hilarity.

I want to see how US defense contractors will go about translating that German word (and all its supporting documentation and vocabulary) into English for their sales staff's attention.  This could be entertaining . . . and tongue-twisting!

Peter

Heh

 

Hale and Pace were a popular British comedy duo during the 1980's and 1990's.  Here's one of their most popular skits.

I can imagine most guide dogs watching that with a feeling of immense self-satisfaction . . .

Peter

Well, it's true, isn't it?

 

The more secular among us will probably disagree, of course, but when push comes to shove, it's hard to fault the logic of this meme, whether based on religion or anything else.

Peter

Heh

 

Found on X.com:

As my buddy Lawdog would say:  Gigglesnort!

Peter

Reverse 9/11???

 

From user A New Pope on X.com:

Peter

A review that's more fun than the movie

 

Back in March, The Dark Herald (who blogs at Arkhaven Comics) reviewed Disney's then-new Snow White movie.  The film flopped at the box office (from all accounts, deservedly so).

The review is one of the most devastating, and also funniest, critiques of a film that I've ever read.  I laughed out loud several times.  Here's an excerpt.

The film decided that all things being equal it needed to provide an explanation for Snow WHITE’s melanin surplus.  She was born in a blizzard… And the snow was white. 

Moving on. 

The king and queen run a communism-that-works-just-like-Marx-said-it-would magic kingdom, with an economy based on apples.  This is a fantasy after all. 

The queen dies off-camera and the king acquires a mysterious beautiful Israeli queen with evil Jew sorcery or something.  Anyway, the hippie king, decides to get killed defending his borders, although given the ethnic make up of his realm it’s rather surprising he had any.

The Queen takes over, puts princess Snow White in rags and makes the bitch work for a living. The narrator moans about her monetarist economic policy as opposed to the previous regime’s apple based currency. 

. . .

Snow White in the original, does the feminine thing; she cooks and cleans for the Dwarfs as a way to earn her keep and they come to love her for it.  Here, Snow White demands that they do a better job of cleaning their house for her and bosses them around while dancing and singing uselessly like any good Marxist. Domestic incompetence is the hallmark of any proud feminist.

. . .

It’s not that Zegler is uniquely horrible.  Far from it. Most theater kids are as obnoxious as she is. However, most have to go through some period of time where humility is forced down their throats. Fighting their way up from the chorus line and waiting tables to make ends meet. Eating crow when the star upstages them during their single line of dialog. That kind of thing.  Rachel Zegler on the other hand was hurled straight from singing on YouTube to headlining Speilberg’s West Side Story as Maria. She never learned how to not be obnoxious.  She seems spoiled and vicious on Twitter but most people her age are. 

Regardless, every time she opened her mouth she not only stuck her foot in it but she would inevitably find some way to fit the other foot in there with it.

There's more at the link.

I highly recommend reading the whole review.  It's laugh-a-minute stuff, particularly if you're tired of Disney's political correctness and the "woke" entertainment industry as a whole.

Peter

A political opportunity knocks!

 

I note with glee that more and more Democratic Party politicians are heading for El Salvador to protest the detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.  Some of them apparently want to meet with him.

I have a suggestion for the El Salvador government.

1. Return Mr. Garcia to his former place of incarceration, CECOT, reportedly one of the toughest, hardest-line prisons in the world.
2. Allow all Democratic Party politicians who want to visit Mr. Garcia to enter CECOT too.
3. After they're inside, inform them that this will be an extended visit.  To ensure that they have plenty of time to talk to him, they'll be confined in a typical CECOT cell, complete with regular CECOT attire, and fed on prison food, and kept there for as long as possible.

We wouldn't want to impose an undue financial burden on the El Salvador government, so I'm sure President Trump and/or Elon Musk will be glad to bankroll their stay at a suitable rate per diem.

I think it's a great idea!  How about you, dear readers?

Peter

Heh

 

You know that D.O.G.E.'s budget cuts are hitting the target when you read about this sort of shenanigan.  From Time magazine:

U.S. Added to Global Human Rights Watchlist Over Declining Civil Liberties

The United States was added Sunday to the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist, a research tool that publicizes the status of freedoms and threats to civil liberties worldwide. 

The move comes amid President Donald Trump’s “assault on democratic norms and global cooperation,” said CIVICUS—a global alliance and network of civil society groups, including Amnesty International, that advocates for greater citizen action in areas where civil liberties are limited—in a press release. The organization also cited the Administration’s cut of more than 90% of its foreign aid contracts and its crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)—which Trump called “illegal and immoral discrimination programs”—through executive action.

“The Trump Administration seems hellbent on dismantling the system of checks and balances which are the pillars of a democratic society,” said Mandeep Tiwana, Interim Co-Secretary General of CIVICUS, in a press release. “Restrictive Executive Orders, unjustifiable institutional cutbacks, and intimidation tactics through threatening pronouncements by senior officials in the Administration are creating an atmosphere to chill democratic dissent, a cherished American ideal.”

There's more at the link, if you want to waste your time reading it.

I'd never heard of CIVICUS, and didn't know them from a bar of soap, so I went looking.  So did Charlie Martin of PJ Media.

I looked at the estimable DataRepublican Nonprofit Financials page, where I found that in its most recent filing, CIVICUS has a total of $10,573,000 (rounded to the nearest dollar) in receipts, of which $7,882,463 — or about 75% — came from the US taxpayer.

At this point, the light dawned. What is the United States' cruel human rights abuse? Cutting back on funding to NGOs.

Recently, on the Larry Kudlow show (March 8, 2025), Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) — always good for a sound bite — observed: "When you trim fat, pigs squeal."

Again, more at the link.

Perhaps we should send a telegram of congratulations to D.O.G.E. for making the world a much more difficult place for those sponging off US taxpayer dollars, and a much better place for the rest of us!

Peter

In case you missed it...

 

... 22 Democratic Party senators just released individual video statements criticizing President Trump.  Nothing wrong with that - except that they all used precisely and exactly the same script, word for word, parroting each other.  Originality?  Thinking for themselves?  Not so much!

Needless to say, President Trump and Republican politicians are having a field day responding to such ham-handed criticism.  Elon Musk has even offered a free Cybertruck to anyone who can identify the author of the script.  I imagine there's a lot of searching going on right now!

To be fair, President Trump's claim that he would bring down prices, starting on day one of his presidency, has not yet been visible in the marketplace - except in the Washington D.C. area, where housing prices are falling under the weight of fired federal officials and bureaucrats!  However, the amount of waste, fraud and financial abuse he and his team have uncovered in the federal government means that a great deal of money will be saved in future, which should help our inflationary situation.  As for high prices in general:  I don't know whether or not they will come down.  They've certainly gone up during the Biden administration, but historically, when that's happened, they've been slow to come down again.  Will producers be able to save enough on their input costs to lower their prices on their finished products?  That remains to be seen, and it's not something a President can dictate.

Perhaps the price of finished copycat videos will go down, thanks to heavy demand for them from Democratic Party senators?

Peter