Try playing this game by hand!

It's nice to see companies get creative with their advertising.  Caterpillar has just done that by playing a giant-size game of Jenga using their earth-moving and construction equipment instead of hands.  I recommend watching it in full-screen mode.

And here's how they made it.

Full marks for originality!

Peter

A veteran strikes back

There seems to be a trend among certain politicians to decry veterans of military service as 'never having held a job', or something like that.  It happened in Maryland today, and last month an Arkansas politician claimed that his Republican opponent had a 'sense of entitlement' because he was a veteran.

The Republican veteran has struck back with this entertaining video ad, assisted by his former Drill Sergeant.

How to defuse an attack, make the voters smile, and make your opponent look like an idiot, all in one thirty-second advertisement.  I love it!




Peter

"Spring Break" = "Debauchery Central"?

As a teen I never took part in anything resembling 'Spring Break' here in the USA.  I've read reports about it since coming to this country, but I'd never paid them much attention.  I was therefore horrified to read this description of it in Taki's Magazine.  I'm not going to reprint any of it here, because it's frankly disgusting;  but the author goes into detail about the sexual debauchery and risks to the health and future of the participants.  Much of it is emphatically NSFW.

I can hardly believe that such goings-on are the norm.  I accept that they may happen in some places, and with some groups, but I simply can't understand how they could be the norm.  If they were, surely such details would have hit the mainstream media long ago?  Surely fathers would have taken up shotguns and handcuffs to confine their kids at home and prevent them from going on Spring Break at all?

I'd be grateful if readers who know more about the subject than I do would please let us know the truth.  Take a look at the article, then let us know whether what it describes is the norm, or the extreme.  Thanks.

Peter

Doofus Of The Day #764

Former Mayor Bloomberg of New York City has committed $50 million to opposing the National Rifle Association and fomenting opposition to firearms in communities throughout America.  He's called his new movement 'Everytown'.

One of the group's first efforts was to put up this picture on Facebook.

Needless to say, it provoked instant mockery throughout the gun-owning community.  (For the benefit of readers who may not get it, the picture shows a full cartridge coming out of the barrel of the gun.  In reality, the cartridge case would remain behind in the firearm until ejected, and the propellant in the case would burn, propelling the bullet itself - the pointy end - out of the barrel on its own.)  If this new movement is willing to lend its name to such shoddy research and false information, I daresay it won't achieve much.

Everytown has since tried to blame the image on opponents who 'hijacked' that Facebook page, but I don't place much credence in such denials, because this isn't the first time anti-gun forces have screwed up in this way.  It's just more of the 'same old, same old'.

Peter

Verily, the mind doth boggle . . .

I haven't encountered much in the way of 'cosplay', where individuals dress up (sometimes very elaborately) in imitation of favorite film, TV or comic-book characters.  After seeing IO9's two part photo essay on 'The Most Amazing Cosplay from Wondercon', I have to simultaneously shudder at some of them, and take my hat off to others for their attention to detail.

Here are just four examples, two images out of the dozens in each article, to illustrate the lengths to which cosplayers will go.  They've all been reduced in size to fit here.

Of course, some of the photographs illustrate the unfortunate reality that if one doesn't have the body to go with the costume, one really, really shouldn't wear it!

You'll find Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.  Both make . . . interesting viewing.




Peter

Around The Blogs 2014-04-20

Lots of good stuff in the blogosphere over the past week or so.

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I linked to Captain Tightpants' essay 'I think I broke her' earlier today.  I repeat the recommendation here to go read it in full.  I think it's important.

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I'm sure readers have seen the reports claims propaganda emanating from Chicago about how crime is decreasing there.  Don't you believe it!  If you want to know what's really going on there, one of the best resources is the blog 'Second City Cop'.  Half an hour spent reading its archives will give you a graphic picture of just how bad things are in the Windy City, and reasons enough to avoid going there unless you absolutely have to.  (For the truth behind the falsified statistics coming out of Chicago, read this exposé in Chicago Magazine.)

As a sample of the sort of posts you'll find there, here's their take on the 'Homicide Quilt', which is embroidered with the names of countless murder victims.  Seems the 'victims' weren't such innocent little baa lambs themselves, as SCC points out:

Is it wrong for us to hear tomorrows weather report of rain mixed with snow and a 40 degree temperature drop and think to ourselves, "Damn, that quilt looks warm - it'd be nice to sleep under that tonight." And the fact that most of the names on that quilt are currently enjoying the balmy confines of Hell just make it feel all the warmer.

Uh-huh . . .  Clearly, political correctness is not among Second City Cop's problems!

# # #

Some very interesting articles on the economy this week.

• Karl Denninger has a thought-provoking essay on 'Actually Fixing Our Economy'.  I endorse what he has to say, although I know his solution would cause immense short-term hardship to many.  Unfortunately, sometimes the medicine that you have to take if you want to be cured has some pretty nasty side effects.  With the shape our economy's in right now, this is one of those times . . .
• Zero Hedge presents a very worrying infographic titled 'What happened to the middle class?'  It's pretty sobering stuff.
• Charles Hugh Smith points out that there's little or no difference between fascism, communism and crony capitalism.
• Francis W. Porretto offers food for thought concerning Tax Day, which occurred last week.  He says, 'Today is an appropriate day for meditating on the asymmetry between the individual American citizen and the 88,000 governments that claim some jurisdiction over his actions and his property.'  It makes frightening reading.
• Captain Capitalism reminds us about 'The Importance of Controlling your Micro-Environment'.

All the above are highly recommended.

# # #

For those who dislike guns or regard them with fear and loathing, Blue's Blog offers some trenchant thoughts.

# # #

Lantry takes on the challenge of teaching a recalcitrant first-grader how to read, and does so by not merely ignoring, but working against all the politically correct claptrap that the school system was trying to shove down the kid's throat.  It made me smile.  That's one boy who's going to be raised the right way come hell or high water . . .

# # #

Rev. Donald Sensing sums up the philosophy of progressives in a short but trenchant article.  Money quote:

The progressive agenda fundamentally rests on the notion that ordinary men need brilliant people to tell them what to do.

Which, of course, explains why progressives regularly have their asses handed to them by those same ordinary men . . .

# # #

My accent is Colonial English, with basic British undertones topped off by a healthy helping of South Africa.  Britain itself has myriad accents, ranging from Irish, Scottish, Welsh and basic English to the distinctions between Midlands, Cornwall, the various Shires, Cockney and so on.  However, help is at hand.  Never Yet Melted takes us on 'A tour of the British Isles in accents'.  (Very useful, that, old chap - I'll have to have my American wife study it carefully.  Thanks awfully!)

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Ace Of Spades has a long and damning article showing the myriad ways in which the Obama administration is 'cooking the books', statistically speaking, to present its policies in the best possible light and deny that they're actually failing.  After all, if you control how they're measured, you can fudge the numbers until the cows come home!

# # #

Two blogs offer interesting military food for thought.

• The War Council blog has an article titled 'What I Wish I Knew: From Cadet to Lieutenant in Afghanistan'.  It contains some very valuable 'lessons learned', which sound very similar to some of those I learned (the hard way) in the African bush some decades ago.
• Old AF Sarge brings us information I'd never heard before about the heads (toilets to civilians) aboard an aircraft carrier.  The odor of sanctity, it ain't!

# # #

The Minuteman describes problems experienced with a gun safe, in the process treating us to an interesting photo essay on what the innards of the door and lock look like.

# # #

There's a lot of fun and laughter too.  Here's a selection.

• The Lonely Libertarian gives us a graphic and definitely NSFW image of a T-shirt encountered at Goodwill.  Miss D. and I laughed aloud when we saw it.  She also offers this perspective on 'Extreme Home Makeover:  Man Edition'.
• The Feral Irishman (site frequently NSFW) offers interesting nutrition information for St. Patrick's Day.
• Bob S. talks about temperature swings, and how his allergies now make sense.
• Earthbound Misfit brings us the New Age Bull**** Generator.  Very funny!

# # #

I wasn't familiar with the term 'Water Blob'.  It's apparently a plastic container filled with water upon which kids bounce and play.  Be that as it may, Homemade Toast offers instructions on how to make your own, which I thought was pretty enterprising as a domestic project for those with young children who'd enjoy it - and a lot cheaper than buying one!

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C. W. Swanson brings us a picture of ultimate relaxation.  Ours does that, too, although not in pots.

# # #

Matthew Allen, who blogs at 'Straight Forward In A Crooked World', has a very interesting article in Shooting Illustrated about the use of both hands on the gun, and why this can be counterproductive in certain circumstances.  He makes very useful points, and offers much food for thought.  Recommended.

# # #

And last but definitely not least, Karl Denninger offers some sobering thoughts for the Easter Vigil.  No matter whether you believe in anything or nothing, they're worth reading.

# # #

That's all for this week.

Peter

Captain Tightpants nails it

I'm sure many of my readers are also readers of Captain Tightpants.  He's been AWOL from the blogosphere for a few months, but returned yesterday with a post I wish I'd been able to write.  He and I are both combat veterans, and we've identified with each others' views in the past, particularly concerning the SEAL movie 'Act Of Valor' (see my review here, and his here).  I guess he's struggled to explain what being a combat vet does to his outlook on life, just as I've found the same difficulty.  He found words during a recent group therapy session.

We somehow got into discussing tools in terms of mental/emotional/physical responses - what the individual is capable of in terms of dealing with a particular stimulus/event/incident. And, I'll preface this with noting [the psychologist] had fallen into the mistake that it seems a lot of people do of equating certain backgrounds with ignorance or a lack of intelligence - even though she was bubbly she definitely talked down to people. Which didn't help my mood. So I told her about tools.

The point I made was this. I asked her what she might do if one of us made her mad - mad her so angry she couldn't see straight, hit at the core of her being, just straight out pissed her off beyond words? Then I explained oh yes, she might yell, she might throw something, she might even hit someone if she got pissed off enough. That she could throw a great little tantrum at the injustice of it all and truly vent.

Well, I'd sunk the bait, but then I set the hook.

In a very calm voice I explained to her that every person in that room had moved past that. We didn't "hold in our emotions because we were afraid of what we might do." We held them in because we knew what we could do. Big difference. Because everyone in that group knew how to take a life. I don't mean some theoretically concept, I mean we knew the sights and the sounds and the smells involved in a person's final moments. We knew that, if pushed to the wrong point, we could do what was needed. I told her I had a tool in my toolbox that I hoped she never, ever would - that I could kill a person. That my toolbox extended beyond anger, beyond even seeing the person as themselves, and moved into targets and options and reactions. And, that unless you are completely broken, once you've used that tool for good or bad you are forever changed. It doesn't mean you're broken, or evil, or wrong, or any of that other bullshit. But once you realize how easy it is to deal with mortality, you never look at life the same. And that's why so many combat veterans have that distance - because it's not that we're afraid we might snap, or somehow lose it - it's just that we know what happens on that edge, and we know to avoid it unless need be.

It was a strange thing saying it. Because it was almost like I could see my words hitting her like punches - I don't think she'd ever thought of it that way. Again, I'm not saying she's a bad person, and I know she means well - but to her death and killing are an amorphous concept. The actors get up after the directors call cut, and brush off the dust. The video game hits a save point and you end it. You close the book and move to another. She has never, ever conceptualized the fact that there are men and women in this world who have lived this as a part of their day to day existence, and then have to deal with the ways it changes you for good and bad in the aftermath. I could see and sense the reactions of the other vets in the room, and knew without asking that they agreed.

And parts of it reminded me of comments from my wife and others over the years. How it's not just my lack of extreme emotions, but that when I get angry, really upset it's not that I yell or rage or anything - it's that I go to a very cold, distant place where "I" am no longer there. Because I recognize this as the place I work from in these situations, where everything is based with dealing with the threats of the moment as opposed to the emotions of the "normal" world.

There's more at the link.  Go read the whole thing.  Please.  It's important to me.  Captain Tightpants has put into words exactly what I've tried - and failed - to say over the past I don't know how many years.  I fully endorse what he says, and I confirm it from my own experience.

Miss D. has half-jokingly complained sometimes that when she's getting all worked up about things going wrong (such as our truck's transmission losing its fluid and stranding her on the side of the road) she wants to start yelling, but I'm quite relaxed - which she finds frustrating, to say the least!  (That morning I said to her, when I arrived in the other car, "Don't worry, love - it's not like you drove over a landmine."  I meant it, too.  A truck's just a truck.  We can always buy another.  I can't buy another Miss D.)  On the other hand, I've warned her more than once that if she sees or hears me go very quiet and ice-cold, she needs to get ready to duck for cover right now.  That reaction will mean I've identified something or someone that appears to be a threat to her and/or I, and I'm getting ready to do something drastic about it (or them) if necessary.  I've seen similar reactions in many other combat veterans.  We know that it's dangerous to let an enemy start a fight on his terms;  we're more than capable of taking the initiative away from him;  and we know the value of those who are dear to us.  If it comes to a choice between the threat and our loved ones, guess who's going down?  (Miss D.'s had some experience of that reaction in me when a stimulus has drawn forth a response based on events from the past, most recently a couple of months ago.)

That's a reality shared by a lot of us - more than you might suspect.  It colors our reactions to the world around us.  We know that the veneer of civilization runs relatively thin in almost any society, and is almost non-existent among the worst of the criminal element and some other individuals.  If others make it necessary, we stand ready to shed our own veneer of civilization in response.  That makes some people uncomfortable . . . but it's the way it is.  As George Orwell put it:

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

Word.

Thanks, Cap'n Tightpants, for saying what needed to be said.  You did well, buddy.

Peter

The hardest separation

Brigid, dear friend to Miss D. and myself, lost her big brother yesterday.  He'd fought cancer for many months, but the disease finally won.  She's written very movingly about him on her blog.  Go read her words for yourself - they're worth your time.

The bond between adopted siblings is sometimes a particularly close one.  I'm not adopted, but I've seen it before, and I understand it.  When one's adopted, there's sometimes a sense that one's been abandoned by those who should have loved you for yourself . . . but for some reason they didn't.  The child wonders, sometimes so deep that there are no words to describe it, whether he did something so bad that they refused to keep him, or whether she was so far from what they wanted that they decided to throw her away and try again.  The interior monologues are sometimes truly that brutal.

For that reason, the bond forged between two children who come together when adopted into a new family is sometimes extraordinarily strong and tenacious.  They look out for each other, protect each other, keep a wary eye on their adopted family until they're sure they won't be abandoned again, stand up for each other in school . . . to use a military expression from my youth, they're 'foxhole buddies'.  They've got each others' backs, no matter what.  Brigid certainly seems to have been at least that close, if not closer, to her adoptive brother.

I know how my friend's feeling tonight.  There's an emptiness in a part of her very soul, a place that was full but is now hollow.  It's a lousy place to be.  She has the warmth of others' love for her, from her husband to her father to her friends, but that's like an external blanket placed around a chilly center.  In time it'll provide warmth, but right now that warmth can't penetrate to the innermost core of her being, where a part of her from her earliest years is now raw and painful.

Say a prayer for Brigid tonight, and for her adoptive father, and for her brother's soul.  They're all in need of the comfort of this Easter season, when we celebrate rising to new life.  May her brother do so now, and may she - and all of us - follow him when the time comes.

Peter

Seeing sounds

I was interested to find this video from NPR on YouTube.  It shows how sound waves can be photographed using special techniques, so that one can literally 'see sound'.

Let's hear it for science!

Peter

Squeeee!

I'm in the process of sorting out a large number of boxes of possessions that I brought with me from Louisiana when I came to Tennessee to marry Miss D. and settle here.  I've not had to do so in the past because the house we share with a friend doesn't have space for all our stuff, so it's been stored in the garage.  However, our housemate will be getting married soon and will want his privacy, so Miss D. and I will be looking to rent somewhere else.

Regular readers will remember that back in 2008 I had a fire at my home in Louisiana, followed within a few weeks by further damage caused by Hurricane Gustav.  The upshot was that all my possessions had to be removed from my house so that it could be repaired and renovated (all courtesy of my insurance company, who were a bit taken aback to have two major damage claims submitted within a matter of a few weeks!  They paid up like gentlemen, though.)  As part of the process I boxed up a number of riflescopes and other goodies that I'd just bought, and the box was duly moved to storage along with the others.  Unfortunately I never saw it again.  I presumed it had been stolen by one of the hired help assisting with the move.

I've been planning to buy half a dozen riflescopes over the next few months to upgrade some of my long guns, and had begun to set aside money for the purpose.  Today, while emptying and moving boxes, I came across a big one that felt strangely heavy.  I opened it, and beneath a layer of papers and books I found a smaller box.  It was the one in which I'd packed those riflescopes back in 2008!  I can only assume that a mover decided to pack my stuff more efficiently than I had, and dropped the smaller box into the larger one.

However it got there, I'm delighted at my good fortune.  I now have the following brand-new scopes lined up next to my desk, ready to install:

• A Swift 3-9x40 scope (its box still smoke-stained from the fire, but the scope inside was protected by its plastic bag);
• 4 Weaver Classic 1-3x20 scopes (ideal for lightweight carbines and rifles);
• A Simmons 1x32 shotgun scope;
• 2 TruGlo Red Dot 2x42mm. sights;
• A portable Otis Tactical Cleaning System in its pocket-size case;
• 4 Peltor Tactical 6S electronic hearing protection headsets;
• A collection of scope mounts and rings, knives, flashlights and other goodies.

According to the invoices in the box, I spent less than $400 in 2008 to buy them all at various sales and through special offers.  To replace them today would cost three to four times as much - I've just priced them all at Amazon.com.  Now I don't need to, because they're still new in their boxes and ready to go.

I think this evening I'm the living definition of a happy camper shooter . . .




Peter

A video feast for the eyes

There's great news for history and video buffs.  British Pathé has uploaded its entire library of historic 'moving images' to YouTube.  The Telegraph reports:

The archive of 3,500 hours of footage was digitised in 2002 thanks in part to a grant from the National Lottery, and is now freely accessible to anyone around the world for free.

The unique collection of video covers major events, famous faces, travel, sport and culture and is a wealth of information on the First and Second World Wars in particular.

Scrolling through the archives reveals everything from the tragic: Emily Davison throwing herself under the King's horse, the Hindenburg disaster and the Hiroshima bombing, to the downright unusual, such as Southampton University's 1962 attempt to launch a flying bicycle.

Founded in Paris in 1896, Pathé launched in Britain 14 years later. It single-handedly invented the modern television news format but ceased recording in 1970. After that it was sold several times, at one point to EMI, but launched as an independent archive in 2009. Two years later it opened a YouTube channel and has today announced the final step in digitising and uploading its entire collection to Google's video sharing platform.

There's more at the link.

I clicked over to British Pathé's YouTube channel, and was amazed by the variety of clips they offer.  Here are three, in no particular order of importance.  First, suffragette Emily Davison throws herself beneath the hooves of the King's horse in 1913 (she died of her injuries four days later).

Next, the world's first helicopters - described by Pathé as "The Good, The Bad and The Sheer Dangerous!"

Last but by no means least, the sinking and explosion of the battleship HMS Barham in 1941 after being torpedoed by a German submarine in the Mediterranean.

There are many more videos at the link.  I can see I'm going to spend hours going through them.

Peter

Reorganizing the gun safe

I've been hard at work on a lot of domestic tasks that have been neglected for too long.  One of them was to reorganize my gun safe.

Handguns are always a problem to store in such a way that they don't knock into each other or rest precariously on top of each other, to fall out and get damaged if you so much as look at them crossways.  I've used two primary storage methods for them.  The first is Acorn holsters attached with Velcro to the inside of my gun safe door.  (All images courtesy of Amazon.com.)

These hold lighter handguns, typically polymer-framed pistols or lightweight (i.e. alloy-framed) revolvers.  I prefer to mount the holsters on a sheet of felt-type material hanging from the top of the safe door, because I found their Velcro tabs pulled fuzz off the door lining without that extra protection.

My second storage method was, until yesterday, a Liberty Safes wood rack holding 8 handguns, storing them pointing vertically upwards.

The difficulty with this gun rack is that, if you have rifles and shotguns with long barrels in your gun safe, it forces you to move the top shelf upward to accommodate them.  This means that there's less vertical space above the top shelf to store longer-barreled handguns in such a rack.  I found I could store 4" barreled revolvers and pistols with no problem, and some 5" models as well, but anything longer than that didn't fit.

I've accordingly swapped it for a Versatile Rack system.  It stores handguns lying on their backs, taking up much less vertical space.  They make them for anything from one to ten handguns, and even offer a kit to stack one rack on top of another if space permits.  Their VR10 rack is shown below;  as its name suggests, it holds up to 10 handguns.  This will fit across the top shelf of most medium to large gun safes.

Finally, I picked up some handgun hangers, which I attached to the top shelf of my gun safe.  The gun barrel slides over the lower prong, suspending the gun beneath the shelf.

I've put shorter rifles and shotguns on one side of the gun safe, so that handguns supported by these hangers don't interfere with them, and vice versa.

My gun safe is now much better organized, and I no longer have to stack handguns in boxes or pistol rugs on top of each other in every odd nook and cranny.  If you've had the same problem and/or want to make the most of the space available in your gun safe, I recommend this combination of solutions.

Peter

A smokescreen as home security device?

I'm sure many readers have heard about smoke generators used as anti-theft devices in some stores.  Here are a couple of video clips to illustrate the concept.  First, a demonstration of a device in England.

Next, an actual armed robbery in South Africa, foiled by the smoke generator.

Of course, both videos were provided by suppliers of these devices, so there may be failures that they prefer not to publicize.

I've had a couple of people ask me whether I thought it was a good idea to install something like this in one's home, to drive burglars or home invaders out without their being able to steal anything.  I'm not sure it is.  If there's a need to evacuate the home (for example, if a fire starts, or the intruders begin shooting wildly) the smoke might prevent one finding one's own way out of the danger zone.  However, if you know your home well, you can probably navigate around the corridors and to the front or back door by touch if necessary.  Intruders presumably won't have that same level of knowledge, so you might be able to get away from them.  (On the other hand, if they're fumbling around blindly and you walk into them, who knows what might happen?)

What say you, readers?  Good idea, or a complicating factor?

Peter

Why our economy is as screwed as our politics

I know this article from CNS News has been highlighted on the Drudge Report today, and mentioned on a number of blogs, but I think it's worth mentioning it here too.  It demonstrates, clearly, concisely and in irrefutable arithmetical fact, precisely why our economy - and our politics - are neck-deep in the dwang.  What's more, they're going to stay there until our feckless politicians stop making promises they can't afford to keep, and start living within the nation's means.  I don't foresee that happening with any of the current crop in Washington.

Here are a couple of key quotes from the article.

86M Full-Time Private-Sector Workers Sustain 148M Benefit Takers

. . .

The 86,429,000 Americans who worked full-time, year-round in the private sector, included 77,392,000 employed as wage and salary workers for private-sector enterprises and 9,037,000 who worked for themselves. (There were also approximately 52,000 who worked full-time, year-round without pay in a family enterprise.)

At first glance, 86,429,000 might seem like a healthy population of full-time private-sector workers. But then you need to look at what they are up against.

The Census Bureau also estimates the size of the benefit-receiving population.

. . .

There were 108,592,000 people in the fourth quarter of 2011 who lived in a household that included people on "one or more means-tested program."

Those 108,592,000 outnumbered the 86,429,000 full-time private-sector workers who inhabited the United States in 2012 by almost 1.3 to 1.

. . .

There were 49,901,000 people receiving Social Security in the fourth quarter of 2011, and 46,440,000 receiving Medicare. There were also 5,098,000 getting unemployment compensation.

And there were also, 3,178,000 veterans receiving benefits and 34,000 veterans getting educational assistance.

All told, including both the welfare recipients and the non-welfare beneficiaries, there were 151,014,000 who "received benefits from one or more programs" in the fourth quarter of 2011. Subtract the 3,212,000 veterans, who served their country in the most profound way possible, and that leaves 147,802,000 non-veteran benefit takers.

The 147,802,000 non-veteran benefit takers outnumbered the 86,429,000 full-time private sector workers 1.7 to 1.

How much more can the 86,429,000 endure?

As more baby boomers retire, and as Obamacare comes fully online — with its expanded Medicaid rolls and federally subsidized health insurance for anyone earning less than 400 percent of the poverty level — the number of takers will inevitably expand. And the number of full-time private-sector workers might also contract.

Eventually, there will be too few carrying too many, and America will break.

There's more at the link.  You really should read the whole thing.

Those of us who understand reality had better be preparing now for what will happen when it bites us all in the ass - because it will.  Mathematics is an exact, precise science.  The figures cited above are mathematical reality.  So is their inevitable consequence, no matter how much our politicians might like to ignore reality and pretend it'll never happen.

Peter

More fallout from the Nevada standoff

I'd like to recommend two articles to your attention.  Both have been spreading around the blogosphere today.

The first is a long, but very thought-provoking post over at Taxicab Depressions.  It's titled 'The Pig Trap', and uses that analogy to describe what the unelected bureaucracy running the federal government appears to be trying to do to us.  I'm not sure whether or not I fully agree with the author's perspective, but I certainly agree with parts of it.  Highly recommended reading.

Second, National Review Online has an acerbic take on the response of the US government to the Bundy standoff.  Money quote:

One can be a supporter of the rule of law and still recoil in anger and disgust from the militarized display of force by the federal government toward Clive Bundy ... The appalling contempt this government has shown toward its citizens and the rule of law is the context in which the Bundy-BLM confrontation is playing out. It’s a context that further diminishes, rather than enhances, Americans’ respect for the rule of law.

More and more I'm getting the impression that the Bundy standoff may prove to have been a turning point in the way Americans relate to their government.  I certainly hope so.

Peter

Doofus Of The Day #763

This one's courtesy of Autoblog.  The video is self-explanatory.

If that's how they tried to get it out, would anyone care to speculate how they got it in there in the first place?




Peter

The 'last wishes' of a venerable VW vehicle

I'm sure many of my readers have driven (or been driven in) a VW Kombi, or Microbus, or van, or whatever it was called in their country.  (In South Africa it was first called the Kombi, then the Microbus for the variant with the updated body.)  I drove both types for thousands of miles up and down the country, ferrying people and supplies here and there.

The Kombi came onto the market as a derivation of the legendary VW Beetle, and was launched in 1950.  It's been manufactured in Brazil since 1957, and that country was also the last to make it.  The production line shut down at the end of last year after producing a final 600 vehicles in a special 'Final Edition', shown below.

To commemorate 63 years of production of the Kombi, Volkswagen produced this nostalgic advertisement guaranteed to appeal to old-timers like me.  YMMV, of course.

Clever, cute and nostalgic.  What's not to like?

Peter

"When Los Angeles was a rustic village"

That's the title of a photo essay in the Telegraph, featuring images dating back to the 19th century.  Here are a couple of them to whet your appetite.

Visitors to Santa Monica Beach in the 1880's

San Fernando Valley in the 1890's

Looks a bit different today, doesn't it?  There are many more images at the link.  Interesting viewing for history buffs.

Peter

Special price on "Take The Star Road" - two days only!

If any of my readers haven't tried my novels yet, and would like to, I'm currently running a promotion through Amazon's Kindle Countdown Deals.  My first novel, 'Take The Star Road', is on special at 99c for the next couple of days.  The deal ends on Thursday evening.

I've publicized the promotion through BookBub and other services, and so far it's going very well.  I've sold almost 1,500 copies since it kicked off on Sunday evening.  Of course, because the price is heavily discounted I make much less money per book sold, but that's OK - I hope to gain a large number of readers who otherwise wouldn't have tried it at all, and who will (I hope) go on to enjoy my other books.

Finally, an appeal:  if you've read any of my books and have not yet left a review on Amazon.com, please, please do so!  It helps prospective readers decide whether they'd like to try it, and it helps me when it comes to arranging promotional deals like this - one factor that organizers take into account is the number and quality of reviews a book has attracted.

Thanks very much to everyone who's already bought one or more of my books.  You're a blessing.

Peter

Too cute for words!

Here's an utterly charming video, compiled from numerous clips, of youngsters recognizing their fathers as they come home from work.  It's irresistibly cute!

I know kids are an enormous amount of work, but this is one of the compensations.

Peter