Do you smell that?

I found this blog post too good not to share. Give it a look-see and draw your own conclusions. Not that I'm an expert in any way, shape, or form on most of what he speaks to, but I am aware enough of basic economics and life in general to detect a rotten smell.

Take care.
DAL357

Anheuser-Busch being sold to InBev for $52B

Wow! Do you think InBev might be able to make this swill palatable? "King of Beers" my eye. More like the "King of Advertising Propping Up a Substandard Product."

Take care.
DAL357

A different kind of performance

What seems to be the one word you most often hear associated with cars? If you guessed style, luxury, comfort, or even affordability, you guessed wrong. No, it’s performance.* This is the overriding consideration, or so we’ve been told, of a car’s worthiness. Performance today still means how fast can you accelerate from a dead stop to 60 mph, or how much cargo (usually a boat or gargantuan travel trailer) you can haul. With the new paradigm of ever-higher fuel costs, though, performance will shortly take on a new meaning: How far can you get on a gallon of gasoline/diesel?

I’ll be the first to admit that the new definition of performance is not nearly as sexy as the old, but things change. Shift a few years into the future and I can see a scenario where a young Lothario is bragging to his intended conquest of how little he has under his hood and how far it gets him. She, being duly impressed, decides to give him a spin.

Crazy? Science fiction? Preposterous? Perhaps. But politicians aren’t the only ones who can flip-flop; entire methods of living can too. Only those ignorant of history can argue the point.

The attitudes amongst the masses towards what performance means in an automobile are changing, but they are doing so slowly and grudgingly. Slap a couple of more bucks on the price of a gallon of gas and watch how quickly juvenile notions of speedy, fire-breathing performance evaporate. Even true juveniles, as opposed to those who are still in adolescence at 30, 40, 50, 60, etc., will not be able to evade reality for long owning a car that may zoom from 0 to 60 in an amount of seconds equal to the fingers on one hand, or have the ability to pull double duty as a barge tug, but that gets only a pathetic 21 mpg/city (with a tailwind) and costs $100-$150 to fill. When we get to the point where the choice is either walking or taking a car that chugs along steadily, but slowly and economically, we will have reached the era when the old definition of performance is quaint and outdated.

Take care.
DAL357

*Or so it seems to me.

Lies, damn lies, and plastic surgery

Below you'll find a link to a site I view from time to time probably for the same reason most people slow down when they drive past car wrecks: morbid curiosity.

And what, pray tell, is this site? It's named Awful Plastic Surgery and it's chock-full of before-and-after photos of the (usually) rich and famous. These delusional folks actually believe so much in the fantasy image the media has built up of them they desperately try to preserve it through surgical intervention. It almost never works, at least according to the photos on this site.

Many years ago, it must have been in the early '70s, I heard a pithy little observation that said, "You're only young once. After that, you just think you are." What a pity, apparently, that these people, as well as most other people who go under the knife for cosmetic surgery, never learned this.

My message to these people: Look, I'm not unsympathetic to your perceived plight, but you really just need to get over yourselves. Aging, mentally and physically, is a part of life, and the only way to stop it is to die. Sure, you should do the best with what you have (through natural means: diet, exercise, clothing, make-up, etc.) but, with rare exception, anything that draws blood or involves injections is nothing more than paying homage to narcissism. And, again with rare exception, anything that draws blood or involves injections will leave you looking not quite right, perhaps freakishly so. One other bit of advice: eschew all forms of pop culture and its incessant trumpeting of its definition of beauty. This will work wonders for pulling you out of yourself and seeing the big picture and where you fit in it.

Take care.
DAL357

P.S. BTW, the before/after photo above is not from Awful Plastic Surgery, I just thought this was a good representation of what can be accomplished through natural means. In her case, just a little make-up turned her from plain to exceptional.

Happy 10th of July!

Why not? This makes about as much sense as wishing someone a happy 4th of July, as opposed to Independence Day.

Yup, this dead horse deserves another kick.

Take care.
DAL357

Happy INDEPENDENCE Day

To every liberty-loving American, all 3-4 million of you, happy Independence Day, as opposed to those who say "happy Fourth of July." (Just in case you didn't catch that, Independence Day is the holiday, 4th of July is just a date.) If you don't understand that the difference is much more than merely semantic, you have dishonored your country's ideals more than any nitwit flag burner, and I've no doubt you'll continue to do so this November.

By the way, this congratulatory message does not extend to government at any level in the U.S. So there.

Take care.
DAL357

Skunked

There is no joy in Mudville today. I didn't get drawn for either an elk or a deer tag in the area I wanted this year; I doubt I'll bother with an over-the-counter license.

What does this mean for you? Not a dang thing. But for me it means I'll be able to concentrate more on my first hunting love: busting bunnies with my 12 ga.

Looking on the bright side of things (what else can I do?), I now have two preference points to use on my next elk tag application and one for the next deer tag application. That should, I hope, net me at least one tag for the 2009 season.

By the way, I have a new (to me) idea on how to hunt rabbits closer to home and use less gasoline. I need to check on the state regulations first, but if it pans out, I'll post the idea here.

Take care.
DAL357

A different take on survivalism

Are you ready for a contrarian view on survivalism? If you think you can handle one man's opinion on survivalism's sacred cows, read on. If not, I guess you shouldn't read the following piece. For what it's worth, I happen to agree with many points he brings up, one of which is to plan on cooperating with your neighbors in a crisis situation and not try to maverick it. Is he anti-gun? I don't think so, but the way I read the blog post, using guns exclusively to protect a stash in the boonies, or relying on perceived seclusion, is a losing proposition. Read it for yourself and see what YOU think. It's not short, but it's worth the time. Even if you don't buy anything he says, he does bring up some important considerations.

*****

The Art of Survival, Taoism and the Warring States
This week's theme: Survival + (June 27, 2008)

by Charles Hugh Smith

I'm not trying to be difficult, but I can't help cutting against the grain on topics like surviving the coming bad times when my experience runs counter to the standard received wisdom.

A common thread within most discussions of surviving bad times--especially really bad times--runs more or less like this: stockpile a bunch of canned/dried food and other valuable accoutrements of civilized life (generators, tools, canned goods, firearms, etc.) in a remote area far from urban centers, and then wait out the bad times, all the while protecting your stash with an array of weaponry and technology (night vision binocs, etc.)

Now while I respect and admire the goal, I must respectfully disagree with just about every assumption behind this strategy. Once again, this isn't because I enjoy being ornery (please don't check on that with my wife) but because everything in this strategy runs counter to my own experience in rural, remote settings.

You see, when I was a young teen my family lived in the mountains. To the urban sophisticates who came up as tourists, we were "hicks" (or worse), and to us they were "flatlanders" (derisive snort).

Now the first thing you have to realize is that we know the flatlanders, but they don't know us. They come up to their cabin, and since we live here year round, we soon recognize their vehicles and know about how often they come up, what they look like, if they own a boat, how many in their family, and just about everything else which can be learned by simple observation.

The second thing you have to consider is that after school and chores (remember there are lots of kids who are too young to have a legal job, and many older teens with no jobs, which are scarce), boys and girls have a lot of time on their hands. We're not taking piano lessons and all that urban busywork. And while there are plenty of pudgy kids spending all afternoon or summer in front of the TV or videogame console, not every kid is like that.

So we're out riding around. On a scooter or motorcycle if we have one, (and if there's gasoline, of course), but if not then on bicycles, or we're hoofing it. Since we have time, and we're wandering all over this valley or mountain or plain, one way or another, then somebody will spot that trail of dust rising behind your pickup when you go to your remote hideaway. Or we'll run across the new road or driveway you cut, and wander up to see what's going on. Not when you're around, of course, but after you've gone back down to wherever you live. There's plenty of time; since you picked a remote spot, nobody's around.

Read more here...

*****

Take care.
DAL357

Ol' Heller

Thank you very much, Supreme Court of the United States, for seeing things as clearly as you did on the Heller case, relatively speaking. At least, that is, the five of you who voted to uphold the lower court's decision; the four of you who didn't have been educated far beyond your intelligence.

Note to criminals, occasional and inveterate alike: This is just another reason to vacate your "profession" and find legal, productive employment. If that idea doesn't appeal to you, and I have no idea how it could since you are scumbag criminals, be ready to accept the consequences of your actions.

Note to gun-hating politicians who have illegally and immorally kept their consituents from acquiring the most productive means of self-protection available to the average citizen today: The writing is on the wall and you will lose in the long run, although I'm sure you'll waste multiple millions of taxpayer dollars before you figure that out.

Take care.
DAL357

Talented?

My wife found this link to a gallery of paintings and sketches by possibly the most evil monster ever to walk the earth, Adolf Hitler. Take a look at them and see what you think.

My opinion is that he had some aptitude for art, but it was nothing outstanding, a fact which his fragile ego couldn't handle. So, instead of perhaps bettering his technique and developing a unique style, he turned his back on artistic improvement and parlayed the blame-game into a political platform. This just happened to coincide with a country/people down on its luck and eager to re-inflate its own opinion of itself (of course, it did get a raw deal [thanks to the vindictive French, emboldened by its American ally] at the end of WWI, but that's another post for a point far in the future, if ever).

What would have become of the moron had he been born just ten years earlier? Most likely he would have never amounted to much, and he probably would have come to the same end: suicide.

Take care.
DAL357

My tip for mankind

We're all adults here, right? If you don't indulge in the following practice at least once in a while, I'd be stunned. Now I have empirical evidence as to why you should just stop it.

Would you like to gain the upper hand on that bane of mankind's existence, the common cold? Simply do the following: Do not, under any circumstances, pick your nose, or put any of your digits near your nostrils.

NEVER, EVER.

Even if you've just thoroughly washed your hands and underneath your nails, you can't ever be sure that each and every cold-causing microbe is gone, so don't do the digital-nasal probe. Use tissues or toilet paper (preferably unused) to clear/clean your nose, and nothing else.

Without going into all of the details, I decided to do this last fall, and except for a very minor scratchy throat this spring, I did not get sick last winter, even though my son got several colds during the same period.

No need to thank me; I'm happy to help. Try it yourself and see the difference.

Take care.
DAL357

My first funnel cloud

While doing some work on the rental house we own and will be putting up for sale soon (good luck on that, right?), my wife, son, nephew and I saw our first authentic funnel cloud! It was not very big (click here to see a video), but darned if it wasn't the real McCoy, with cloud rotation to boot. We were apparently a few miles away from it, but from the looks of the video, it happened within a couple of blocks of where my father lives.

Take care.
DAL357

Guns, unfortunately, don't always save lives

What follows is a horribly sad story. The only part of it with even a whit of good was the swift way the officer dispatched the perpetrator.

*****

Calif. police ID man they say fatally beat toddler Tue Jun 17, 2:29 AM ET

Police on Monday identified a man [a man in only the strictest biological sense; this was no man] who was fatally shot by an officer for allegedly refusing to stop beating a toddler to death along a remote road.

Sergio Casian Aguilar, 27, parked his truck on an unlit road Saturday night, removed a 2-year-old boy from his car seat and proceeded to stomp, kick and punch the boy to death, authorities said. The boy was unrecognizable when he was pronounced dead at Emanuel Medical Center, the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department said.

Authorities have not released the boy's name but say they believe he was Aguilar's son. The Stanislaus County coroner and the California Department of Justice are testing DNA to confirm the relationship.

Several motorists called 911 and tried to stop the beating, authorities said. [Apparently, none of them carried a gun. Of course, we are talking about California. I wasn't there, but what about a tire iron? This probably happened so quickly and was so shocking that people were stunned into effete gestures of intervention. In another story, I read he pushed away those who tried to restrain him and went back to beating the child to death.]

Dan Robinson, a local volunteer fire department chief, told The Modesto Bee that at first glance, he thought the child was a dead animal in the road. He said when he realized it was a child, he tried to stop Aguilar.

He said Aguilar had a "total hollowness in his eyes" and talked calmly of the boy being filled with "demons."

Witness Lisa Mota told the San Francisco Chronicle that Aguilar told people who tried to stop him that the boy was "trash."

Responding to 911 calls, a Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department helicopter landed in a dairy pasture near the scene. A Modesto police officer, Jerry Ramar, fatally shot Aguilar after he failed to heed the officer's warning to stop beating the child, authorities said. Aguilar flashed his middle finger at Ramar before Ramar shot him in the forehead [YES!], police said.

"I have never seen anything like that before and I hope I never have to again," Ramar said of the beating.

Authorities have not released the name of the boy's mother.

Aguilar had no previous criminal history, police said. Results of toxicology tests on Aguilar are expected in four weeks.

Ramar has been placed on paid administrative leave, a routine response for officer-involved shootings.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.

*****

Even though I know things like this happen numerous times a year, it still sickens my soul to read about them.

Concerning the puke who murdered this toddler, likely his son, he got what deserved, albeit too late. Unfortunately, guns don't always save lives, but sometimes they do deal righteous justice.

Take care.
DAL357

Hardcore survivalism

So, you think you're a hardcore survivalist? Have you made up a few of these, assuming, of course, you have one or more members of the fairer sex in your party? I don't know about you, but I consider this a pretty darn good idea for extended societal problems that might disrupt supplies of personal hygiene items, along with last year's Yellow Pages (crinkle first for maximum utility and comfort--I speak from experience) for another task in that vicinity of the body that both sexes are heir to.

BTW, here's the how-to link.

Take care.
DAL357

P.S. Just in case some thin-skinned individuals might take umbrage to the above, I may have written it in a light-hearted manner, but it is a subject that should be thought of as carefully as food, water, guns and ammo, etc.

Peek-a-boo(bs)

If you thought there was no silver lining to the continuing meltdown of the airline industry, think again. The fact that fewer people are flying on fewer airlines at rates soon to be prohibitive for all but the very well to do, means fewer American citizens will be subject to the following treatment.

*****

Scanners that see through clothing installed in US airports
Tue Jun 10, 5:11 PM ET


Security scanners which can see through passengers' clothing and reveal details of their body underneath are being installed in 10 US airports, the US Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday.

A random selection of travellers getting ready to board airplanes in Washington, New York's Kennedy, Los Angeles and other key hubs will be shut in the glass booths while a three-dimensional image is made of their body beneath their clothes.

The booths close around the passenger and emit "millimeter waves" that go through cloth to identify metal, plastics, ceramics, chemical materials and explosives, according to the TSA.

While it allows the security screeners -- looking at [and rating?] the images in a separate room -- to clearly see the passenger's sexual organs as well as other details of their bodies, the passenger's face is blurred [oh, okay then], TSA said in a statement on its website.

The scan only takes seconds and is to replace the physical pat-downs of people that is currently widespread in airports.

TSA began introducing the body scanners in airports in April, first in the Phoenix, Arizona terminal.

The installation is picking up this month, with machines in place or planned for airports in Washington (Reagan National and Baltimore-Washington International), Dallas, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Miami and Detroit.

But the new machines have provoked worries among passengers and rights activists.

"People have no idea how graphic the images are," Barry Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty program at the American Civil Liberties Union, told AFP.

The ACLU said in a statement that passengers expecting privacy underneath their clothing "should not be required to display highly personal details of their bodies such as evidence of mastectomies, colostomy appliances, penile implants, catheter tubes and the size of their breasts or genitals as a pre-requisite to boarding a plane."

Besides masking their faces, the TSA says on its website, the images made "will not be printed stored or transmitted." [At least not directly. Hey, TSA, ever hear of cell phones with cameras?]

"Once the transportation security officer has viewed the image and resolved anomalies [With what, a gloved hand?], the image is erased from the screen permanently [but not from the memory of a TSA officer]. The officer is unable to print, export, store or transmit the image." [They will, however, be allowed to make allusions to the size of passengers' body parts using cupped hands held chest high or the right and left forefingers held varying distances apart.]

Lara Uselding, a TSA spokeswoman, added that passengers are not obliged to accept the new machines [just as we are not obliged to let them board].

"The passengers can choose between the body imaging and the pat-down," [Heck of a choice there, much like being given the choice to be probed with or without a glove.] she told AFP.

TSA foresees 30 of the machines installed across the country by the end of 2008 [this makes the big assumption that there still will be airports to need them]. In Europe, Amsterdam's Schipol airport is already [inappropriately] using the scanners.

*****

This is just one more in a slew of reasons why I haven't flown in nearly 10 years. Flying used to be an enjoyable experience, but it sounds like too much hassle to bother with anymore. Oh well, I've seen a good portion of the world I want to see already, so it's not that big of a loss for me, and isn't it all about me? (Thank goodness my wife doesn't read my blog.)

Take care.
DAL357

Liberty lost

If you’ve been paying attention during this presidential election cycle (come to think of it, ditto practically every other presidential election cycle in the last 20 years, at least), you have probably noticed folks with a Republican perspective urging a vote for McCain, not so much on his own merit, but as a vote against Obama. What a sad state of affairs.

Those same people who urge you to vote for McCain also say voting for a third-party candidate is tantamount to voting for Obama, as if voting for what you really believe in (usually actual liberty vs. ephemeral political promises that never materialize) is somehow treasonous. Yeah, that’s it. Millions of American soldiers fought and bled, and many thousands had their lives cut short, just so you could use your vote not for the candidate who offers liberty, but because he doesn’t suck as bad as the other guy. Your precious vote is just a pawn to run political interference.

I submit that those who vote this way are the real traitors to America and the ideals it purports to stand for. Voting in this way ensures we will continue to get more of what is essentially a non-choice in the future. Which of these two candidates really speaks for liberty? The answer, of course, is neither.

The founding fathers never intended, and when setting up the structure of our government, never envisioned or made provisions for political parties as we know them, although I’m sure they were aware of the concept. This was, and is, the Achilles heel of the U.S. Government, and it will destroy us in the end. (Actually, I believe it already has; we are just feeding on the carrion of past liberty, and that can’t last forever.)

The irrational factionalism we see today--where the group or party comes first, the country as a whole country be damned--is antithetical to liberty. Sure, it parades itself as honest debate, but that’s just for public consumption. It’s real aim is the acquisition and concentration of power from the people, who willingly give it every time they vote for any person who sees liberty as an antiquated idea.

Liberty is a simple concept; it doesn’t need much government apparatus to guarantee its continuation. A small, part-time government with the following features is all that’s necessary: a simple, easily-understood document stating inviolable rights, a court system to address/redress legitimate grievances between parties, a reasonable import/export tariff on trade (hey, money to run even a small government has to come from somewhere), and the wherewithal to protect its citizens from domestic or foreign force or fraud. This is the medium in which liberty reaches its full fruition. But where’s the payoff in that for those fractured souls known as power seekers?

What a wonderful world the above paragraph describes. America came close to this ideal long ago, much closer than any country in history ever has, although it never actually grasped it. It took its liberty for granted for so long it eventually lost it and will never regain it. So be it.

Take care.
DAL357

Can this be far away?

Are you old enough to remember the 55 mph speed limit of the 1970s and 1980s? I suspect that somewhere, and probably not too far, down the line, those old speed limit signs are going to get dusted off and reinstalled nationwide. If this doesn't happen within the next three years or so, I'll be extremely surprised.

Take care.
DAL357

Simultaneously sick, sad, and funny

I found the following piece over on the Onion to be distrubing, yet funny. Will you see it the same way? Is it an anti-Iraq-war piece disguised as satire? You be the judge. Do I care whether or not you find it humorous? Not really. Report: Love Letters From U.S. Troops Increasingly Gruesome .

Take care.
DAL357

Nearly a lifetime ago

Don't forget that 64 years ago today, the long-awaited (especially by the Soviets) second European front was started in France by Allied forces against the Nazis. Historians can, and will, debate the significance of this event ad nauseam when compared to the massive battles of the Eastern front, but I'd rather look at it from a worm's-eye view. In other words, from the fighting man's perspective.

These young men went into battle not knowing what they were facing (to maintain secrecy, most were not even aware of where they were specifically headed until very late in the operation). They were scared and, no doubt, wished they were elsewhere, but they pushed themselves while facing the prospect of sudden death and achieved a slow, grinding victory against a tough, entrenched enemy.

Please pause today, if only for a moment, to give thanks to those courageous men who helped bring about the defeat of the evil, immoral Nazi empire.

Take care.
DAL357