Be All That You Can ONT

Hi everybody! Welcome to Thursday's ONT. C'mon downstairs and we'll get started.

Just struck me as a really weird layout for stairs.

Baby Race

That's from a Savannah Bananas baseball game. I'd never heard of them, but apparently they're like the Harlem Globetrotters of Baseball. You can read more about them here. Now I'd really like to go to see them, but unfortunately they're sold out through 2024.

Headline Of The Week

Vaginal weightlifter sex coach charged with assaulting census taker who knocked at door

A “vaginal weightlifter” who runs “intimacy retreats” has been charged following an alleged altercation with a 60-year-old census worker.

Sex and relationship coach Kimberley Hawrelak, 50, is said to have attacked an employee of the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The worker had knocked on the door of her multi-million-dollar home in New South Wales.

According to the Daily Mail, the incident happened last August at her property in Cumming Parade, Point Lookout, which is in the New England region of the state.

Canadian-born Hawrelak, who has almost 200,000 followers on Facebook and Instagram, has a podcast called Orgasmic Enlightenment and describes herself as a “vaginal weightlifter (and) surfer”.

A Multi-million dollar home huh? Kinda sad how vaginal weightlifting has become corrupted by money. I remember when it was all about love of the sport.

Science Corner

The World’s 10 Most Endangered Animals of 2024

Out of all five rhino species, the javan rhino is the most endangered. With fewer than 70 left in the wild, they are likely to go extinct from disease, poaching, and habitat destruction. These rhinos are known to be found roaming in the Ujong Kulon National Park in Indonesia. In Vietnam, the last known javan rhino in this area was poached in 2010. 

I really like how some countries are moving against poachers. A lot of these preserves are guarded round the clock with heavily armed troops that have shoot to kill orders if they spot a poacher. Good. I wonder how that would work on the southern border...

Sports

NFL owners approve massive revamp to kickoff play

There's video of how it works at the link.

During the 2024 season, kickers will continue to kick from the 35-yard line, but the other 10 players on the kickoff team will line up at the receiving team's 40-yard line. At least nine members of the return team will line up in a "setup zone" between the 35- and 30-yard lines. Up to two returners can line up in a "landing zone" between the goal line and the 20-yard line.

No one other than the kicker and returner(s) can move until the ball hits the ground or hits a player inside the landing zone. Touchbacks will be marked at the 30-yard line, and no fair catches will be allowed. In the event a team wants to attempt an onside kick, it will have to inform officials of its intent and would then be allowed to use the NFL's traditional formation. No surprise onside kicks will be allowed.

So what do you think? If they return to the actual traditional onside kick, where the players run along with the kicker, I like that bit. Onside kicks from a standing start are almost impossible to pull off. As to the rest...I dunno. Anyone got an opinion?

Unrest In The Hat

Canadians Present A Major Threat If They Realize They Won’t Own A Home: RCMP

One of the concerns law enforcement is warning about is the impact of eroding economic conditions. Especially when it comes to young adults.

“The coming period of recession will also accelerate the decline in living standards that the younger generations have already witnessed compared to earlier generations,” reads the report.

Canada may have seen a pandemic economic boom, but it was largely related to rapidly appreciating real estate. Unfortunately, that doesn’t apply to young adults who saw housing get further out of reach.

“For example, many Canadians under 35 are unlikely to ever buy a place to live. The fallout from this decline in living standards will be exacerbated by the difference between the extremes of wealth, which is greater now in developed countries than it has been at any time in several generations,” warns the RCMP.

So it turns out that people tend to get upset when you wreck the economy with left wing economic policy, tax them to death to support it and import millions of migrants, many of whom live on the dole. This is my shocked face.

Beep Beep It's A Jeep

Origins of the Jeep: The Birthing of an Off-Road Legend

You won't find an "Aha!" moment in the jeep story. The closest is a meeting between a U.S. Army Ordnance subcommittee and the American Bantam Car Company of Butler, Pennsylvania, in early June of 1940. The subcommittee was on a fact-finding mission and included representatives of the various branches of the Army. The initial goal was to discuss light reconnaissance vehicles to replace the motorcycle and see some militarized Bantam cars in action. It's clear a light 4x4 was in the minds of the subcommittee, so the general idea was discussed and Bantam's brain trust proffered some good ideas.

Not long after the subcommittee meetings, Bantam presented a very complete set of vehicle specifications and plans, and offered to negotiate a contract for a small run of experimental 4x4 vehicles. That offer was refused, and Bantam was later shocked to learn the government was sending out invitations to bid on a short-wheelbase 4x4 to a large number of auto manufacturers. That grated especially hard because Bantam had helped flesh out the specifications. The paperwork specified a rigid schedule for completion of the first prototype in 49 days and final delivery of 61 vehicles 26 days after that prototype was approved. An additional two weeks was allotted for the completion of eight four-wheel-steer variants for a total of 70 vehicles.

The article also traced the development of the Willys and Ford models. Interesting stuff.

Texit

All Glory to Independent Texas, Comrade!

Jim Geraghty claims that a lot of the talk of a Texas secession from the union is Russian propaganda. Maybe so, but I have to tell you, a lot of people down here are muttering about it under their breath. And I take issue with this paragraph:

Let’s also note that the independent electric grid of Texas that he’s boasting about has been, er, less than ideal in recent years. After the major power crisis in winter 2021, it’s tough to believe that any Texan would be boasting that the electric grid is one of the reasons the state ought to secede.

Well, we had to take a lot of oil and gas power stations offline and replace them with boondoggles like wind and solar because of federal mandates. That was a huge contributor to the power problems. If we remove the feds, you can be damn sure we'd reverse those. Texas has more than enough natural gas to power the entire state, we'd damn sure use it.

Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by revenge:

posted by WeirdDave at 10:01 PM

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