Ace: aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com
Buck: buck.throckmorton at protonmail.com
CBD: cbd at cutjibnewsletter.com
joe mannix: mannix2024 at proton.me
MisHum: petmorons at gee mail.com
J.J. Sefton: sefton at cutjibnewsletter.com
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info: maildrop62 at proton dot me
Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!
Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be the Third November Edition? Now that Halloween is in the rearview mirror, are you getting ready for Thanksgiving?
With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?
Well will you looky here. More pistol fundamentals! Funny how our favorite concept, focusing on fundamentals, keeps coming up, huh? Anyhow, here's a guy outdoors in the cold and snow and wearing gloves.
Back in my coaching days, new shooters seemed to be looking to me for one weird trick that would improve their shooting and make them a world-class marksman. Many were disappointed to learn the weird trick was practice and a focus on fundamentals. That's the trick. Easy peasey.
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Indoor Shooting
Has the cooling fall weather chased you inside? Our pal "Jer" gives us some tips for shooting indoors.
Which do you prefer, shooting inside or outside, and why?
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Colt 607
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More High-Speed Camera Shooting Fun
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Good to Know
At a loss on how to interact with range babes? The Gun Thread has you covered.
Please note the new and improved protonmail account gunthread at protonmail dot com. An informal Gun Thread archive can be found HERE. Future expansion plans are in the works for the site Weasel Gun Thread. If you have a question you would like to ask Gun Thread Staff offline, just send us a note and we'll do our best to answer. If you care to share the story of your favorite firearm, send a picture with your nic and tell us what you sadly lost in the tragic canoe accident. If you would like to remain completely anonymous, just say so. Lurkers are always welcome!
That's it for this week - have you been to the range?
But I will often roast one not for the meat or skin, which is delicious, but for the pint or more of gorgeous, delicious, stupidly-expensive-if-purchased duck fat!
And that is what allowed me to stumble onto the easiest and least smoky way to roast duck. I discovered that a low-temperature roast for a long time will render most of the extra fat from the bird, while not smoking me out of the kitchen. And the resulting fat is beautiful and clear, not dark and roasted. Now, dark roasted duck fat is not a bad thing. In fact it is delicious. But I prefer the low temp rendered fat because it is far more versatile.
I roast at 225 or 250 degrees for a while, and turn up the temperature a bit if it is going too slowly. Only when most of the fat is rendered and poured off the roasting pan will I increase the heat to 425 degrees or so to give the duck its beautiful golden-brown roasted color. There is tons of fat on the duck, so it is difficult to dry it out even with a couple of hours of roasting.
And why am I thinking about duck? Because it is Thanksgiving season, and I much prefer duck (or pork roast) to turkey, which is boring.
This selfish and spoiled b*tch has lived in America since the age of four. She is well-off and modestly famous because of the riches that American Exceptionalism has created. But she is a case study in the theory that you can't take the third-world out of a third-worlder!
Sorry Padma, but nobody gives a shit what you think of America and American cooking. This is more your style,[NSFW] and a more appropriate use of your talents.
[Hat Tip: Lizzy]
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A Chef's Secret Ingredient for Thanksgiving Dressing
Hot Dog Buns! And I approve! I will often buy hot dog or hamburger buns, and almost never use them all. So they get tossed into the freezer until they get so completely freezer-burned that they are unrecognizable as food.
One little quibble: it's "stuffing," not dressing. And don't listen to Bluebell...she was dropped on her head as a child, and that is the glitch caused by the injury.
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Obviously the drink of choice with dinner isn't Bourbon. That's for breakfast!
Seriously...does anyone drink hard liquor with dinner? The only time I do it intentionally is...um...never. Well, actually, once. At a good restaurant in D.C. whose wine list was so stupidly expensive that I drank Martinis instead of wine.
But last night, at a birthday dinner for a relative, I poured myself a large Bourbon, and simply didn't get around to finishing it before we sat down for dinner.
And all was good and simple and fine! I finished the last ounce or so with a very nice meal. Yes, I moved on to wine, because there was a very good Zinfandel being poured, and I am not a complete fool!
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Chicken Vesuvio is a pretty standard recipe, but that is not a criticism. In fact, it is a delicious and easy way to make chicken thighs. It is also almost infinitely modifiable, so whatever you have in the refrigerator can go into the pan without fear of catastrophe.
But, as usual, the recipe writer is full of sh*t. "Bake in preheated oven until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest portion of chicken registers 175°F, 16 to 18 minutes." Really? 16-18 minutes? The nonsense precision of that sentence makes me want to smack the writer with a cast-iron pan.
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I just got a bunch of dried chilies yesterday, and I am quite excited to make...wait for it...CHILI. And it's not that dried chili powder is bad. I have some excellent stuff. But there is nothing quite like making it from scratch. I think I will also chop the meat by hand...the texture of rough-chopped beef chili is sublime.
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A friend graciously gave me some genuine grown-in-the-USA garlic, and I am going to taste one clove and plant the rest, because my pathetic failure last year is an anomaly...right?
And...send all of your extra antelope to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.
Who are those poor deluded souls We know who shakes their Manhattans! These are the same people who drink fine bourbon with coke, and probably shake red wine with ice too.
$1,200 for a bottle of bourbon is just stupid, insulting, and a ghastly affront to most people's palates and wallets. I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.
The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty or fifty years, but it is worth it!
Is there some sort of cosmic joke I am not privy to? Every single time we clear our leaves for the town's pickup, along comes a delightfully windy fall day to redistribute those carefully corralled leaves.
Every. Single. Time!
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And below the fold is a carefully considered rebuttal to my coffee-cup missive from last week.
I understand the sentimentality of a favorite mug. But, coffee drinking is serious business and should be treated as such.
Pragmatism should outweigh sentiment in this situation. That's why I switched to an insulated mug. However, I purposefully got one that doesn't look like the standard "travel" mug. People who use those are not serious about coffee. They are merely vagabonds.
A good insulated mug will keep coffee hot for nearly 6 hours. This is important, because a regular mug forces you to drink your coffee at a speed decided by the mug. It should be the other way around. And, if you can pace out your consumption you don't drink as much coffee...which is important based on the way I brew it. If the spoon doesn't stand up on its own, the coffee is weak.
Taxpayer-Funded Universities Are Training Foreigners To Take Our Jobs. H1Bs And OPTs Make It Even Worse!
—CBD
Our universities eagerly accept foreigners because they pay full tuition, and in many cases additional fees...never mind that they are taking spots that have been funded by American taxpayers for American students. The universities also have greater control over foreign students because of their student visas...they will do pretty much what they are told, including teaching undergraduates for very little or no compensation. Of course, many of them don't speak English well enough to be effective instructors, but the universities certainly don't care. They long ago ceased being educators of American youth and have become propagandists for their peculiar ignorant leftism. But that may be a secondary function....most are fanatically fixated on growing their institutions and their endowments, and be damned with the idea of educating Americans!
And our horrid anti-American corporations take advantage of every single employment regulation to maximize their profitability at the expense of the American taxpayer. Should they be allowed to use the law to their advantage? Absolutely! Should our lawmakers change the law so that the employment of Americans is the only goal of the law? Absolutely!
Yes, I despise most of our corporations because they have lost sight of even the most basic pro-American sensibilities. That's why JP Morgan's announcement a few weeks ago of a significant pro-American financial initiative was so welcome, and so surprising. Hopefully it will be the impetus for other American banks and other companies to invest in America and Americans.
In 2024 alone, the Biden administration approved work permits for approximately 400,000 foreign college graduates through the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program — a 45 percent increase from 2020 levels under President Trump. Former U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joe Edlow and other Trump administration officials have warned that programs like OPT are depressing wages and displacing American graduates, particularly in high-demand STEM and business fields.
The pipeline from foreign student to U.S. worker also begins at the admissions level. Breitbart News opinion contributor Rich Kaye questioned why taxpayer-funded public universities are increasingly filling seats with international students who later convert F-1 student visas into work permits. “When a public university replaces a Georgia student with an F‑1 student in a high‑demand field,” Kaye wrote, “it increases the pipeline pressure tomorrow for H‑1B allocations in exactly the sectors where Americans could be trained to fill roles.”
Congress must act, and act quickly to repair the damage that generations of globalists and bean counters have done to American employment. In fact, a major overhaul would be quite simple. End H1B visas. End the OPT program. Evaluate foreign worker entry into the American job market on a case-by-case basis. And if it takes three years to get a $75,000/year Indian programmer, then so be it. Absent a clearly demonstrated lack of domestic labor supply, the answer should always be "no."
Will that injure American technological progress? Perhaps, although I doubt it very much. The intellectual pipeline flows mostly one way, and that direction is out of America to the rest of the world. Certainly the panicked CEOs of many corporations will trot out examples -- real or imagined -- where their businesses will be injured by shutting down the supply of foreign labor, but each of those CEOs should be invited to fund American training systems that will generate domestic labor supply. That's what they should have been doing a long time ago.
The function of government is not to protect the profits of corporations. It is to protect the well being of the people. We are long past the time when American business leaders should be taken seriously when they whine about global competitiveness and allowing capital to flow to the most efficient places.
The Trump administration has a year to get this correct...the 2026 mid-term elections are a great unknown, but history suggests a malign result. Do it now, and the American people will thank President Trump, the Republican Party, and the pro-American legislators who pushed back against the globalists!
Sunday Morning Book Thread - 11-16-2025 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]
—Open Blogger
(HT: sharon (willow's apprentice))
Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading (Kaboom!). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...(cosmic power not included)
So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?
That was the first thing that popped into my head when sharon (willow's apprentice) sent me the picture above. It's from this post on X, with the image generated by Grok.
HOW TO SPOT AI WRITING
Even gives some example of AI-generated writing he's come across and provides tips and tricks on how you can determine if a sample of writing is AI-generated. I thought about sharing this with my students, but knowing the engineering mindset as I do, I also suspected that my students would then make it their mission to train AI to NOT do the things that Evan talks about. I did share the video with my colleagues at work. Once you've watched this video, you'll probably recognize that you've seen AI-generated writing in many places in the internet. It can be very predictable.
AI-GENERATED STORYTELLIING
Fantasy author Mark Lawrence conducted an experiment on his blog where he solicited fellow authors to submit "flash fiction" samples that were either written by AI or by his colleagues and the challenges was to determine if the writing was AI-generated or not. If you've watched the first video above, it's actually quite simple to deduce which of the samples Alyssa shares are AI-generated. Otherwise, it's a bit more challenging, but not much more so. AI tends to take a writing prompt more literally than a human author will--especially if the human author has considerable story-telling experience. We humans can exhibit genuine creativity while AI cannot--all it can do is regurgitate a combination of elements into a storylike experience. A couple of years ago, I asked ChatGPT to tell me the story of Balor of the Evil Eye, an Irish folk legend. It was not a good story. ChatGPT may have gotten better at it, but I sort of doubt it. Let's check and see...Nope. Still not great.
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BOOKS BY MORONS
Frederick Key has had one of his books picked up by Raconteur Press.
I've Got This by Frederick Key
Quentin Margolis seems like your average eighth-grader, but he's got a knack for knowing exactly what to bring--whether it's homework, gym clothes, or something as odd as a metal pipe or a flowery umbrella. This quirky ability always saves the day for someone, though it sometimes lands Quentin in a pickle. When his family moves to the small town of Guild River, Quentin's secret talent helps him win over new friends: brainy Jeffrey, wisecracking Kenny, and athletic Thom, son of the police chief. Together, they dive into a thrilling school project about a decades-old bank heist that left three robbers dead, one jailed, and a fortune missing.
As the boys uncover cryptic clues and dodge shadowy figures, Quentin's peculiar gift keeps them one step ahead, but also raises questions he can't avoid. Packed with humor and just the right amount of mystery, this adventure celebrates friendship and ingenuity. Perfect for boys who love a fast-paced tale where ordinary kids tackle extraordinary challenges, it's a story that'll keep young readers hooked and parents cheering for more!
Hi. I'm Anonosaurus Wrecks and I am a bookslutaholic. It's been zero days since I bought a book. Most recently I bought Forgive the Bride: A Parody of Kill Bill Volume 3 By: Dr. Stanley Quincy Upjohn. It's the story and psychoanalysis of Nikki Bell who, at age 4, witnessed her mother, Copperhead, being killed by the Bride and her search for vengeance.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Why Do the Heathen Rage? at November 09, 2025 10:03 AM (L/fGl)
Comment: Sorry, Anonosaurus Wrecks, you are in the wrong support group. Wasn't O-Ren Ishii also motivated by revenge as a young girl when her parents were killed by the Yakuza? As I recall (after re-watching the video clip), she got her revenge by growing up and taking control of the Yakuza in the most ruthless way. This seems to be common trait among assassins in popular culture. They witness something horrific when they are young, then spend their lives training hard so that they can do something about it when they grow up. Moral of the story: Wipe out the entire family. (This is, in fact, frequently attempted, but there's often a lone survivor....)
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I've been reading the first book in the THICK two-volume comic My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris. It's written in the form of a journal in a lined school composition book, a sketchbook telling a girl's life story in elaborate pencil drawings. The little oddball protagonist envisions herself as a werewolf detective as she prowls around her 60's Chicago neighborhood poking into the weird goings on (she calls it "the greasy clockwork of the night machine") and observing suspicious activity after a beautiful woman in their apartment building supposedly commits suicide.
What's astounding is that Emil, a commercial artist and sculptor, got very sick and lost full motion of her legs and dexterity in her hands, and she had to switch from the bold confident lines of a cartoonist to the layered hatching of her current style. Here is a video:
tinyurl.com/bdexs58s
Posted by: All Hail Eris,, coming to you live from the Roller Disco of Discord! at November 09, 2025 09:15 AM (kpS4V)
Comment: According to the video, Emil was bitten by a mosquito that injected her with a potent cocktail of West Nile virus, meningitis, and encephalitis. It's a wonder she ever woke up again. Pretty crazy story.
Purchased a few more books this past week (this time ordered via Amazon):
The Witness Trilogy Book 1 - The God Is Not Willing by Steven Erickson -- Yet another tale set within the world of the Malazan Empire.
The Witness Trilogy Book 2 - No Life Forsaken by Steven Erickson
Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear
Hierarchy Book II - The Strength of the Few by James Islington
The Dreamthief's Daughter by Michael Moorcock
The White Wolf's Son by Michael Moorcock
WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:
Last week I tried something new, attempting to drag this blog kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century. A few of you seemed to like it, so let's keep doing it!
Also, those dropdown arrows are of the Devil. Next thing you know, we'll have "thumbs up / down" buttons.
Posted by: PabloD at November 09, 2025 09:28 AM (HqfBN)
Von Bek by Michael Moorcock
This is an omnibus volume containing three books: The Warhound and the World's Pain, A City in the Autumn Stars, and The Dragon in the Sword. There's also a short story at the end: "The Pleasure Garden of Felipe Sagittarius."
The Warhound and the World's Pain
Ulrich von Bek, a mercenary captain during the Thirty Years War in Europe flees his men, deserting them. He makes his way to a strange castle in the middle of an equally eerie forest where he meets Lucifer. The Prince of Lies commissions von Bek to find the Cure for the World's Pain, i.e., the Holy Grail. Von Bek's journey takes him to the edge of reality itself, pursued by dark forces who prefer the status quo.
A City in the Autumn Stars
Manfred von Bek, a descendent of Ulrich, flees Paris during the French Revolution. He's pursued by royalists (I think--it's actually a bit hazy on which side he was fighting) and flees to Switzerland (neutral territory, of course). Through a series of midadventures, he and his companions find themselves stranded in the "Middle Marches," a strange realm that exists between Heaven and Hell, but is very far from Earth. Here, he become embroiled in a scheme by mad alchemists to use the Holy Grail in a demonic ritual that would allow someone to gain control over all reality.
The Dragon in the Sword
The viewpoint changes quite a bit in this story as the main characters is no longer von Bek. Instead, it's John Daker, who goes by many names, and is an incarnation of the Eternal Champion. He's quite literally a fulcrum arond which the entire multiverse revolves. The Eternal Champion serves as the avatar of the Balance between Good and Evil, Law and Chaos. Daker's mission is to prevent Sharadim, who may or may not be his twin sister, from seizing control over the multiverse. It's a strange story.
Although I enjoy Michael Moorcock's stories, over 700 pages in a single volume was a bit much. I prefer smaller bite-sized stories. Fortunately, his stories tend to move pretty fast, so there is rarely any "slog." He's very efficient with his story-telling. Epic in scale, but compact oin form, if that makes sense.
Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear
This is a Michael Crichton-style science fiction thriller. What if we were wrong about evolution? What if there was some OTHER mechanism driving the change in the human genome over the millennia? Human women all over the world are experiencing much higher rates of pregnancies resulting in miscarriages through a virus that has suddenly awakened in humanity. We all carry it in our cells, but its mostly dormant. Now it's causing strange effects in pregnancies, resulting in babies that are not quite as human as their parents.
Tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc., can all be directed to perfessor -dot- squirrel -at- gmail -dot- com.
Huggy Squirrel don't got this...
Disclaimer: No Morons were physically harmed in the creation of today's Sunday Morning Book Thread. This disclaimer may—or may not—have been written using generative AI. Only Grok knows for sure.
I was reading through the service manual for the HP 9121 disk drive that I found on Bitsavers - it rained this weekend - and it turns out it did in fact run at 600 rpm, twice as fast as was common for other 3.5" drives.
I then asked Grok to check some details for me, and was swiftly reminded that Grok is less reliable than random half-remembered facts I read in a long out-of-print publication twenty years ago.
I asked if there were any historical 10-bit processor architectures, and it gave me a couple of examples from the late 60s and early 70s. It even gave me the detailed opcode format of one of the models and a bunch of links for further details.
The machines were real.
They were not 10 bit, though; they were 16 bits, which is hardly a rarity.
The opcode format was entirely fictional, which is actually a little impressive. Very minimal but it could have worked.
The 250K, which replaces the 245K, and the 270K, which replaces the 265K, both add 4 efficiency cores, taking them from 6 + 8 to 6 + 12 and 8 + 12 to 8 + 16 respectively.
The high-end 290K is basically a 285K but 1.8% faster... And also just 1.8% faster than the new 270K making it ENTIRELY POINTLESS.
Google's legal action is comprehensive and is intent on completely dismantling Lighthouse's operations. The search giant is bringing claims under RICO, the Lanham Act, and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).
I'm not sure yet how it will turn out that this is a bad thing.
Concord came out in August last year and quickly achieved notoriety for two reasons: First, it cost $400 million and took eight years to develop, and second, it made absolutely no money whatsoever because it was so bad Sony shut down the servers and refunded everyone after just two weeks.
Concord wasn't a bad game
Yes it was. Objectively so. It cost $400 million to make, sold just 25,000 copies in total at $40, and was gone in just two weeks.
A thorough investigation published in May 2023 found that the inner core of the Moon is, in fact, a solid ball with a density similar to that of iron.
Ah. Cheese and garlic sauce. An important distinction.
Thanks scientists.
Turkey is stuffed, seasoned, and in the oven. We'll see how it goes.
Musical Interlude
Disclaimer: That HP 9121 270k disk drive cost nearly $1200 in 1982. Which used to be a lot... And will buy you a whole computer these days so I guess it still is.
Saturday Night "Club ONT" November 15, 2025 [The 3 Ds]
—Open Blogger
Welcome to Club ONT! A collaboration the 3D's - The Disco, The Dino, and The Doggo.
Disco lives! The Triumvirate is intact. Let's get the Club opened up.
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Fall is upon us. Button up your insulated flannel, grab a table by the fire, find some cider or your drink of choice, and pretend you love pumpkin spice.
A pilot got on the loudspeaker shortly after takeoff and said to the passengers, "Folks, welcome aboard flight seven eighty-nine to Cleveland. We'll be flying at thirty-five-thousand feet, and expect to land in an hour and a half. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight."
Forgetting to turn off the microphone, he turned to his co-pilot, yawned, and said, "Why don't you take over for a while? I'm going to take me a big healthy shit, and then I'm gonna shag the brains outta that new blonde flight attendant."
His announcement went over the whole plane. The pretty blonde flight attendant heard this and exclaimed, "Oh my God!" and started running towards the cockpit.
An old lady sitting in an aisle seat stopped her and said, "Relax honey, he's gotta take a shit first."
Scoville first had to develop a calibrated scale for spiciness and an experimental method for gauging the spiciness of various peppers. In this method, known as the “Scoville organoleptic test,” chilis are dried, ground into a fine powder, and mixed into a solution of alcohol, water, and sugar. This mixture is then given to a panel of 5 tasters to consume. As the perceived spiciness of any given food varies widely from person to person, this panel allows an average value to be obtained. The pepper solution is then progressively diluted with water and given back to the panel until all members can no longer detect any spiciness. The number of dilutions needed to cross the sensory threshold, rounded to the nearest multiple of 100, thus becomes the heat rating of the pepper, expressed in Scoville Heat Units or SHU. For example, if a saturated pepper solution had to be diluted 50,000 times before the tasters can no longer detect it, that pepper is given a Scoville number of 50,000 SHU.
To give an idea of just how this scale works, a Bell Pepper, which contains no capsaicin, has a rating of 0 SHU, while the average Jalapeño clocks in at 3,500-8,000 SHU. The Scotch Bonnet, Red Savina habanero, and Bhut Jolokia or “Ghost Pepper” – previously among the hottest in the world – top out at 580,000 SHU, while police-grade pepper spray and the Carolina Reaper reach 1.5-2 million SHU. Chemically pure capsaicin, meanwhile, sits at a whopping 16 million SHU.
Looking for a party dip without the side effects of sweating, crying, and a gallon of milk? A nice, calm buffalo chicken dip is always welcome. Pro tip: go with bleu cheese instead of ranch. Ranch is for people that clap when the ice cream truck is down to low-sugar, fruit-based treats.
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Club ONT Gear Heads
Some HP, a touch of history, mechanical misfits, and a hint of genius. Some were brilliant, some promised speed, others efficiency - and all make for a fun trip down memory lane.
The Millenia was canceled after the 2002 model year, and the industry waited nearly a quarter century to revisit the Miller cycle, with the 2025 Volvo XC90 adopting the design. In the interim, dozens of hybrid vehicle powertrains have employed the Atkinson cycle, a less aggressive take on the Miller concept that swaps in electric motors for superchargers to paper over the reduced compression that comes with it.
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The HQ proudly counts our very own Mannix - he’s cooler than this car, but just by a hair. Below, the lost‑and‑found story of an awesome car from that TV show.
Good reading. Take time to click through the picture gallery - not Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) style pics, but still great.
Although Barris was given a relatively free hand in creating the Dart’s special features, he knew it was not to be a gimmick-laden machine like the James Bond Aston Martin. After all, Joe Mannix was a regular guy working for 100 bucks a day, not a British secret agent. “They left it up to me as to what would be a trendsetter to follow the concept of the show,” George Barris told us. “The Toronado was a one-of-a-kind expensive-looking vehicle, like slipping a private eye into a Rolls-Royce. We wanted the Dart to have a performance look, but we played it down to make Mannix’s visibility as a private eye not so luxurious.”
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Club ONT Music
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Top 10ish Comments of the Week
Alert the archives and the Permanent Record Department. We have some disturbingly competent and very witty comments this week.
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Club ONT was brought to you by: You're among your people.
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NOTICE: Last week there was a disturbance among Club ONT patrons. Seems there were several disagreements in and around the jukebox. Apparently there are strong feelings among patrons regarding whether certain songs from the late 1970s are properly classified as "disco" or other adjacent classifications such as "disco-funk," "rock-disco," "euro-disco," "soul disco," "R&B," "pop", and "pure funk." Club ONT apologizes for the commotion and requests that patrons resolve such differences in the usual manner of mutual ridicule and rock, paper, scissors. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Saturday Evening Movie Post [moviegique]: The Best Years Of Our Lives
—Open Blogger
Since my last missive, I saw no fewer than thirteen movies in the theater. And I've been trying to get back into reviewing them all as I go, a habit that got broke during Covid and never really came back, probably due at least as much to my writing novels as anything else.
There was the delightful documentary Rebel With A Clause where a lady and her husband go around to various American cities and set up a "Grammar Table" where she answered people's nagging grammar questions, took complaints and collected regional novelties.
There was del Toro's Frankenstein that does to that story what he did for Pinocchio—i.e., twist it to serve his own hobby horses so much that it completely inverts the original story and renders it incoherent. (It does, at least, feature a Frankenhole!)
Then I jetted off to the Texas theater for a night of shenanigans with Joe Bob Briggs where we watched: The Tinger, Trick Or Treat, Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park, Halloween 3, Phantom of the Paradise and "Garfield's Halloween Adventure".
After a paucity of interesting movies in October, four were released in just the last few weeks: the psychological thriller If I Had Legs, the 30th anniversary of Zhang Yimou's Ju Dou, Persian guerilla filmmaker Jafar Panahi's gripping It Was Just An Accident, and Yorgos Lanthimos' latest adventure in hating humanity Bugonia.
Did I mention the Estonian horror musical Chainsaws Were Singing? Because I should totally mention the Estonian horror musical Chainsaws Were Singing.
I liked all of them to varying degrees, but none of them seem very Thanksgiving-y—except "Rebel Without A Clause," which is chock full of Americana and gratitude. But I haven't written the review for that yet, so I'm going with a classic from Thanksgiving 20201: The Best Years of Our Lives. Enjoy!
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When I was a boy, the greatest of the secular holidays--if you'll forgive the oxymoron--was Thanksgiving. It sat defiantly on a Thursday and, fortified by the mythology of America, simultaneously closed the stores and clogged the airports and the bus stations. Gourmandizing aside, it was--and still is--a holiday that defied commercialization because its elemental substance was gratitude. So it is perhaps unsurprising that, encroached on one side by the increasingly commercialized Christmas and on the other by a Halloween metastasized from ever -expanding childhoods, Thanksgiving has not been a font of pop culture. Or, as Loudon Wainwright III put it:
Suddenly, it's Christmas right after Halloween
Forget about Thanksgiving, it's just a buffet in-between
(Wainwright's thoughts on Thanksgiving can be found here.)
Up until a few years ago, when John Hughes' Planes, Trains and Automobiles emerged from the cinematic soup of the '80s as a modern Thanksgiving classic (and setting aside the second best Peanuts special), the film I most associated with Thanksgiving was The Best Years of Our Lives. So ingrained was this in my head, I was rather surprised on a recent viewing to discover Thanksgiving makes no appearance in the film whatsoever--though it was released one week before Thanksgiving in 1946.
No Thanksgiving, but a whole lot of giving thanks.
Hoagy Carmichael in the back, and from left-to-right: Harold Russell, Teresa Wright, Dana Andrews, Myrna Loy, Frederic March
Directed by William Wyler from a screenplay by Robert Sherwood (Rebecca, The Bishop's Wife) from a novella/poem by MacKinlay Kantor (who also wrote the book Follow Me, Boys! was based on), it would be the top grossing film of the decade and win seven regular Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Screenplay and both Best Actor Oscars, and two special Oscars.
Our story begins with three servicemen returning from the war: An Army sergeant (Frederic March), a Navy Petty Officer (Harold Russell) and an Air Force bombardier (Dana Andrews) who share an uncomfortable 16-hour plane flight to get to the fictional town of Boone City where each discovers that while the town hasn't changed, they and their relationship to it has.
There's nothing more American than the fact that their status in the military service has nothing to do with their non-military lives (cf. "I've Got My Captain Working For Me Now"). Sergeant Al (March) was a wealthy banker, Petty Officer Homer (Russell) was a solidly middle class high-school sports star, and the highest status among them, Bombardier Fred (Andrews) was a soda-jerk from the wrong side of the tracks.
(insert inappropriate joke about "getting over Macho Grande" here)
Al returns to loving wife Milly (top-billed Myrna Loy) and two children who have grown to adulthood in his absence. Milly is so patient and so adept at handling Al that daughter Peggy (Teresa Wright) thinks that they've never had a single marital problem. Although Al finds himself welcome back at his old job (in charge of G.I. loans), he wants to use his gut sense about men--his faith in their abilities as he saw them during the war--as a basis for making loans. (This is literally illegal today.) And he finds himself dealing with the stress by drinking.
Homer's difficulties stem from the loss of his hands. Russell won two Oscars here, both for best supporting actor and an honorary one for supporting disabled veterans because the Academy assumed he couldn't win the regular Oscar, not being a professional actor. It's a powerhouse of a performance because Homer, who has already wrestled with his disability, has to repeat the grieving process with practically everyone he comes into contact with.
In an excess of decency, he wants to free his best girl Wilma (Cathy O'Donnell) from feeling obliged to stay with him while she struggles to make him realize her feelings haven't changed.
Getting a piano lesson from Hoagy while Andrews (way in the back) is doing the right thing. (Look at that blocking!)
The main arc of the movie belongs to Fred. A genuine war hero who ends up working for the kid who probably was too young for the and whose home-town pharmacy was bought out by a big conglomerate, he's also suffering from what we now call PTSD, and his party-time pin-up gal wife Marie (Virginia Mayo), whom he married two weeks before shipping out, doesn't really have anything in common with him any more and also really hates that he can't hold down a job. The movie's great irony being that the least grateful and understanding person in the film, Marie, is the one who bitterly utters the words "the best years of my life".
Complicating matters further is that an encounter with Peggy convinces Fred that she, rather than the bubble-headed bimbo, is what he really wants in a wife. This doesn't go down very well with Al.
I hope it's not a spoiler to say that things more-or-less all work out for the best, and some critics, especially in later years, would regard the movie as too "neat", but the whole point of the film is giving thanks. When Homer is describing the process of how he has to put on the harness that holds his hook-hands, he says, "I'm lucky. I have my elbows. Some of the boys don't." (Sort of a variant on "I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.")
It isn't really "neat", though: All three of our heroes have to face the fact that life is going to be full of new challenges. Al's challenge is moral and institutional, Harold's is physical, and Fred basically has to start over. But a big part of giving thanks, as it turns out, is not giving up--and the guy who stands in the future suggesting a movie like this should end in despair is like the conspiracy theory guy (Ray Teal) who calls the servicemen "suckers": he deserves a sock in the jaw.
With a relentlessly emotional score by Hugo Friedhoffer (and directed by Emil Newman), and occasionally blocked so arrestingly that a home viewing has the vital advantage of letting you pause and rewind to appreciate it, this is a unique film that has me choked up for almost the entirety of its 2:50 runtime, every time I watch it--and feeling that I need to be more thankful.
"There oughtta be a law against any man who doesn't want to marry Myrna Loy." -- Jimmy Stewart
Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. A spin of the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies (TM) landed on RV life.
Are you thinking "I don't like the great outdoors and I don't have an RV, but I am curious how others do it. I'm eager to learn more. I can't wait to get into the content!" I knew it. Enjoy.
As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. All (legal) hobbying is welcome. However, politics, current events and religious debates can live in threads elsewhere. Pants are optional. Puns are welcome and encouraged but don't get your nuts cracked.
Play nice. Don't be a troll and do not feed the trolls.
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This theme started as a combination of camping and RV traveling. Your humble correspondent enjoys the treat outdoors but neither camps or travels in an RV. I know enough to be dangerous, but wouldn't call either a personal hobby.
Given the lack of knowledge, I consulted the interweb. It became clear very quickly that camping and RV life are two different things. After consulting the Wheel of Hobbies, the decision was made to focus on RV life for this post. We'll do a separate camping focused theme in the future.
I was also blown away by the magnitude of blogs and social media videos there are from people attempting to live a mobile life and support themselves through online platforms. There are SO MANY. I don't know which are credible or worthy of Hobby Thread content, so I've made a good faith effort to pick a few.
In the same vein, most of the RV material on the interweb is from people devoted to full time RV life (as opposed to weekend or holiday outings). I'm sure they are out there, but the part timers seem to get lost in the noise of those who are living on the road full time.
There are a number of other RV people that use RVs to support other activities. They are a means to an end. They tow the horse trailer and provide a place to stay during a weekend event. Same for cars or motorcycles. RVs are a portable living room and there are many different designs for different needs.
With all that as context, looking for help in the gray boxes to help on this one on RV life.
Are you an RV family? What do you have? How often do you take it on the road? Are you living on the road or have you lived out of an RV full time? Lessons learned? Tips for those considering getting into it? Best trips? Horror stories?
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Tackling the logistics:
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If you don't know what you don't know, how do you know if you're doing it right?
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Oh the glamor and excitement of living on the road!
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Planning to retire and take up full RV life on the road? Be informed about the costs and logistics implications. Here are a few things to consider: 15 Reasons You'll Regret an RV in Retirement
As you might imagine, this article riled up the RV community and there are many posts that take issue with the "clickbait" headline and content. One thing I've learned in the prep for this post is that the full time RV community fiercely defends the RV life.
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Motorhome testing. Not Consumer Reports.
Fancy an English campervan holiday?
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What is "workamping"? Full time RV people that work part-time or full-time. Some roles earn money but others are trade for an RV spot and hookup. Knew it existed but never knew it had a name.
What kind of jobs? Think of jobs that are seasonal or periodic. Think of jobs that involve taking tickets, staffing a visitor center or a front desk, cleaning up or setting up, etc. Campgrounds and RV Parks, Theme Parks/Amusement Parks/Tourist Attractions/Circuses/Carnivals, Dude Ranches/Outdoor Outfitters/Lodges/Cabins/Motels/Retreats, Motorsports, etc. More here.
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Because when you think of the Hobby Thread, you think of financial advice. Also a reminder of the perils of turning your hobby into a business.
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Utah is amazing. This video has RV/camping tips for Utah, but also a lot of pretty pictures of beautiful places. Good people if you where to find them. You know who you are.
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Sometimes it is a about the journey. Sometimes the journey takes you somewhere worthwhile. If not for things like this, RV life would just be about driving in circles.
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Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did a fall food theme. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.
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Notable comments from last week:
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Words of wisdom:
"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).
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If you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, contribute something from your personal hobbying. We will feature a different theme next time. What are you hobbying? We love showing off Horde hobbying. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.
Hi, KT. Few pics of our new pup,Heidi, and her brother, Harley. My best friend went to get a Shih Tzu back in April and called me to take the sibling. I caved. First pic is Heidi at 8 weeks. Second pic is of the pair together. Last two pics were a week ago. Choose which pics you'd like to share. Love the Pet Thread.
olddog in mo
So hard to decide! What cuties!
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Some of my cats have had an affinity for music. I compose little songs for each of them for laptimes; seems to make them purr more. Flash here, rescued as a 7-year-old feral (he actually let himself in the house one day,) was quarantined for a month on my enclosed front porch while the Frontline killed all his fleas. Then he was isolated in my bedroom awhile. One of the first things he did there was creep over and lay his head on the laptop on the floor playing classical. Here he is now, six years later, still listening, this time to Lubov Timofeyeva playing Haydn.
Thanks! gp
We are developing some fine computer-literate PetMorons!
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Bad Bunny photoshoot
Frankly, I tried to discourage her from hanging around, since Sammy is already disrupting the cat crew here. But Publius can't bear to see a cat begging for food, so here we are with another feline satellite. That's a little solar fountain, floating in the water.
We'll never know what happened to her tail - she's not talking.
Miley
Nice solar fountain. Thanks for sending the details on the photo shoot!
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PetMoron Adjacent Animals
Encountered by Members of The Horde
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A couple of pics from our trail cams. One yesterday morning. The second has some screwy antlers so I named him, what else, Screwy..
- f'd
Impressive photos! Thanks for sending them in.
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Thank you for sharing your pets and animal photos and stories with us today.
If you would like to send pet and/or animal stories, links, etc. for the Ace of Spades Pet Thread, the address is:
petmorons at protonmail dot com
Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known when you comment at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.
The attached photo shows my tomato plants today. The weather here in SE
Wisconsin had been mild through early November, and I was harvesting
tomatoes up through last weekend. However, last Monday, a sudden cold
snap and 12 inches of snow hit in the early morning hours; and the
result is a destroyed garden. Looks like I waited a little too long to
collect that last batch of tomatoes!
Well, today I'll spade the ruined plants into my compost pile and bed
everything down. Then I'll begin to stare out the window and wait for
spring.
Nemo
NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I would say you were "caught off guard". GMail suggests that I should tell you it "looks beautiful".
I think everyone gets one or two free conspiracy theories. If you don't have any unconventional beliefs, you're kind of boring. You do not have, as Michael Scott said, a "child-like sense of wonder."
If you have three to five conspiracy theories, then I'd say you have a preference for the fantastical and dramatic and you prefer action-thriller movie plots to pedestrian but much more likely explnations. You like big, bold, often-gibberish theories that are more interesting than dull reality.
If you believe in six to ten conspiracy theories, well, now I think you're kind of a loon and maybe a bit credulous and low-IQ. Now I think you just believe in conspiracy theories because they're pretty simple.
But, if like Tucker Carlson, you now believe in ALL OF THE CONSPIRACY THEORIES, I don't think you're a loon.
I think you're a grifter playing the loons for Paranoia Clicks.
More details at the link. Don't comment on old threads.
Conspiracy theories tend to vary in quality, and some are more lasting than others. Also, some tend to overtake previous thought patterns. What happened to Candace thinking like this?
I happen to have some insider information (well, not actually insider, but advanced) that this "dignity" theme has been in the works for a LONG time. I'll see if I can dig up any insider information from my source. Heh.
Noticed any other recent conspiracies or conspiracy theories?
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Weekend
The Week In Pictures: Return to Normalcy Edition
The big news of the week was the end of the Democrats’ shutdown, which means that things are now back to normal. I.e., batsh*t crazy. (And, by the way, I am a convert to Bill Glahn’s theory that the Democrats never intended to achieve anything tangible by the shutdown. Rather, it was simply a means to fire up their base in advance of the elections in Virginia and New Jersey. The tactic succeeded, which means we can look forward to another shutdown next fall.)
Lots of the week’s memes were leftovers–Mamdani in New York and Sydney Sweeney (most of which I passed on, despite my high regard for Ms. Sweeney). But there were also some new topics, like President Trump’s endorsement of 50-year mortgages, which was not popular in meme world. And socialism remains deeply unpopular. . .
The Classical Saturday Coffee Thread & Prayer Revival
—Misanthropic Humanitarian
[I apologize for the sad photo. The bottom of the cup is a sad thing to see.]
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Before we enter the Prayer Revival just a few housekeeping matters to go over. (Rulez for those of you in St. Cloud.)
1) This is an open thread. Feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate away.
2) Be kind. Be nice. Let the Cobs throw the first stones.
3) No. You may not run with sharp objects.
4) Have a great weekend.
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“God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
If I surrender to His Will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him
Forever and ever in the next. Amen.”
Please submit any prayer requests to me, “Annie’s Stew” at apaslo at-sign hotmail dot com. Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks unless we receive an update.
Prayer Requests:
9/28 - Teresa in Fort Worth gave an update: It has been 1 year since Teresa started “down the cancer rabbit hole”. She sends her thanks for the prayers as they have buoyed her and her family through this year. She has been blessed to exceed the original 6-12 months predicted, by the grace of God – and the prayers of many people. Her next CT scan is in November, and the surgeon is pretty sure that her tumors will be small enough to remove/destroy.
10/7 Update – A recent CT scan shows lots of calcification (indicating tumor cell death), and the oncologist didn’t see any sign on the small tumors. The area where the largest tumor was now shows lots of calcification and the largest tumor has shrunk by almost 90%! Her next CT scan will be 11/3, and they assume they will be discussing surgery to remove the lobe of her liver, where the tumor is located. Timelines are uncertain, but she is hopeful that she will get to spend Christmas with her family at least one more time, if not more! Thanks to EVERYONE who has been praying on her behalf.
11/10 Update – Everything is fine, but it looks like the cancer is starting to figure out a way around the medication – something they knew would probably happen around this time in the protocol. More news will be coming soon – possibly surgery in late Dec/early Jan.
9/29 – toby928 asked for prayers for a brother named Joe, who is being crushed by grief. Joe’s wife is in a coma and will likely die in the next few days.
10/12 Update - – Joe’s wife did pass away. She is safe in the arms of our Savior.
10/18 Update – Joe could still use prayers. Losing both parents and his wife in one year has hit him hard.
10/2 – Bluebell passed along an update: grammie winger sends her gratitude for all the prayers – she feels they are working. On Oct 6 she will be starting a cancer treatment program because her doctors are “cautiously optimistic” that they can give her some more time. Monday she gets the port, followed by 6 hours of chemo infusion on Tuesday. The Rev is doing better because now he has some hope. Please pray for her as she starts this treatment program because in her words, “prayer changes things”.
10/18 Update – grammie winger sent an update, that she has had her first chemo treatment. There were no side effects. She noted “God is very kind.”
11/8 Update – grammie winger posted that chemo is “kicking my butt and it’s hard to think”.
10/4 – Skip requested prayers for his dad, who fell at church back in August, hitting his head. He fell again at home and has had back pain since then. He is going in for more tests on 10/8.
10/11 Update – Dad has a brace to wear and has pain medication, so is doing OK for now. He will need an outpatient procedure soon for an injection in his spine to fill a void. Continuing prayers will help.
10/18 Update – Dad is in the hospital, needing some blood clots cleared up, and will soon have the outpatient operation for his back.
10/25 Update – Dad was released from the hospital and is in a rehab center near his home.
10/11 – Brother Tim asked for prayers as he has two more sessions of radiation. Prayer works and God heals.
10/18 Update – Radiation is done and now Brother Tim is recovering from the effects and praying for a clean PET scan.
10/11 – Ben Had asked for prayers for a very special man we know as olddog. May his medical issues be benign and full health restored.
10/13 – K requested prayers for a co-worker (Grant). Grant and his wife are expecting their first child, and they are experiencing some complications. K would appreciate prayers for peace and a healthy baby for Grant, his wife, and their unborn child.
10/15 – Bulg asked for prayers for an elderly neighbor, who used to babysit for them, who is undergoing chemo for colon cancer.
10/16 – jrgunn5 asked for prayers for a son who is going through a very trying time. The son is almost finished with his teaching credentials and Master’s program. He sees other students being offered positions that he is more qualified for, yet he is ignored by the schools where he is working. He is becoming angry and despairing of gaining a position to pay off the enormous debt he has taken on to pursue this career. He needs to hear God’s voice, and a door opening soon would be appreciated.
10/18 – rhennigantx asked for prayers for his friend John. John was a functioning alcoholic while working, and then retired about 2 years ago, and is now in rehab. Prayers are also needed for Toni. She had to have a kidney stone crushed and says she will never do surgery again.
10/18 – From about That Time can use prayers, as a biopsy revealed some sort of lymphoma.
10/18 – J.J. Sefton wrote:
First of all I cannot even begin to express my appreciation for all the love, good wishes, support and of course prayers for me over this past year. On a positive note, I am essentially cancer free but glioblastoma being what it is means having an MRI done every 2 months to monitor for any new growth.
Right now, I humbly ask for your prayers for my spouse who was recently diagnosed with NPH, (normal pressure hydrocephalus) She's scheduled for a spinal tap to both drain excess fluid to relieve pain and hopefully restore her ability to walk and engage in routine physical activity. Then an MRI will also help them decide if she needs a shunt to be inserted into the brain to drain excess cerebral/spinal fluid away and into her stomach. I'm guessing she'll likely need it, fingers crossed that we can speed up this process and get her back to 100% ASAP.
God bless you, Prayers from me to all of you who are suffering,
10/21 – TecumsehTea wrote with prayers of praise that she has recovered from her heart attack. Areas of concern, though, are that they cannot keep her blood pressure stable and in a desirable range. This has brought several additional trips to the ER to bring it down and for observation. She is asking for wisdom and guidance for the doctor, and patience and peace for herself. She says this has been a scary ride, but God continues to show His faithfulness.
10/21 – Grateful wrote to ask for prayers for Pillage Idiot, that God would guide him in his search for employment – resulting in an opportunity that makes the best use of his unique skills. And that PI be blessed with acceptance of their love and caring for him, as he does for everyone else.
10/22 – Pennsyltucky requested prayers for his dad, who underwent cancer surgery on 10/21. Everything seems to have gone well (they’re confident they got it all!) but due to his age, his hospital stay and convalescence will be longer than usual. Dad is doing well, is awake and alert. A full recovery is anticipated but it will take a while. Thank you so much.
11/6 Update – Pennsyltucky’s dad is out of the hospital and is now convalescing at home with the aid of home care nurse visits. He’s not able to walk very well, having spent so long in a hospital bed, but he’s in good spirits and improving daily. Thanks for your prayers!
10/23 – Grumpy and Recalcitrant asked for prayers for TheJamesMadison, who recently lost his job. Please pray that he finds a new job quickly, and that God grants him peace of mind and calmness of spirit to face this unexpected trial.
10/25 – M&B would like prayers for M's sister. Suddenly, she got dizzy, and with no other symptoms, was diagnosed with a stage 4 glioblastoma brain cancer. Surgeons said that they were able to remove most of it but gave her an 18-24 month survival. She's just finished the first round of chemo and radiation, and she just feels awful. She has that "deer in the headlights" look, since this all happened so fast, with no real symptoms! M&B have been searching through all the recent news about other medicinal options that are working for this type of cancer. We are grateful for all prayers!
10/25 – FenelonSpoke asked for prayers for her retired organist Jessie, whose dear daughter, S, died of cancer recently. Also prayers for Korean War vet, R, who has cancer and is not expected to live long.
10/27 – Polliwog the ‘Ette asked for prayers for her youngest daughter, "LK", who needs prayers for safety and peace, and her best friend "C" for health and that stress not cause a flare up of psoriatic arthritis as they and another roommate work with the police and the landlord to have the 4th roommate "M" evicted because she is threatening them and making the living situation a nightmare. “M” is bipolar and medicating with alcohol. Prayers for her healing and that she find salvation from the self-destructive path she's on would also be appreciated.
11/8 Update – The situation still needs lots of prayer. LK sand C have been staying at a hotel to avoid M, who wants to fight whenever she sees them. M is supposed to move out the end of Dec. but that seems like a very long time when C still needs to attend class and keep her arthritis in check.
11/5 – Mary Poppins’ Practically Perfect Piercing said he could use a prayer or two. He has a pain in her head which, it seems, is occipital neuralgia. It’s not fatal, thank heavens, but is painful until a proper treatment course is settled upon. Many thanks.
11/12 Update – Pronouns corrected above.
11/6 - D sent an update on his wife Susan, and her battle with cancer. He sent his thanks to everyone for the prayers. They are helping and much appreciated. Susan had an infection which is being treated, but her sodium levels are bad again. She will be sent home soon, but is on restrictive fluids until this is cleared up. The good news is that she has gained some weight back and her voice is much stronger now. Thank you, and please keep up the prayers. They appreciate everyone!
11/7 – BarelyScaryMary requested prayers for a friend, RJ, who is having heart issues. She will likely get stents or a bypass soon. Prayers are needed for RJ’s recovery, and also that she is able and willing to make the lifestyle changes necessary for her health.
11/8 – Dash my lace wings had an urgent request for prayers for a co-worker and friend who is hospitalized with sepsis. It is extremely resistant to antibiotics and has attached to the artificial heart valve she got less than a year ago. Her situation is tenuous.
11/8 – Farmer Bob asked for prayers for his Uncle Richard’s MIL who passed away on 11/7, and for Richard’s wife Linda. Linda’s putting on a brave face and it was not unexpected, but it’s hard to lose your mother.
For submission guidelines and other relevant info, please contact Annie's Stew, who is managing the prayer list. You can contact her at apaslo at-sign hotmail dot com. If you see a prayer request posted in a thread comment, feel free to copy and paste it and e-mail it to Annie's Stew. She tries to keep up with the requests in the threads, but she's not here all of the time, so she may not see it unless you e-mail it to her. Please note: Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks or so unless we receive an update.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.
That Apple sock? The thing they called the "iPhone Pocket" even though it is neither an iPhone nor a pocket? That thing that costs less than a dollar to make and they are charging $230 for?
Most people have Epstein-Barr in their systems, making it hard to track this down. It parks in your body and just sits there, menacingly.
The thing is that it infects lymphocytes, and the rate of infected lymphocytes in lupus patients is 25 times higher than in the general population. That doesn't prove a causal effect but it's a hell of a correlation.
About $40, which is a good price for a 2.5gb switch, and a very good price for a managed switch. It's Ubiquiti so it's part of their UniFi system and you have to use their software to manage it and not just a web browser, but even without that it's a small, unobtrusive, inexpensive switch that can be powered over PoE or USB-C.
I think Leonhard Euler can probably claim prior art, or could have if he hadn't died in 1783.
IBM didn't claim some specific novel application of Euler's work, either; they claimed the formula itself.
Incandescent Moon Interlude
There's a name for this: A Nicoll-Dyson laser. It was proposed in 2005 by James Nicoll for powering spaceships over vast distances. As he points out in the comments on the video - a rare exception to Rule One* - vaporising planets was never its intended purpose, merely a happy accident.
* Don't read the comments.
Transcendent Teal Interlude
In H. P. Lovecraft's The Color Out of Space he wrote about a strange material that emitted a colour that didn't exist anywhere on the electromagnetic spectrum. That sounds wild, but in fact imaginary colours are real - imaginary, but still real - and you're about to see one.
(Maybe. Some people don't report anything special, but it worked for me and it was rather startling.)
A federal judge appointed by Joe Biden has ordered more than 600 illegal aliens released from custody after a sweeping immigration crackdown across Illinois -- a decision already igniting backlash as another example of the legal system bending over backward for people who broke the law to be here.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings sided with activists from the National Immigrant Justice Center and the ACLU, who argued that Immigration and Customs Enforcement overstepped during "Operation Midway Blitz," the Trump-era enforcement surge that led to more than 3,000 arrests between June and October. The sweep focused on migrants protected by Chicago's sprawling sanctuary network, which continues to shield illegal entrants despite mounting crime concerns.
Cummings' order grants bond to roughly 615 detainees. Even the activists who pushed for the ruling admit the process is chaotic and unclear. "They're all being awarded bond for 615, but how is that process going to happen?" NIJC attorney Mark Fleming said Wednesday, adding that many of those set to be released "are probably all over the country" already.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings claims he intends to provide "equitable relief" by ordering the Department of Homeland Security to release any criminal already on ankle monitors or other court-ordered monitoring programs, WLS-TV reported.
Pro-migrant activists claim that ICE and DHS are violating a so-called "Consent Decree" that limits how agents can make warrantless arrests of criminal illegal migrants.
The decree was signed in 2022 when President Joe Biden's deputies agreed to accept curbs drafted by the ACLU. Judges allow consent decrees to bind future administrations.
As you probably know, left-wing activists in the government -- of course including "community organizer" Barack Hussein Obama -- encourage "outside" left-wing groups to sue the government and then settle, granting the left-wing groups all that they desire. They do this to avoid changing the law legislatively, which they do not have the popular mandate to do.
So instead they have created this fraudulent "sue and settle" system, to effectively create laws with no legislators and no signature by the president.
There may be 3,000 total illegals this DEI Biden judge will end up releasing.
Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino: We're going to go even harder. If you release these 650, we're going to arrest 1,650 in response.
TIME TO ARREST THESE JUDGES... THIS IS A CRIME... Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino has a message for a Federal Judge who wants to release 650 Illegals in Chicago 💥 pic.twitter.com/OZJvAjovSK
DNC Staffers Seethe at Full-Time Return to Office: 'A Flurry of Thumbs-Down Emojis and Other Online Expressions of Discontent'
Thumbs-down emojis? Oh dear, this is more serious than I thought.
Years after the COVID-19 pandemic ended, Democratic National Committee chairman Ken Martin on Wednesday ordered staffers to work in-person at the office, prompting anger from employees and accusations from the committee's union that the decision is "callous" and "shocking."
Immediately after "Martin explained that a full-time return to the office was necessary to ensure that information wasn't being siloed and that staff members would not miss out on time-sensitive decisions," employees began complaining, with remote workers sending "a flurry of thumbs-down emojis and other online expressions of discontent" on Zoom, the New York Times reported. Martin suggested that staff members who dislike the policy "should consider finding another job elsewhere," describing the move as a "'Band-Aid' that was overdue in being ripped off."
By the end of the day, the DNC employees' union, SEIU Local 500, blasted the decision, writing that "it was shocking to see the D.N.C. chair disregard staff's valid concerns on today's team call."
Shock is just outrage with raised eyebrows and an open mouth.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a long-shot request that could have given the justices a chance to overturn the landmark decision recognizing same-sex marriage nationwide.
...
The Supreme Court did not provide an explanation for rejecting the application.
The case was brought by Kim Davis, a former county clerk in Kentucky who refused to issue a gay couple a marriage license in 2015. Her appeal claims that the court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges was "egregiously wrong" and "deeply damaging."
That's the clerk who, if I remember right, refused to sign a marriage certificate because it was against her religious beliefs. The left demanded he be forced to abandon those beliefs. They could have just had a judge permit someone else in government to sign it, but that's not what they want. What they want is to make you comply.
The Court didn't necessarily reject the opportunity to review Obergefell because they support the decision. It's also possible that they didn't see this case as presenting a challenge to Obergefell "squarely," as they say -- Obergefell might be so ancillary to this woman's lawsuit that they didn't think the challenge was "fairly presented." Courts don't rule on major questions of constitutional law unless they're forced to, or unless they are liberals who really want to slap Trump with injunctions.
When I read that a "Texas DA" was letting a repeat child r*pist off with no jailtime, I assumed he was from Austin/Travis County.
A Texas man accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a child will avoid prosecution on nine felony counts after striking a plea deal with a George Soros-backed Travis County prosecutor, according to a report.
Austin's ABC affiliate KVUE reported that Richard Leigh Bell, 37, was indicted on nine felony charges -- including one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, six counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, and two counts of indecency with a child. Those charges were dropped as part of a plea deal that allowed Bell to plead guilty to one count of injury to a child, a third-degree felony.
Under the deal, Bell was sentenced to five years of deferred probation. He must register as a sex offender and is barred from contacting the victim, her family or any minors, KVUE reported. The plea included no jail time.
Outside the courtroom on Monday, the victim's father told KVUE he was blindsided by the decision and said prosecutors Efrain De La Fuente and Lorraine Garcia failed to include him in discussions about the plea.
Richard Leigh Bell, 37, pleaded guilty to a lesser felony after prosecutors dropped nine child sex abuse charges as part of a plea deal. (Rockbridge Regional Jail)
"I was outraged to find out that this was not only our first and last plea deal, but this was our deal whether I liked it or not," he said.
The father, who was not named to protect the victim's identity, said he had expected a prison sentence for Bell.
"I think any parent would expect somebody to rot in jail for doing something like this," he told KVUE. "As time went on, I expected a realistic plea deal to be years at least--long enough to serve some time in prison where you belong if you have successfully carried out pedophilic acts."
"Marginalized" and yet insanely entitled and imperious left-wing woman says you MAGA people are "racist" and even "fascist" if you do your job as a citizen and stop one of her cousins from committing a theft. Obviously she has a nosering and is so ugly that she will never know love, but you knew that.
Face-tattoo? Check. Nosering? Check. Insane entitlement? Check. Tasteless profanity? Check. Casual defense of criminality? Check. Unemployable and unf***able goth mutant thinks it's unfair that people have to take tests to get a drivers license and says that's why people drive without licenses. BTW, standard Modern America math skills on this one.
Yesterday I mentioned Seattle's new socialist mayor, who vowed she will not "allow" grocery stores to close. Apparently she intends to enslave the owners of grocery stores and force them to work against their will.
Here's an update: She only won that race because of a sudden dump of ballots arriving, get this, after the actual election.
Democratic mayoral candidate Katie Wilson, a self-professed socialist, has unseated incumbent Democratic Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, multiple outlets projected eight days after polls closed.
Wilson, an activist who has been widely compared to socialist Democratic New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, received 50.2% of votes compared to Harrell's 49.5%, according to Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) on Wednesday. While Wilson was initially behind in the vote count, late ballot dumps that broke in her favor were enough to put the leftist challenger over the finish line.
The sitting mayor led in early returns, prompting DDHQ to initially call the race for him on Nov. 6 -- while there were still about 100,000 votes left to count. DDHQ retracted the call just one day later. King County Elections told the DDHQ website that there were tens of thousands fewer ballots left to count than there actually were.
Washington is one of eight states that uses universal mail-in voting. The state does not require voter ID to cast ballots by mail.
Just this year, Crockett expended $75,000 -- almost $10,000 higher than the average annual U.S. salary -- on luxuries like limos, resorts, and personal security. Fox News obtained Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings detailing Crockett's reckless and lavish spending.
Crockett is the congresswoman who is voting against the deal to end the shutdown, who referred to ICE amidst mounting anti-law enforcement violence as "slave patrols," and called a rape/murder victim of an illegal alien a "random dead person." She screamed about Trump's ballroom, called to defund police, and asserted Republicans are restricting healthcare (by which she means no Obamacare for illegals). And like AOC, who wore a pricey "Tax the Rich" dress to a very expensive and exclusive event, Crockett never practices what she preaches. You see, we are not supposed to have law enforcement protection, steady jobs, or reasonable taxes -- she's too busy paying for her security and indulgent lifestyle off our money.
Fox found Crockett booked herself luxury hotels and transportation services in cities that included Martha's Vineyard, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. Notably, the expenses reviewed by Fox do not seem to indicate any significant expenditures in her home district, which includes Dallas. She couldn't even bother to help out a few local businesses with her extravagant spending.
Altogether, Fox found $25,748.87 for hotels and limos in her campaign spending this year.
In case you missed it, far-left radio host and AWFL White Woman Stephanie Miller made a great and gross spectacle of kissing Jasmine Ratchet's feet.
At the Free Press, but excerpted at PJ Media: Many "college students" can no longer do the simplest grade-school math.
Students who are not ready for UC San Diego's regular math classes are placed in a remedial class that was created in 2016 and meant to serve about 1 percent of the incoming class. This fall, about 8.5 percent of incoming students wound up in the remedial math class, which focuses on elementary- and middle-school math subjects, according to the report. Another 3.3 percent of the incoming students were placed in a class that covers high-school math topics such as algebra and geometry.
...
Officials at UC San Diego also blamed grade inflation and the expansion of admissions from 'under-resourced high schools,' writes Nau. Schools are terrified of failing anyone. Not only is it expensive to pay for a student to repeat a grade, but the school opens itself up to legal action from an angry parent. Letting the child slide to the next grade is so much easier.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often referred to as "The Nation's Report Card," found in 2025 that just 22% of students were proficient in math and 35% were proficient in reading. "The percentage of eighth graders who have 'below basic' reading skills according to NAEP was the largest it has been in the exam's three-decade history -- 33 percent," reported the New York Times.
The saddest and scariest thought I have is the one I have when I hear HB-1 defenders saying we have to import foreign workers, American graduates are simply not equipped for the workforce. The thought I have is: I'm beginning to think they're not lying.
Math teacher says he was called ‘ideologically violent’ for supporting standardized testing
...
While studying at one of the "top" higher education institutions in the U.S., a new author recalls how he was described as "ideologically violent" for arguing in favor of standardized testing.
This incident and other concerns about diversity, equity, and inclusion in education inspired him to write a book.
His book "Unbalanced: Memoir of an Immigrant Math Teacher," written under the pen name "Yellow Heights," raises concerns about the ideologically-driven focus of higher education.
...
Yellow Heights describes himself as a "former climate researcher, software engineer, investment manager, and high school math teacher." He also is a first-generation immigrant from China and father of two. He writes under a penname and requested anonymity due to concerns about political and job discrimination due to his views.
"This book recounts his Kafkaesque experiences at education school, where he was labeled a white supremacist simply for asking questions," according to the book's Amazon page.
Before the Ohio government banned DEI hirng, Ohio "colleges" went into Berserker Mode hiring DEI dum-dums.
Now the schools are positively choked with incompetent know-nothings.
In 2021, at the height of the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement, Ohio State University's then-president Kristina Johnson announced a bold initiative: the university would hire 50 professors whose scholarship addressed "social equity and racial disparities" and seek to recruit "100 underrepresented and BIPOC [black, indigenous, and people of color] hires in all fields of scholarship."
Overnight, Ohio's flagship university became one of the country's leading DEI champions. Today, it's still dealing with the consequences. Newly acquired records provide an inside look at the initiative and how it shaped the university's research agenda. In one hiring cycle, 60 percent of new faculty roles in the arts and humanities focused on race, social justice, or diversity.
...
Job listings show the extent of Ohio State's commitment to DEI. At about the same time the university sought to hire a scholar of "indigenous knowledges," the anthropology department advertised a position for an archaeologist who emphasized "decolonization, feminist theory, queer theory, critical race theory, and/or Indigenous ontologies." The philosophy department called for a professor of "philosophy of race" to explore the "metaphysics of race" and "epistemological significance of race or racism."
Who was recruited for the DEI-focused roles? Other documents list the candidates, revealing hiring practices both overtly ideological and, at times, comical.
One of those documents, a search committee's recruitment report, described the finalists for a role as scholar who researches the "intersections of race, science and technology studies (STS), and public health." In the report, the search committee emphasized that diversity, equity, and inclusion would be paramount considerations as it made the new hire. The committee's finalists showed what they had in mind. The report observed that one of those candidates "examines the racialization of fatness and its linkages to histories of health, nation, and empire." Another explores how "NASA's Mars Exploration Program rovers represent 'autonomous colonial laboratories.'"
The search committee touted these candidates' progressive bona fides--and their demographic characteristics. One candidate, the committee noted, was "a disabled scholar and queer woman of color." Another "interrogate[s] how fatphobia and ableism are institutionalized in public infrastructure through race science, gender oppression, and legacies of colonialism." That candidate "identifies as 'a first generation, fat, queer scholar of color.'"
Again, that terrible thought: What if immigration enthusiasts are telling the truth when they say Americans are just too stupid to work? What if we're already caught in the Idiocracy doom-spiral?
The Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) on Monday was "still gathering information" about an incident that took place during a girls' high school volleyball match involving an OutKick reporter.
OutKick's Dan Zaksheske detailed the harassment he faced while covering Ann Arbor Skyline High School's win over Dexter on Thursday night. Ann Arbor Skyline has had success during the fall season thanks to a transgender athlete who competes on the team.
Zaksheske wrote on Thursday night that he was shadowed by Ann Arbor Skyline principal Casey Elmore throughout the game and harassed and stalked by supporters. He called Ann Arbor Police and asked to send an officer just in case. The officer showed up to the match as it was ending.
Fox News Digital reached out to Ann Arbor Public Schools for comment.
"I really felt like this was a complete and utter failure by both the MHSAA and Ann Arbor Public Schools," Zaksheske told Fox News Digital. "For the principal to watch someone be harassed on her campus, on her property, and to not only allow it to continue, but in some instances almost seem to be encouraging more of it, I don't know how she can justify herself as an educator allowing that kind of thing to go on."
The school issued a BS statement claiming it was "gathering facts" about the incident but, get this, they're lying. They haven't even contacted the reporter who was "stalked."
Kimmerly didn't immediately respond to a question about details of the investigation, including whether officials spoke to Zaksheske or other people who were mentioned in the report.
Zaksheske said he hasn't been contacted by the MHSAA as part of its inquiry into last week's incident.
The stalking here is more serious than I think it seems, because a government official is doing it, and apparently is sanctioned in this behavior by the state itself.
Repeatedly screaming in someone's ear is no joke. It's actually an assault.
The T-shirt this smug Pseudomale Karen is wearing is, I think -- based on a quick google search for possibilities -- "May You Have the Confidence of a Mediocre White Man." So you know what you're dealing with here.
Incredible: She has infinite grievances, and they just keep getting more and more trivial.
The "marginalized" people are so very marginalized that their complaints consist of really important things, like the feeling that white people give a shit about how they wear their hair.
If these are the "oppressions" you struggle with: Psst, you're not struggling. https://t.co/fCZxRAoAYf
🚨 UPDATE: Michelle Obama is being brutally mocked for LOSING IT and saying black people's curly is a pain to manage and makes it hard to swim. pic.twitter.com/kMQnizOnH6
"Let me explain something to white people. Our hair comes out CURLY. When we straighten it to follow YOUR…
Oh my God, when I go to Nobu they don't even have the particular species of whitefish that affirms my African heritage, the oppression is so great I can hardly bear to eat the waygu-wrapped toro tuna...
I guess she means she intends to reintroduce slavery.
Democratic Seattle Mayor-elect Katie Wilson declared that she will not allow private grocery stores to close in a resurfaced video from September.
Wilson said during her mayoral run that corporate grocery chains should not be allowed to only sell food to those who can afford it and expressed support for a "public option," meaning that government-run grocery stores would be established. Her proposal emerged at a time when Democratic New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani had promised to establish government-run grocery stores throughout the city.
"Access to affordable, healthy food is a basic right. We cannot allow giant grocery chains to stomp all over our communities, close stores that will leave behind food deserts," Wilson said. "Together, we can build a Seattle where fresh food is for everyone, not just for those who can afford it. Food deserts are not natural, corporations create them when they abandon our communities."
"Food deserts aren’t natural. Stores create them when they leave our community."
The BBC has apologised to US President Donald Trump for a Panorama episode that spliced parts of his 6 January 2021 speech together, but rejected his demands for compensation.
The corporation said the edit had given "the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action" and said it would not show the 2024 programme again.
Lawyers for Trump have threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn (£ 759m) in damages unless the corporation issues a retraction, apologises and compensates him.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told BBC Breakfast she was confident the corporation was "gripping this with the seriousness that it demands", adding her role was to ensure "the highest standards are upheld".
But she also told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the BBC's editorial standards and guidelines were "in some cases not robust enough and in other cases not consistently applied", adding that there would need to be people "at a very senior level with a journalistic background".
So what was the problem? Too many hard-left liberals at the BBC?
Don't be a sap, Jack! The real problem at the BBC is that they allowed conservative-leaning political appointees on the BBC's board.
Political appointments to the corporation's board would be examined in the BBC's charter review, she said in response to a question asking if member Sir Robbie Gibb, a former political adviser to Theresa May, had overstepped his remit and weighed into politics.
May was the UK PM and leader of the "Conservative" Party from 2016 to 2019. Her political advisor, presumably, leans right (by British standards, anyway).
So that's where the BBC is looking for a problem: There's one slightly conservative man on the board! The problem has nothing to do with the 99% hard-left staffers, "journalists" and editors!
While this was a matter for the board and its chairman, she said, those appointments "damaged confidence and trust in the BBC's impartiality".
Yes it's just this one dude. Once you get rid of him, you will be officially bias-free.
You might say "But the BBC was just responding to a (left-wing) 'journalist's' question."
Um, no. The BBC chose to insert this claim into their own story acknowledging their guilt in the matter of the doctored video of Trump. The BBC is trying to suggest that there's no bias at the BBC, but if there is any bias, it's just this one slightly-conservative-leaning dude.
I'm sure this will not surprise you but the "European Broadcasting Union" also doctored Trump's remarks in a similar way to doctoring of the BBC.
European Broadcasting Union appears to have ALSO deceptively EDITED Trump’s speech like the BBC, to make it look like Trump was calling for an insurrection on January 6th
The NRK or Norweigan Broadcasting Corporation who aired this clip, is a state run public… pic.twitter.com/BA3sHd9Rso
The rest of the post will be a grab-bag of Woke Media stories that are important enough to post but not big enough for their own post.
First up: The BBC is openly propagandizing for powerful artificial hormone induced "breastmilk" in men, claiming that hormone-filled "milk" coming out of a transgender "woman's" non-breasts are every bit as healthful for a child as an actual real woman's milk. (Required disclaimer: Trans women are women, bigot.)
BBC News actually ran a story on “trans milk” tasting just like real breast milk. You cannot make this stuff up.
This is not news, it's nonsense. What happened to common sense? Get a grip people. pic.twitter.com/g5WDJtuHKi
Below, Ricky Gervais blows the whistle on "journalists' : easy resort to straight up lying. I'll just link the video first, so as not to spoil the story if you want to watch, but then after the video I'll relay the story in Easy-To-Read Words.
So here's the story: He had an interview scheduled with a "journalist" from one of the "Tony" British papers, one of the "Sundays." The "journalist" mistook the date of the interview, and didn't show up to Gervais' office at the appointed time. No problem, Gervais gave her a phone interview.
But when he read the actual story produced by this interview, she claimed that she sat in his office for a face-to-face interview and described his "body language" during the interview, which showed he really didn't want to be there. She at one point a photographer came to take his picture, and then his face "looked relieved."
During the interview, she asked him if she could go long, and he agreed to do so. In the story, she claimed that he liked the interview (and interviewer) so much that he asked her if she could stay longer to interview him.
Minor lies-- but it shows how absolutely contemptuous they are of their first, highest, and only duty: To tell the truth.
Next up: Ruby Rose attacks Sydney Sweeney as a "cretin" for taking the role in the boxing movie Cristy away from her.
If you don't know who Ruby Rose is, congratulations, you share that with 8 billion people. She's a former model and a current -- excuse the number of quotes I'm about to deploy -- " " " " " " " actress " " " " " " " -- who doesn't actually get any acting roles because her " " " " " " " acting " " " " " " " is dogshit.
She was the female assassin in John Wick 2. To avoid the problem of her attempting to speak actual words, they made the character a deaf mute.
She's also the idiot who played the world's most annoying character, "Batwoman," who dissed Bruce Wayne with a girlboss smirk for having dared to build his own bat-suit without making it fit a superior woman like herself.
Importantly for this story -- she quit that show and left them in a bind.
Now I'm no Joe Hollywood but I think when you just up and quit a show despite being under contract, leaving this expensive (well, it's CW, so "expensive" is a relative term) production without its lead, I think other producers might not be willing to take you on as a lead actress in a movie. Especially because she claimed she quit Batwoman due to injuries from the fight scenes, and the movie she claims she had won the lead role in, Cristy, is about... a female boxer and would require a lot of fight scenes.
Australian actress Ruby Rose attacked Hollywood megastar Sydney Sweeney, calling her a "cretin" after the recently released film, Christy -- which stars Sweeney -- flopped at the box office.
"The original Christy Martin script was incredible. Life changing. I was attached to play Cherry. Everyone had experience with the core material. Most of us were actually gay. It's part of why I stayed in acting. Losing roles happens all the time," a seemingly envious Rose wrote in a Monday Threads post.
The Orange Is the New Black actress went on to attack the Euphoria star for the remarks she made in response to Christy's low box office results, in which Sweeney said, in part, "We don't always just make art for numbers, we make it for impact."
"For her PR to talk about it flopping and saying SS did it for the 'people.' None of 'the people' want to see someone who hates them, parading around pretending to be us," Rose reacted.
"You're a cretin and you ruined the film. Period," Rose said to Sweeney, before asserting that "Christy deserved better."
Sweeney -- who stars in Christy, a biopic about lesbian boxer, Christy Martin -- took to Instagram on Monday to say that she is "deeply proud" of the film and "the story we told," sharing several behind-the-scenes photos from the set.
In her Instagram caption, Sweeney added that she was "proud to represent someone as strong and resilient as Christy Martin."
A female presenter on Sky News Australia pointed out that Ruby Rose's attack on Sweeney for taking the role of a lesbian despite not being a lesbian herself is deeply hypocritical. First, she points out, Ruby Rose isn't lesbian -- she's "non-binary," whatever that means.
Maybe she claimed she was "non-binary" so she could play the lesbian character Batwoman. Maybe she was just Gay for Pay-Day. I don't know, but apparently she's not lesbian, so why should she get the role based on that?
Second, Batwoman is a Jewish character, and Ruby Rose herself got mobbed on Twitter for not being lesbian and also not being Jewish but stealing the role of Batwoman from whatever lesbian Jewish actress was "owed" it based on identity.
Ruby Rose didn't care about that. She took the role. Until she abruptly quit it.
But now only lesbians, to which group Ruby Rose does not belong, can play a lesbian boxer. Okay, whatever.
Lastly, the low-rated deadeyed diversity hire Abby Phillip says that she has a special mission on The Scott Jennings Show on CNN. (Which is incorrectly called "The Abby Philip Show" in CNN listings.)
She says her special mission is to correct all the "misinformation" conservatives believe, because we live in bubbles where we hear nothing but "misinformation" and not the truth that messianic left-wing black women like Abby Phillip have special access to.
Based on Michelle Obama and Abby Phillip and Joy Reid... and Jasmine Ratchet...
I'm starting to think that while left-wing women generally exist in the thickest, sturdiest propaganda bubbles in the world, I think the propaganda bubbles that left-wing black women live in might be the Ultimate Bubbles.
Justice Department leaders later tied to agency special counsel Jack Smith shut down an FBI investigation tied to possible campaign finance violations carried out by Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign when it used cutouts to fund the opposition research firm Fusion GPS and British ex-spy Christopher Steele's anti-Trump dossier, emails released Thursday appear to show.
Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassely, said his Judiciary Committee, which made public the messages, describes them as "internal emails" and an "electronic communication" from the FBI "exposing" the "refusal" by DOJ leaders "to open a criminal investigation into potential campaign finance violations committed by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee."
Grassley's office said that this potential criminal inquiry by the bureau was shut down "despite FBI agents' demonstration of a fact-pattern showing Clinton and the DNC intentionally concealed payments to inappropriately target then-candidate Donald Trump."
As you may remember, Hillary Clinton lied in her FEC filings when she claimed that the money used to pay FusionGPS and Christopher Steele for the fake dossier was used for "legal services."
You know, straight-up lying on required federal election disclosures.
Wait a tic, isn't that what Trump supposedly did with his Sloppy Daniels "payoff" money...?
Well, anyway, the DOJ shut this investigation down.
No "intent," I imagine. Just a whoops-whoopsie sitch.
Except... wait, Hillary and Marc Elias lied for years, claiming they didn't have anything to do with the dossier.
Which would suggest this wasn't a "whoops-whoopsie" sitch at all, but another crime committed in service of a common criminal enterprise.
Hm. Now I don't know what to think!
Grassley's office pointed out that in 2022 the Federal Election Commission had "fined Clinton and the DNC for disguising campaign expenditures to pay Fusion GPS, a political opposition research firm, to craft the debunked Steele Dossier, which falsely alleged that Trump was colluding with Russia."
The Federal Election Commission ruled in 2022 there was "probable cause" to believe Hillary for America and the DNC violated federal laws by "misreporting the purpose of certain disbursements" and fined them.
The FEC said the DNC paid $849,407 and the Clinton campaign paid $175,000 to Perkins Coie for what was alleged in a complaint to be "opposition research done by Fusion." The Clinton campaign falsely reported the purpose of all those payments as "legal services" while the DNC reported the purpose of most of those payments as "legal and compliance consulting."
...
Perkins Coie was paid more than $12 million between 2016 and 2017 for its work representing Clinton and the DNC. According to Fusion co-founder Glenn Simpson, Fusion was paid $50,000 per month from Perkins Coie. Elias testified it was $60,000 each month. Fusion claimed that it paid Steele $168,000 for his work. Perkins Coie claimed Fusion approached them in March 2016 while knowing that Perkins Coie represented Clinton's campaign.
...
Grassley also said Thursday that "the decision to decline the investigation" into the Clinton campaign and the DNC was made by Richard Pilger, then a leader in the DOJ's Public Integrity Section, and by J.P. Cooney, who was working at the time within the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.
Grassley noted that Pilger "was later pivotal in reviewing and approving the opening of Smith's Arctic Frost investigation" while Cooney "served as Smith's Deputy Special Counsel for that investigation."
So they nixed an investigation into Hillary Clinton's obvious federal fraud, but couldn't wait to improve a surveillance dragnet and fishing expedition into more than a dozen GOP senators and House members.
"These records show the same partisans who rushed to cover for Clinton rabidly pursued Arctic Frost, which was a runaway train aimed directly at President Trump and the Republican political apparatus. I appreciate Attorney General Bondi and FBI Director Patel's efforts to turn over the information I requested, and I'll continue investigating this matter."
Related: Paul Sperry wrote this earlier in the week. I've been waiting for more details or an article, but he hasn't published yet.
So this is all I have about it for now, but I think it's worth reading:
Paul Sperry
@paulsperry_
NEW: In presenting evidence in a motion to the court as part of its perjury defense, James Comey's legal team altered two words in a transcript of his 2020 Senate testimony to make it seem as if Sen. Ted Cruz asked Comey a key question he didnt actually ask him during the hearing
Well that doesn't sound like the James Comey I know.
Below: A psychiatrist says that some of his patients are experiencing genuine problems in their lives due to Trump derangement.
This really should go in The Week in Woke, but that is already stuffed. So enjoy this one early.
Eric Daugherty
@EricLDaugh
🚨 HOLY CRAP! Psychotherapists are now seeing the effects of Trump DERANGEMENT Syndrome in their patients
"I had one patient who couldn't enjoy vacation because she saw Trump on her device or news, and felt triggered."
Omg...
"Some of the features of this 'disorder': They can't sleep. They feel traumatized by Mr. Trump."
"Trump is the trigger for many of these people. To be that fixated on a person, it's simply not healthy."
"This is a profound pathology. I would even go far as to say the defining pathology of our time."
Rosie O'Donnell is one KEY example of one of the first major cases of TDS.
I think psychiatrists say that what separates a character quirk from a psychological problem is whether it interferes with your ability to enjoy your life and accomplish your goals or not.
And it sounds like Trump Derangement is definitely interfering with these sickos' ability to lead normal lives.
Podcast: Buck Throckmorton joins us for a wide-ranging discussion about the cultural and business shift away from the insanity of EVs and Climate Religion, his calm perspective on last week's election, Tucker is a toad, and more!
Our Favorite British Couple Exploring True America Experiences Flora-Bama And Sees A Side Of The Deep South Rarely Seen. [dri]
Tucker Carlson claims that it's weird that Ted Cruz is interested in the massacre of Christians by Nigerian Muslims, because he has "no track record of being interested in Christians," then blows off the massacre of Christians by Nigerian Muslims, saying it might or might not be a real concern Tucker Carlson enjoys using the left-wing tactic of "Tactical Ignorance" to avoid taking positions on topics. Is Hamas really a terrorist organization? Tucker can't say. He hasn't looked into it enough, but "it seems like a political organization to me." Are Muslims slaughtering Christians in Nigeria? Again, Tucker just doesn't know. He hasn't examined the evidence yet. He knows every Palestinian Christian who said he was blocked from visiting holy sites in Bethlehem, but he just hasn't had the time to look into the mass slaughter of Christians in Nigeria that has been going on since (checks watch) 2009. He doesn't know, so he can't offer an opinion. Wouldn't be prudent, you know? Don't rush him! He'll sift through the evidence at some point in the future and render an opinion sometime around 2044. Of course, if you need an opinion on Jewish Perfidy, he has all the facts at his fingertips and can give you a fully informed opinion pronto. Say, have you ever heard of the USS Liberty incident...? You'd think that the main issue for Tucker Carlson, who pretends to be so deeply concerned about Palestinian Christians being bullied by Jews in Israel (supposedly), would be the massacre of 185,000 Christians in Nigeria itself. But no, his main problem is that Ted Cruz is talking about it, "who has no track record of being interested in Christians at all." And then he just shrugs as to whether this is even a real issue or not.
Whatever we do we must never "divide the right," huh?
Tucker is attacking Ted Cruz for bringing the issue up because he's acting as an apologist for Jihadism, and he can't cleanly admit that Jihadists are killing any Christians, anywhere. There is no daylight between him and CAIR at this point.
One might conclude that Tucker Carlson himself isn't interested in the plight of Christians -- except as they can be used as a cudgel to attack Jews. Just gonna ask an Interesting Question myself -- why is it that Tucker Carlson's arguments all track with those shit out by Qatarian propaganda agents and the far left? That if Jews crush an ant underfoot it is worldwide news, but when Muslims slaughter Christians it elicits not even a vigorous shrug?
I once glimpsed Garth in the penumbra betwixt my wake and sleep. He was in my dream, standing afar, not looking my way, nor did he acknowledge me. But I felt seen. And that's when I knew I was a traveler on the right path. I'm glad he's still with us.
Greetings, Traveler. If you still have not experienced Garth Merenghi -- Author, Dream-weaver, Visionary, plus Actor -- the six episodes of his Darkplace are still available on YouTube and supposedly upscaled to HD. (Viewing it now, it doesn't appeared upscaled for shit.) I think the second episode, "Hell Hath Fury," is the best by a good margin. Try to at least watch through to that one. It's Mereghi's incisive but nuanced take on sexism.
Podcast: The elections! NYC, Virginia, New Jersey, Texas, California, and the future prospects of the Republican party...
Update on Scott Adams:
Scott Adams had approval for this cancer drug but they hadn't scheduled him to get it. He was taking a turn for the worse. Trump had told him to call if he needed anything, so he did. Talked to Don Jr (who is in Africa) , then RFK Jr, then Dr Oz. Someone talked to Kaiser and he was scheduled. Shouldn't have needed it but he did and he says it saved his life.
Posted by: Notsothoreau
Podcast: Historian and Pundit Robert Spencer joins us for a wide-ranging discussion about the Islamists in our midst: Mamdani in NYC, all across Europe, and others.
Hoagy Carmichael in the back, and from left-to-right: Harold Russell, Teresa Wright, Dana Andrews, Myrna Loy, Frederic March
"There oughtta be a law against any man who doesn't want to marry Myrna Loy." -- Jimmy Stewart
