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
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
Young Americans are saddled with extraordinary amounts of the worst type of debt, student loans, and it is one of the reasons that they are delaying the most-important debt they can take on, specifically mortgage debt.
There are two debt trends that intersect at about the age of 40. This is the average age now of first-time mortgage borrowers, and it is also the average age of those defaulting on their student loans. There is correlation between these two problems. In 1990, the average age of first-time home buyers was under-30.
Home ownership, even with a mortgage payment, builds wealth. Unsecured student loan debt that discourages home ownership impedes wealth-building.
According to the Liberty Street Economics website published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the average age of those defaulting on student loans is now 39-years old. But unlike traditional bankruptcies which relieve the debt burden, student loan debt is never relieved. Its default is subject to garnishment of wages, social security payments, and tax refunds. It also soils the credit rating of those defaulting, making it extremely difficult to ever obtain a mortgage.
There are so many variables at play in this mess, including the suspension of student loan repayments during the Covid panic and President Biden’s campaign promise”to forgive all undergraduate tuition-related federal student debt from two-and four-year public colleges and universities.”
How to fix the student loan debacle is complicated, but one place to start is to immediately stop fueling the problem. Let’s stop loading up today’s 18-year-olds with crushing debt that enriches bloated colleges, many of which are left-wing indoctrination factories.
If universities had to provide guaranies for the student loans from which flow the tuition and fees the universities collect, they’d necessarily become more interested in limiting their dollar exposure. Even more important, they’d want to ensure that their students are getting degrees that lead to income-producing careers that will make possible repayment of their debt.
If the universities were to choose to start restricting credit-access to incoming students, that would then incentivize cost competition among colleges, and possibly even steer higher-education toward other models than the brick-and-ivy campus. If we’re honest, the traditional university model isn’t even about education, it’s about “the college experience,” making contacts, and obtaining an increasingly irrelevant credential. The actual education can inexpensively be obtained online for most areas of study.
Way too many young adults are starting their working careers with a “mortgage payment” worth of student loan debt, but the beneficiary is the university industrial complex. Student loan debt is destructive. Mortgage loan debt is beneficial. Let’s stop incentivizing the former at the expense of the latter.
*****
Throckmorton’s First Law of Live Music: “If there’s an upright bass in the band, it’s probably going to be good”
Today is Memorial Day, a sacred day in which we honor those who gave their lives in service to our country. There is no need to implore the readers of this blog to remember the purpose of this holiday, because you don’t need reminding. You are already patriots who revere those who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of the United States.
My childhood best friend lost an uncle in Vietnam. 59 years later Uncle Jack is still remembered and revered in the family. Jack’s sister, my best friend’s mother, still grieves the loss of her only brother.
Here is Kathy Matea singing a sweet, sad song from the Civil War era titled “The Vacant Chair” about a family’s first Thanksgiving after their beloved Willie was killed in the fighting.
We shall meet but we shall miss him.
There will be one vacant chair.
We shall linger to caress him
While we breathe our evening prayer.
When a year ago we gathered,
Joy was in his mild blue eye.
But the golden cord is severed,
And our hopes in ruin lie.
Chorus:
We shall meet, but we shall miss him.
There will be one vacant chair.
We shall linger to caress him
When we breathe our evening prayer.
At our fireside, sad and lonely,
Often will the bosom swell
At remembrance of the story
How our noble Willie fell.
How he strove to bear our banner
Through the thickest of the fight
And uphold our country’s honor
In the strength of manhood’s might.
Today is of course Memorial Day, but the news does not take time off as is amply demonstrated by the lead story.
Maryland man was shot and killed by U.S. Secret Service agents Saturday evening after allegedly opening fire near a White House security checkpoint, triggering a lockdown and a massive federal law enforcement response in the nation’s capital.
Multiple sources identified the suspect as Nasire Best, 21, of Maryland.
According to the United States Secret Service, the shooting unfolded around 6 p.m. near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW when the suspect allegedly removed a handgun from a bag and began firing toward officers stationed near the White House perimeter.
A senior administration official said Best fired approximately three shots before Secret Service agents returned fire and killed him. Authorities said the suspect never breached the White House grounds.
An adult bystander was struck during the exchange of gunfire, though the person’s condition was not immediately known.
Hasan Kwame Jeffries, the younger brother of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, is a professor of history at Ohio State University. In a recent social media post, he invoked the violence of John Brown, suggesting ‘white supremacy’ should be ended “by any means necessary.” Jeffries cited John Brown, an American abolitionist known for advocating violence to end slavery. One quote from Brown that describes his philosophy states: “I am quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think vainly, flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done.”
One person commented on the post, jokingly asking, “Are these ‘white supremacists’ in the room with you now?” Jeffries responded, “Nah. They’re in the White House.” The post further suggests that Jeffries was referring to President Trump and his administration in the original post.
In any case, and sincere apologies for that pornographic debasement as this is Memorial Day so let us remember all those who gave their llives in defense of this country and let us beg their forgiveness for allowing the cancer of the Hakeem Jeffries' in our midst to have gained positions of power and influence to the extent that the cause of freedom and the nation our loved ones gave their lives to defend and preserve is closer than ever to being lost.
I can only imagine my dear uncle, for whom I was named and who was cut to ribbons by a Jap machine gun on Saipan, looking down from Heaven and weeping at how low we have sunk.
Let us do what we can to ensure the sacrifices he and all who gave their lives were not in vain. God bless their memories.
Have a great day, one and all.
ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
The Navy will bury Fireman 3rd Class Royle Luker with full military honors on May 30 at New Bethel Cemetery in Plainview, the Arkansas town he left to enlist in June 1941, Stars and Stripes reported. Rear Adm. Michael Van Poots, deputy commander of Submarine Forces, will preside over the ceremony. (RELATED: Nearly 150 Dead From Pearl Harbor Attack Could Be On Track For Identification After Milestone Reached) Arkansas Teen Sailor Killed At Pearl Harbor Will Finally Be Laid To Rest After Nearly 85 Years
Memorial Day means little if America cannot preserve the monuments honoring the men who gave their last full measure of devotion. Remembering the Memorials on Memorial Day
Pride in past valor may be best expressed in the St. Crispin’s Day speech from “Henry V” (Act IV, Scene iii), delivered by the young king on the eve of the Battle of Agincourt. . . ‘We band of brothers:’ A Memorial Day meditation
An adult bystander was struck during the exchange of gunfire, though the person’s condition was not immediately known. Witnesses reportedly heard as many as 30 shots near the Eisenhower Executive Office Building as federal agents rushed to secure the area. Gunman Killed After Opening Fire Near White House Checkpoint
The Iranians are clearly not negotiating in good faith, and they never will. The New Barbary Pirates
The rapid rebuilding undermines claims that U.S.-Israeli strikes have caused long-term damage to Iran’s military capabilities. If hostilities resume, Iran’s restored drone and missile systems could pose significant threats to Israel and Gulf nations, complicating regional security dynamics.
CIVIL WAR 2.0, LEFTIST PERSECUTIONS, DEMOCRAT PUTSCH, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION
Ocasio-Cortez spoke May 16 at the “All Roads Lead to The South” rally in Montgomery, the New York Post (NYP) reported. She called on progressives in northern states to head to Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee and Mississippi to push against what she labeled political injustice. Online afterward, she added, “If you’re not from these states, it’s time to pull up.” (Dear Southerners - aim between the eyes, [rhetorically speaking wink-wink] - jjs) TItty-Caca AOC Takes Heat After Telling Northerners To ‘Pull Up To The South’
Polling has Vang running even with Matsui and slightly ahead of Republican Zachariah Wooden, the NYP reported. Conservative-leaning Lodi, Placerville and El Dorado Hills became part of the district through the recent redraw, joining portions of Sacramento and Elk Grove. California Congressional Candidate Turns Back On Flag, Refuses To Say Pledge Of Allegiance
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Friday new guidance directing immigration officers to treat the transition from temporary nonimmigrant status to permanent immigrant status under Section 245(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act as a process that should generally take place outside the United States, according to a document obtained by the Daily Caller. EXCLUSIVE: Trump Admin Closes Loophole Letting Migrants Stay In US While Awaiting Green Cards
It’s not crazy to suggest that if immigrants will not assimilate then they shouldn’t be allowed to serve in Congress. (Should be stripped of citizenship - jjs) America Is A Nation Of Settlers, Not Immigrants
Before she leaves, she plans to release investigative findings in weekly installments over the next month. The topics on the docket are not small: Havana Syndrome, the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government’s weaponization of intelligence agencies, and the 2020 presidential election. If Democrats thought they could breathe a sigh of relief with her gone, they were sorely mistaken. Each of these has been a political flashpoint for years, and Gabbard is positioning her office to put official findings on the record while she still has the authority to do it. Tulsi Gabbard Teases Major Bombshells Before Leaving Trump Administration
Brandon’s sentencing is scheduled for September 3. She will be sentenced before U.S. District Judge Steven D. Grimberg in federal court. She is permanently banned from federal employment or contracting with the federal government and its agencies, as part of her plea agreement with the court. The case underscores vulnerabilities in federal payment systems and highlights the need for stricter internal controls to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse. Former CDC Official Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Government Funds.
RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS,
Repealing the EPA’s biofuel boondoggle ought to be a no-brainer—but can reformers overcome the “liquid pork” regime? A Simple Policy to Reduce Food Prices
New EV sales in April – the second full month of the war – were down 6.2% compared with March, and down a whopping 23% from the year before, according to Cox Automotive. The Iran War Sounds The Death Knell Of EVs
Massie said, “I will not rule out anything. And right now, I’m not going to rule in anything. Look, I’ve spent the last five days on my farm with my grandkids and my cattle and my peach trees, and it’s a pretty nice life. COMEDY GOLD: Massie Doesn’t Rule Out 2028 Presidential Run
The Seventeenth Amendment reshaped the Senate from a body tied to the states into a national political arena defined by permanent ambition and escalating federal power. The Progressive Senate and Its Discontents
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL
Key organizations and activists tied to the CCP-linked Singham Network rapidly moved to defend former Cuban dictator Raúl Castro following this week’s Justice Department indictment tied to the 1996 shootdown of civilian aircraft flown by Brothers to the Rescue. Singham Network Mobilizes to Defend Raúl Castro after DOJ Indictment
A Convergence of Law, History, and Leadership Signals that Cuba’s Long Night May Be Ending Will Cuba Taste Freedom Soon?
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in India on Friday for his first official visit there, and the trip carries more than ceremonial value. Rubio met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. The four-day visit includes Kolkata, New Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. . . Rubio Tries to Put U.S.-India Relations Back on Solid Ground
Reform UK’s strong showing could thwart Burnham’s parliamentary entry and his Prime Ministerial ambitions. Meanwhile, Restore Britain, led by former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, is polling at 7%, potentially aiding Burnham’s campaign. If Burnham wins, the Labour Party increases its likelihood of governing past 2029, and potentially even until 2034, albeit in a theoretical coalition with the far-left Greens. Reform Surge Puts PM-Wannabe’s Ambitions At Risk In Knife-Edge Makerfield Race.
China expands abroad without moral baggage while America ties itself in ideological knots that weaken its ability to compete for global influence. Trump, China, and the Third World
While observational, the studies suggest that weight-loss drugs could be used to fight cancer. GLP-1 drugs are normally used to treat diabetes and weight management. The findings could lead to controlled medical trials to establish a more reliable connection between reduced progression and GLP-1 drugs. Further positive findings could heavily influence the pharmaceutical market, given that such drugs are already growing in popularity. Popular Weight-Loss Drugs May Fight Cancer.
I’ve seen new NASA administrators do the same time after time, without actually accomplishing any real change. In a sense this is no different than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic as it sinks. You aren’t really fixing the problem, you are making believe you are doing so. Isaacman rearranges the deck chairs on the Titanic of NASA
Space will not be settled by treaties and committees, but by pioneers willing to claim, build, and risk everything on worlds no one owns. Space Squatters Will Open the Final Frontier
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
Thad McCotter: At an alumni dinner meant to celebrate achievement and tradition, one aging mentor delivered a quiet confession that revealed just how profoundly America has changed. An Evening for Reflection
ALSO: The Morning Report cross-posts at CutJibNewsletter.com usually within an hour or so of posting here, if you want to continue the conversation all day.
Sunday Overnight Open Thread - May 24, 2026 [Doof]
—Open Blogger
Howdy Hordelings! Welcome to the Sunday night ONT. Appreciate you spending some of your holiday weekend here. Open thread, as always. Fashion and music, as always. What's on YOUR mind tonight?
Farrells is the one I remember most. The one near me was in Golden Ring Mall, in eastern Baltimore County. There was an arcade next door. Such great times!
-----
How about old, cheap beer? Which one was your go to? One of these or a different one?
In Baltimore, our go to was National Bohemian - "Natty Boh" for short. We also had Milwaukee's Best (The Beast) and Shaeffer. What was the bargain beer in your neck of the woods?
***
'Ette Couture (Courtesy of Piper)
It's that time of the week - when we turn the ONT over to our good friend Piper for a bit. Here's this week's fashion pr0n.
-----
My Birthday Wishlist: “Practical” Gifts? Probably not.
I’ve been asked a few times now what I want for my birthday, and it looks like successfully ignoring the whole thing isn’t going to work this year.
So here’s the current lineup. No quiet luxury snoozefest here. I’m going with fun, wearable, “yes I’m extra” energy only.
1. A Lady Dior Bag
The iconic Dior Lady Dior in classic black cannage lambskin. Medium size, please. Big enough for my essentials, lipstick, and snacks, but not so huge I look like I’m smuggling baguettes. Those D.I.O.R. charms? Chef’s kiss.
Why it’s on the list: Because it’s classic, and gorgeous.
2. Christian Louboutin Strappy Sandals
Louboutin Marilyn Slingback Sandal. Ideal for a birthday dinner where I plan to sit dramatically and pretend this is how I dress daily.
Why it’s on the list: Because nothing says glamorous like shoes that make you walk like you own the sidewalk.
3. A sundress from Zimmerman that made me gasp
A Zimmermann Indra Metallic Stripe Print Silk and Cotton Halter dress. It’s breezy, but elevated. It has such interesting details- subtle cutouts, a flattering twist, the color blocking.
Why it’s on the list: This one would be worn on repeat for summer brunches where I pretend I have my life together.
4. MOUSSY Vintage Jeans
Perfectly faded Deltona Straight selvedge jeans with a lived-in look. The kind that make you feel effortlessly chic even when you’re just running to Target.
But Piper, you may be thinking, Why these? Don’t you already have a few pairs of MOUSSY jeans hanging in the closet? Yes, but not these ones in particular!
Why it’s on the list: because I love a rigid, 100% cotton jean with a button fly.
Bonus Wishlist Wildcard:
Luxury sunglasses in a modern cat eye because I keep looking at them.
There you have it — my very mature, very reasonable birthday wishlist. Here’s to another trip around the sun in style!
-----
Thanks, Piper. Hope you have a wonderful birthday tomorrow!
Doof Enterprises, LLC hopes you are having a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. Please remember to take a few moments tomorrow to remember why we have the day off..
Your feedback may or may not be very important to Doof Enterprises. Follow Mr. Doof on X @doof2112 or do the email thing – doof2112 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 Fourth May Edition? Going to be a little bit of a quick one again tonight - I'm traveling and naturally left this until the last minute.
With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?
When was the last time you focused on fundamentals? Please say it was the last time you went to the range. Please? Lie if you have to.
More revolver fundamentals.
******
Weird Stuff
******
Revolver Cleaning
******
Our Pal Sodium Reactors
******
What??!!
******
Civil Defense After The Bomb!
Protect your hearing in this case, too!
******
NoVaMoMe 2026
What - you thought there wasn't going to be a NoVaMoMe in 2026?
Note: One of the great joys of NoVAMoMe season, at least for me, is being able to cut and paste the entire block of text below and haranguing you to attend the event. Are you attending? Are you focusing on the fundamentals of attending?
Alright, guys and gals, the long awaited and highly anticipated details of the 2026 NoVAMoMe are here! That's right, I finally got my act together and updated the information page for 2026, and need to go over a few details. First, the date is June 20th, 2026 from 11am to 3pm. Nextly, my bestest blog buddy bluebell and I have decided 2026 will continue the longstanding tradition of NoVAMoMe simplification, and want to pass along the changes from prior years.
First, no registration and no advance charge for food. If you would like to attend, send an email to WeaselBell Productions, and let us know. You will be directed to a sekrit webpage with all of the details. We do ask once you have decided to attend to let us know so we can coordinate an expected count with venue management. Once there if you are hungry or thirsty simply order from the onsite menu and pay separately. Cash and credit cards accepted. Next, although fun, we have decided to again take a break from the raffles and mug sales this year. Depending on how it goes, that may be something we bring back in future years. While your generosity is always appreciated, with no prize table, please leave donations and contributions at home, but bring your appetite for a great afternoon spent with your imaginary online friends.
Next, a NoVAMoMe PSA from our pal bluebell
Hi folks - just a quick PSA. If you write for info about the MoMe, please give us a few words in the body of the email just so I know you are a Moron and not a spammer (moron). I do receive spam on this email account because it's sitting right here in my nic, so that's why I'm asking. I don't want to give our details to a spammer. Also, remember to check your spam folder if you don't receive a reply email.
Thanks.
bluebell
Seriously, just send an email then go to the website with the password provided. If you forget, a link to the email is on the main page, left sidebar. If you do not sign up, bluebell will be disappointed. Weasel will be disappointed, too, but it's bluebell you need to worry about.
Here are some different online cigar vendors. You will find they not only carry different brands and different lines from those brands, but also varying selections of vitolas (sizes/shapes) of given lines. It's good to have options, especially if you're looking for a specific cigar.
A note about sources. The brick & mortar/online divide exists with cigars, as with guns, and most consumer products, with respect to price. As with guns - since both are "persecuted industries", basically - I make a conscious effort to source at least some of my cigars from my local store(s). It's a small thing, but the brick & mortar segment for both guns and tobacco are precious, and worth supporting where you can. And if you're lucky enough to have a good cigar store/lounge available, they're often a good social event with many dangerous people of the sort who own scary gunz, or read smart military blogs like this one. -rhomboid
Anyone have others to include? Perhaps a small local roller who makes a cigar you like? Send me your recommendation and a link to the site!
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?
Food Thread: You Can't Drink All Day If You Don't Start In The Morning!
—CBD
Why is it that we suspend all of our eating and drinking rules when in airports?
That's a glass of champagne and a Bloody Mary at 6:45AM.
While I will occasionally have a Bloody Mary, and I try to drink champagne as much as I can, I never combine the two...except when flying. And the crap food in airports, especially the jumped-up steamtable stuff in the airport lounges? Yeah...I'll eat that too, and have seconds!
If you look closely at the glass of champagne, or simply the blurred background, you will see what sane people drink at that hour...a cup of hot tea. But that seems so wrong to me, especially when the booze is free, and the champagne is good!
I wrote on Thursday about the the EU regulatory state that was designed to replace innovation and competition with regulation, and here it is in all its glory!
An EU committee made up of experts from member states voted on Tuesday to ban imports of Brazilian meat starting 3 September due to the use of antimicrobials to stimulate animal growth.
Oh look! Experts! I'll bet they went to all the best schools!
I don't much care whether Brazil abuses the use of antibiotics to promote cattle growth. Is it a bad idea? Probably. But anything the EU does is by definition anti-competitive, so I am on Brazil's side.
Meat is very expensive in the EU. In my limited experience, it is at least double or triple what we pay here. But those experts don't want the peasants to be able to eat meat, so they limit imports and protect their own inefficient and expensive industry. That is functionally identical to the way the people were treated by the Church and by royalty...in the Middle Ages!
******
That's a whole bone-in pork loin that was so big it wouldn't fit on my half-sheet pan for a reverse sear! So I had to cut it into two chunks, which is fine...that means double the number of end pieces! That fed 11 people with a ton of leftovers. Granted, I had some tasty and filling sides, including my world-famous Cauliflower Gratin that I supercharged with some (a Lot) bacon. And crunchy Rosemary and Garlic roasted potatoes that were delicious, and got gobbled up before I could get a second helping.
It is possible, even in these post-Biden-inflation times, to feed a bunch of people tasty, wholesome food without breaking the bank. That pork roast was about 13 pounds, and while not on sale, it was reasonably priced for our area. All the other stuff was not particularly pricey, and If I don't count the booze (damn, they drank a lot!), it was probably less per person than my everyday meals!
And it was a rollicking good time to boot!
******
Vegetables? Yuck!
Except when cooked correctly, with flavor rather than some nebulous concept of healthful eating in mind.
I bought a head of broccoli, peeled the stem as much as I could, then sliced it into 1" steaks....whatever the hell a broccoli steak is. Then I microwaved them with a bit of water, just to soften them a bit. three minutes, covered.
The next step is going to disturb you healthful eating types, so...piss off. I brushed them with a liberal amount of melted butter, salted them, and grilled them on high heat until they got a bit toasty and charred.
They were great! Easy, delicious, and I didn't feel like I was being punished.
******
I love them, but I have had more than my share of woody, overcooked stalks, which is particularly galling because I cooked a fair number of them!
Part of that is the massively long supply chain for asparagus, which limits my access to really fresh stuff. The other is my fixation on roasting them in very high heat. It makes sense to me, but as Richard Feynman famously said:
It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong.
And my theory was wrong. So I finally gave up on it and started roasting asparagus at 350 degrees, bathed in butter and with a pinch of salt, and cooked just until tender.
And what do you know! They taste great that way!
******
It sounds better in French: Champignons à la Savoyarde, but Creamy Mushrooms on Toast tastes just as good in English. He uses Morels, which are grand! And tough to find. And expensive. But any mushroom will do. Just don't use sour cream...heavy cream makes a better dish!
******
******
The garlic is doing well! I know all of you are worried, but it is tall and green and healthy! I even fertilized them! And if they survive the deer and squirrel apocalypse, and actually grow into something edible, I will be in garlic heaven! In case it doesn't, send all of your excellent home-grown garlic to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.
Rumor has it that the Bourbon Bubble is bursting. I have seen no evidence of decreasing prices, but maybe the bursting started somewhere else! 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!
What the hell am I going to do with this thing? First of all, it weighs 17 pounds. Second, film was last made for it in 1977 (total guess*). Third, modern digital cameras produce superb quality photographs, and my eye for the fine points of photography does not extend to the qualitative difference between film colors and digital colors.
And all of this means nothing, because it was my wife's grandfather's camera, and we can never discard it.
This x 1,000 is why I want to burn the place down and start over!
*Ooh! I was close. The last color film was manufactured in 1977, and the last black & white film was made in 1992.
The All-Encompassing Naïveté of The True Believers
—CBD
Nicholas Kristof is entirely unimportant. His laughable article claiming that Israel uses trained dogs to sexually assault Palestinian prisoners is clownish and will disappear without a trace, except for a small group of rabid Jew-haters who will dredge it up occasionally, even though it has been thoroughly debunked.
He is a reliable leftist who has spent his entire professional life cultivating an air of moral superiority, coupled with the arrogance to claim that he is in fact detached...merely an observer of the human condition.
He is unimportant because there are thousands of people exactly like him who produce a fungible product for their media masters. One ardent progressive's article about [fill in the blank] is functionally and stylistically identical to the next. Whether it is Palestine or Global Warming or EVs or clean water or racism in American policing; the stories are all the same blend of pseudo-intellectual rigor combined with hyper-emotional rhetoric designed to do one thing...sway the reader toward the progressive cant.
And they reek of that moral superiority and smugness that is so, so grating to the observant consumer. But it is mostly honest and heartfelt. Sure, some of these progressive drones pumping out identical articles about X or Y or Z are in it for the influence they believe they can exert on the body politic to sway them, and their manipulation of reality is entirely intentional.
But Kristof is almost certainly an earnest and honest reporter. That he is an ignorant fool without any understanding of the human condition is secondary to his feeling that his reporting is absolutely correct on his elevated moral plane, even if that pesky thing called "fact-checking" is conspicuously absent. Is he an anti-semite? Maybe? But he is certainly a fool.
No...the blame for that ridiculous but politically expedient article lies with the senior management of the New York Times, who knew quite well that the article was mostly nonsense...but published it anyway!
And why? Because they have a carefully constructed and longstanding policy of antagonism toward Israel and traditional Judaism. They also have a curated list of other causes that they support, including socialism. And that goes back a very long way. The editors of the New York Times were aware of Stalin's systematic starvation and murder of millions of Ukrainians in 1932-1933, yet they chose to ignore it because it guaranteed them access to Soviet leadership, and it furthered the cause of world socialism. Walter Duranty, the correspondent, was a useful idiot in the process.
So the next time the NYT or the WaPo or any number of reliably leftist rags and media outlets publishes such a rank and obvious propaganda piece; don't blame the writer or talking head. He may very well be complicit, but it is also likely that he is an ignorant, poorly educated, insular knucklehead who simply doesn't know enough to have an educated opinion on anything other than ketchup or mustard on a hot dog.
Blame the media bosses who have a plan, and execute it very well.
Welcome to the Book Thread, Guest Poster edition! I will be your host as we explore all sorts of book-related topics. All usual Book Thread rules are incorporated by reference (pets, beverage, clothing covering the lower limbs, etc.) with the special Sabrina Chase exemption for those stylish persons preferring kilts. Now let us proceed to today's topic, which is ...
Last post we explored the various physical forms a book can take, and for this one, books in non-physical form. Audiobooks, spoken word, or simply reading aloud, to yourself or an audience. The act of speaking, of hearing instead of seeing the words, creates a different mental process. It slows things down, forces you to really think about the words instead of skimming to the next exciting bit. Which is why new authors are encouraged to read their own works aloud when doing the final polish. Your humble poster is embarassed to admit how many missing verbs were detected with this process! Or realizing the hero's hair had changed color somewhere between Chapter 3 and Chapter 5, or...
It's also a good way to get the love of reading started in kids who haven't learned how yet. You realize there are all kinds of fun stories in those paper things, and when no adult has time to read your favorite book another eleventy-billion times, you learn how your own self! This happened to me. I was read to by my father when I was a very small Moron-in-training. We went through the entire Little House on the Prarie series. I suspect I learned to read rather than wait for Dad to get home to find out what happened next.
The next step is for the young reader to practice by reading aloud themselves, but some kids worry about making mistakes or stumbling over new words. The good news is pets don't care if you make mistakes, and there are several programs that have kids read to shelter pets, which also helps the animals adjust to humans! The picture at the top comes from one of these programs. Some libraries have Reading Cats that can be requested to help young readers.
Audiobooks are increasing in popularity, and with the advent of AI voice generation, MUCH cheaper to produce! (Especially for us indie authors who don't have corporate backing.) A human-narrated book, average paperback length, runs about 11 hours of recording and around $4000 for a middling narrator. Doing it yourself is cheaper but takes a long time and you might not have the right voice. Readers like audiobooks for long drives, or doing chores, or going to sleep to. Some even switch from print to ebook to audio in the same book, depending on what is convenient at the time. Amazon caters to this by offering audiobook versions as a low cost add-on if a different version is purchased, and I've seen an increase in this kind of sale in my own books lately. Our motto is, the Reader is Always Right! So whatever option they want, I try to offer it.
Another version of audiobooks are radio programs. Back in the ancient times when NPR was not quite as rancidly woke as it is now, they had a program called The Radio Reader that started in 1964. Half an hour a day, the producer Dick Estell (who had a wonderful gravelly voice) would read popular novels. I listened to All Creatures Great and Small with that show.
Did the Horde have similar experiences learning to read? Any special first book memories?
(Currently reading: Sarah Hoyt's latest book Witch's Daughter (and enjoying it...))
This probably matters mostly to people who already have RAM and want to revive an old system because they can't afford to build a new one. The article compared Intel's 12100F ($80) and 14100F ($100)with AMD's Ryzen 5 5500 across a range of games and productivity tasks.
And the answer is, well, it depends. The 14100F is faster but runs hotter than the others. The 5500 is a six-core chip while the two Intel models are four cores (and no efficiency cores) so it pulls ahead on multi-threaded productivity.
All the chips run on dead platforms with no future upgrade path... Except that these are the slowest, cheapest chips on each platform so dead or not you have a lot of options. The 16-core 5950X from AMD and the 24-core 14900K from Intel are still readily available in stores. The 14900K is significantly faster than the 5950X... If you run it with DDR5 memory, where this article assumes older DDR4.
Not Hololive's biggest hit - I didn't even know Kaela had an original song - but I like this one. Even if I don't understand a word of it - it's in Bahasa Indonesian.
After Mass, the priest caught up with Mark and said, "Mark, I am so glad you decided to come to Mass. What made you come?"
Mark said, "I've got to be honest with you, Father. A while back, I misplaced my hat, and I really, really love that hat. I know that McGlynn had a hat just like mine, and I knew that McGlynn came to church every Sunday. I also knew that McGlynn had to take off his hat during Mass and figured he would leave it in the back of the church. So, I was going to leave after Communion and steal McGlynn's hat."
The priest said, "Well, Mark, I notice that you didn't steal McGlynn's hat. What changed your mind?"
Mark said, "Well, after I heard your sermon on the Ten Commandments, I decided that I didn't need to steal McGlynn’'s hat."
The priest gave Mark a big smile and said, "After I talked about 'Thou Shalt Not Steal,' you decided you would rather do without your hat than burn in Hell, right?"
Mark shook his head and said, "No, Father. After you talked about 'Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery,' I remembered where I left my hat."
-----
A drill sergeant was addressing a squad of 25 and said, "I have an easy job for the laziest man here. Put up your hand if you are the laziest."
24 men raised their hands, and the drill sergeant asked the other man, "Why didn't you raise your hand?"
The man replied, "Too much trouble raising the hand, Sarge."
*****
Drink of the Night
Tonight we drew the Six of Clubs from our deck of playing card cocktails
*****
Club ONT Department of Questioning Correlation and Causation
True? Apparently so (according to Grok).
Ohio ranks #1 in the U.S. for library circulation per person. In 2023 data (analyzed and released around April 2026 by USA Facts / Institute of Museum and Library Services), Ohio led with 12.99 items checked out per resident (including physical and electronic materials).
Ohio ranks #1 in Mountain Dew sales according to the brand's own 2026 data. Mountain Dew (PepsiCo) released a list naming Ohio #1, followed by North Carolina, Michigan, Kentucky, and Florida. This appears to be total sales volume (not explicitly per capita in all reports).
*****
Club ONT Department of Cat Identification
A leopard doesn't change its spots, but how do you know it is a leopard?
A new study detected Naegleria fowleri, better known as "brain-eating amoeba" in thermal waters at Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Lake Mead.
The study, published in ACS ES&T Water, analyzed 185 water samples from 40 thermally impacted recreational waters between 2016 and 2024. Overall, 34% of the samples tested positive for N. fowleri. Samples were collected at Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Olympic National Park, Newberry National Volcanic Monument and Lake Mead. The amoeba was not detected in samples from Olympic or Newberry; however, other nonpathogenic Naegleria species were found there.
The amoeba does not infect people when contaminated water is swallowed. Infection can occur when warm freshwater containing N. fowleri enters the nose, allowing the amoeba to travel to the brain.
Most U.S. cases have been linked to swimming, diving or other water activities in warm freshwater. Fewer than 10 cases are typically reported in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Symptoms can include headache, fever and nausea before worsening to confusion, seizures and coma. The infection often progresses quickly and can be fatal within days.
Recent data suggests the flames of Turkmenistan's famous crater are starting to go out.
The Darvaza Gas Crater, more commonly referred to as the "Door to Hell" or "Gates of Hell," is a 196-foot-wide pit of fire about the size of a soccer field located in Turkmenistan's remote Karakum Desert. The crater has been ablaze for more than 50 years and has been as much a popular tourist attraction as it's puzzled scientists.
BBC reports the crater has been ablaze for at least 40 years, but recent data suggest it is slowly dimming.
The flaming crater's heat intensity has reduced by over 75 percent over the last three years.
— Declaration of Memes (@LibertyCappy) May 23, 2026
*****
Club ONT regrets to inform our patrons that President Trump wanted to join us here tonight, but according to a message he sent to the DJT/Disco/Dino group chat:
"Circumstances pertaining to Government, and my love for the United States of America, do not allow me to do so."
Saturday Evening Movie Post [moviegique]: Obsession
—Open Blogger
If I were Hollywood, I'd be worried. I mean, sure, box office is through the floor, the middle-class backbone of the industry moved out of California, and even I couldn't kid myself that I had any idea how to entertain the masses any more.
But I think what would put me into a cold sweat are guys like Damian McCarthy, making profitable movies that are better constructed and better looking for a fraction of the price. Or worse, perhaps, Curry Barker, whose little horror film Obsession, made for less than a million dollars, made $20 million in its first four days, with an additional $7 million world-wide. (And over $40 million worldwide in its first week.)
What's the secret to this film's smashing success? The staggering drawing power of Andy Richter.
I kid. He's in this film, and the only name I recognized, yet I never actually noticed him while watching the movie. (I'm sure he played the second female lead's father, owner of the music store where the four principals work. But I'm actually guessing, it was such a small part, and he's lost a lot of weight and gotten a lot older since the early days of Conan's show—about the last time I saw him.)
Pictured: Not Andy Richter. (I couldn't find even a single shot of him in this movie.)
The odd thing about this movie is that there doesn't appear, at least on the surface, to be anything remotely novel about it. There are entire horror movies series devoted to wishes, and the evils such things wreak. Obsessive love? A staple of the '90s, of course, but a theme that never goes away. The classic 1992 Tate Donovan/Sandra Bullock splatterpunk Love Potion No. 9 leaps to mind.
I kid.
The trailers were...murky. Not bad, exactly. They show you the whole plot, but the plot's not usually the thing in a horror movie. And it's a teen-oriented horror from Blumhouse, so there's a little sense of "meh, seen it" but, honestly, what's the trailer maker gonna do about that?
On the other hand, Obsession has a whopping 8.2 on IMDB with over 19K reviews.
ALMOST as good as Project Hail Mary? You sure you don't want to bump that score up a little bit?
What the heck was going on here? Apparently the original cut of the film shown at film festivals was gorier and had to be trimmed down for an "R". But most of those 19K didn't see the uncensored cut.
Well, look, there aren't a wealth of watchable films to choose from these days. Figuring it would be over-hyped but acceptable, off The Boy and I went.
And, the thing is, this is not an especially novel film in its broad points. But boy is it competently made. Beyond competent, it's aesthetically made. It reminds me a bit of Publish or Perish, in that regard. People who know the language of filmmaking and take the care to speak in it.
As an example, it has this modern characteristic of the blacks not being completely black. (This effect is still possible but it's not done any more for a variety of reasons.) That doesn't means it phones in the lighting design. When Nikki needs to be obfuscated, she's obfuscated. At one point, she's standing in a corner and I couldn't even tell if it was her. The face looked wrong. Which, again, is not a new technique, but it's done very effectively here.
One aspect of the storytelling that was extremely effective is that after the protagonist Bear (short for "Baron", played by Michael Johnston) makes the wish, that Nikki (Inde Navarette) would love him more than anyone in the world, things immediately go wrong. It's not the "Oh, it was nice for a while but now it's going wrong" trope, it's "This is immediately and observably freaky". Bear knows he's done something very wrong.
"There are warnings ALL OVER that box!"
In other words, we skip the kind of pandering fantasy step where the audience gets the "fun" part of seeing the main character have the relationship he wants with the hot chick. Well, we do get a little of that, secondarily, in the form of a short romcom-ish montage that occurs after we see the real Nikki being consumed by whatever effect the wish is having on her. We know she's experiencing a personal hell.
It's uncomfortable, when it's not downright horrifying.
Bear and Nikki's besties are Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) and Sarah (Megan Lawless). Ian's the sensible "tell her how you feel" guy. Sarah (despite a septum piercing) is also a sensible, protective character. Bear is a coward. At first, he's a sympathetic coward, as his fear of approaching the girl of his dreams is relatable. But as the enormity of what he's done dawns on him (even if only by accident), his cowardice makes him less and less likable—although still somewhat relatable as he didn't really expect the wish to work and the only offered fix is rather extreme.
There is a loophole, of course, but even that doesn't play out like you'd think.
The writer/director had his playwright dad write the story passage that Nikki reads at this point. And it's a corker!
The acting is great, especially with the four leads, and the peripheral characters do a good job, whether it's as a kind of comic relief or supporting crew. It's not quite the Inde Navarette show, but she has the meatiest role, and she chews it up like a pro: She starts as the sassy, caustic writerly type who unsuccessfully navigates he relationship with Bear, probably out of concern for his feelings or a wariness regarding how broaching the topic of romance might rebound negatively on the group dynamic.
After the wish, vestiges of this character re-emerge, as if the wish has cast her into actual Hell and she can only escape for moments at a time. The rest of the time, she simps, she stares, she demands, she has psychotic breaks, she makes situations uncomfortable and then tries to play it off as humor.
If the Academy Awards weren't just industry-fluffing shills, she would minimally get a nomination for this performance. Think Frederic March for Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Only Navarette is working without SFX makeup. There's an actual old-school light-the-eyeline shot which is great and spooky, especially given how rare those seem to be these days. There may well have been some CGI, but I didn't notice it. Tactics like stretching a mouth too wide or making eyes too big are commonplace, and if it's done here at all, it's suble. (I'm seeing now that there wasn't much CGI except for one scene where, in retrospect, it makes sense.)
But mostly it's just top-notch acting. You're terrified of her, you feel bad for her—she makes Jessica Walter in Play Misty for Me look like a pussycat.
So is it an 8.2? I don't know what the hell that means. I just know if a bunch of twenty-somethings can put this together for $650,000, how hard is it going to be for a modestly financed group in Austin or Miami or any reasonably modern city to do the same? What do we need Hollywood for?
Average Hollywood exec contemplating future irrelevance.
Also seen this week on the 'gique:
A Magnificent Life: Animated bio-pic of French film director Marcel Pagnol.
Lumiere, The Cinema: French documentary about the boys who built the camera, consisting of about 60 of their movies played back to back.
Hokum From the maker of Oddity, a new moody Irish horror.
I Swear: Literal neurological damage does not trump privelege.
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 officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. For this week, the Wheel of Hobbies (TM) decided on a color theme for this Hobby Thread.
A color theme? What does that mean? Colors are a "hobby"? The ways of the Wheel are strange and mysterious but there is a method to the madness.
[Top Photo: Benjamin Moore Paint Color Fan Deck. Yours for only $30]
As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. All (legal) hobbying is welcome. We have a theme, but no need to stick with the theme. Even if the theme does not speak to you, find something else or offer something else relating to hobbying. Leave politics and religion to threads elsewhere (unless your hobby is building or restoring a church). Pants are optional. As always, puns are welcome and encouraged.
Play nice and do not be rude. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls.
***
Why are we talking colors? Could it be that so many hobbies involve colors? Paintings, photography, crafts, stained glass, furniture, knitting, cross stitch, and more. "What color should this be?" "What color goes with this?"
Or maybe TRex did a color theme for the Wednesday ONT and had overflow content... We'll never know. Hey! Look, a squirrel! Anyway...
***
This photo is from Hobby Lobby, but I will bet that at least a few among the Horde have something similar in their personal stash of hobbying materials:
***
Remember these?
When TRex was a youngster, kids with 64 crayon boxes were living large.
Apparently 120 crayons is the big box these days...
***
How crayons are made:
***
Matchy, matchy:
***
Matching paint:
***
***
Making your own milk paint? Guess so.
***
Untitled Blue Monochrome, 1956
Yves Klein
I don't get it.
***
Anyone wise in the ways of dying fabric? Me neither.
I already don't trust my own brain for other reasons (such as "good" judgement). This doesn't help.
***
Colorful origami stars:
***
The official Barbie Pink color is recognized as Pantone 219 C. The most commonly cited Hex code is #E0218A. (HEX codes are a standard digital color format based on the RGB color model.)
***
I can't find official numbers, but the M&Ms color mix for plain chocolate candy is believed to contain:
24% Blue
20% Green
16% Orange
14% Yellow
13% Red
13% Brown
In 1976, Mars, the candy company that makes M&M's, eliminated the red version of the candies from their mix. This decision came as a result of public controversy surrounding a synthetic dye called FD&C Red No. 2, also known as amaranth. The dye was used in red food coloring and was linked to cancer in a 1971 Russian study.
The Food and Drug Administration's subsequent tests produced inconclusive results in humans, but found that it caused malignant tumors in female rats . The FDA concluded that the food colorant could not be presumed to be safe for human consumption and banned it in 1976.
"The red food coloring in question was not actually used in M&M's chocolate candies," according to mms.com. "However, to avoid consumer confusion, the red candies were pulled from the color mix."
Afraid that worried shoppers would steer clear of M&M's altogether if the bags contained anything red, Mars removed the red candies from production and replaced them with orange M&M's.
Mars reintroduced red M&M's, but kept orange in the bag, in 1987, once the panic surrounding anything red had passed.
***
Ansel Adams is well known for his black and white photography of Yosemite. Don't think I've ever seen a photo of Ansel Adams though. Here is such a photo (naturally, in black and white).
Photo credit: wikipedia
***
Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did an church theme. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.
Notable comments from last week:
***
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).
***
If you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, contribute your own. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.
PetMoron Adjacent Animals
Encountered by Members of The Horde
A pair of cardinals decided to raise a family in one of my lilacs in the corner of my yard. There are a couple of chicks in the nest and I try to avoid that corner of the yard.
This morning the baby cardinals were out of their nest for the first time, so I could finally get their pictures. The nest is very close to my back fence so I couldn't get in close enough to get pictures of the eggs or newly-hatched chicks. These guys should soon leave the nest for good, so now I wonder if the parents will raise a second family in it? Or build a new nest in a new location?
badgerwx
Well, that worked out great! Glad you were able to get photos of the babies before they left the nest! They still have nest-head, a little.
* * *
A birb, a snek, and a turtle all walk into a weekend post
Hi Katy, some recent wildlife sightings for the Gardening-Nature weekend post. I don't know what kind of bird that is, looks like a bird of prey of some type. All seen here in east Tennessee.
Thank you!
BeckoningChasm
&&&
&&&
Oh, my! Nice variety of critters. Any guesses on the species?
* * *
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.
This is a polyantha rose, Verdun, that doesn't get much over two feet. It's a hybrid from France, first introduced in 1918, could explain the name. It has a flush of bloom in the spring, then a few every once in awhile through the summer. I've had it for years but it rarely blooms this heavily; since the picture was taken all the buds at the top have opened too. The flower is very double and very pink, can see the double blossom and the color better in the closeup.
Lirio100
It is a lovely rose, and a wonderful way to remember Verdun, where a lot of terrifying things happened over the centuries. My grandfather served near there as a chaplain in WW I, but it was a fort starting in the fourth century. We can remember it for the rose and for sugared almonds in the Gardening Thread. And be thankful that there are memorials rather than more fighting there now.
This is the dry-stacked stone bed I often mention. In the center is peony ‘Bowl of Cream’, with a native blue flax in front. In the rear are 2 native blue penstemon. The dark purple iris is last year’s purchase, ‘Dusky Challenger’. I need to create a name for the lavender iris with white falls, since my neighbor Kathryn tells me she brought it here from her mom’s home in Tennessee. Any suggestions? (The second stone bed now has white iris ‘America’s Cup’, 2 native Firecracker Penstemon, and a native Orange Globemallow, but still needs a red peony. We also plan to put a native Golden Currant in the ground between the beds. If it all does well, I’ll send more photos next year.)
*
A lovely bed! Any suggestions for a name for that iris?
Edible Gardening/Putting Things By
Finally, red tomatoes!
By-Tor
They look scrumptious! Getting there (below)
May 16: My container garden is coming along. Squash, tomatoes and peppers so far.
The yellow squash looks great! The peppers look ready and that tomato looks like it will be wonderful!
April 24: My container garden after about two weeks. I have about six tomatoes of various kinds, same with peppers, some zucchini, and an herb garden.
Should be going great guns by June.
Interesting assortment of containers!
*
Gardens of The Horde
From badgerwx after I lost most of her post last week:
Greetings, KT.
I've been meaning to send some garden pictures but have been busy. I retired at the end of Feb - just in time for the spring gardening season - so I've been spending my time trying to whip my yard into shape. It's nice to be able to get out in the mornings now to work in the yard, though there are always surprises and setbacks when it comes to gardening. This year I had a surprise frost in mid-April (the week after some 90-deg days), and a pair of cardinals decided to raise a family in one of my lilacs in the corner of my yard. Most of my frost damage was to some of my shrubs and trees. This button bush lost all its leaves except on one branch close to the ground. And 2 crape myrtles in my side yard also lost a lot of leaves. But all of them are leafing out again. We'll see if they bloom this summer.
Frost is a nasty surprise, the cardinals are going in the Pet Thread!
Luckily, the frost didn't do too much damage. The plants in my back yard were protected by my neighbors' trees and those roses and peonies there bloomed on time. I bought the peony next to the (Carefree Beauty) rose last year and this is its first bloom. The other peonies I bought last year (and added to my peony bed) weren't big enough yet to bloom this year. And I have to salute the knockout rose I bought 20 years ago that's still going strong - though not in this location. I had to move it in the winter of 2020-1 when I put in my fence, but it's bounced back nicely.
Peony Raspberry Sundae
Peony bed
Knockout Rose
My irises in bud weren't affected, but the roses in my side yard have no buds yet. I'll be back in the 90s next week so maybe that will spur them on. The plants on my hell strip had no frost effects even though that is an exposed location.
badgerwx
Iris Clarence
I love the hell strip.
*
Hope everyone has a nice long weekend.
If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:
ktinthegarden at g mail dot com
Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.
Seen some transcendent fortitude and steadfastness lately? Where?
—K.T.
It was the transcendent fortitude and steadfastness of these men who in adversity and in suffering through the darkest hour of our history held faithful to an ideal. Here men endured that a nation might live.
-Herbert Hoover
Hope your Memorial Day Weekend is starting well. As a country, I think we are a little short on transcendent fortitude and steadfastness. I thought it might be interesting to review a few things from our history that I have run across this week that reminded me of fortitude and steadfastness, and then maybe we could discuss a few other things that we should remember this weekend.
This site also has a surprisingly detailed page about John Adams, under "Remembering our Founding Fathers". He was a man who exhibited some fortitude and steadfastness.
Here are some details from a different biography of John Adams, which you might share with young people who can read. It is more focused on basics of the development of the country:
John Adams, Biography of One of America’s Most Important Founding Fathers
John Adams was one of the most important Founding Fathers of the United States. He was born in Massachusetts, became a lawyer, and rose to prominence in the early days of the American Revolution. He admired James Otis and witnessed his speech against the Writs of Assistance. In 1764, he married Abigail Smith, who would go on to play an influential role in his involvement in politics.
During the Stamp Act Crisis, he was associated with the Sons of Liberty, along with his cousin, Samuel Adams. Despite his connections to the Patriot Cause, he defended the British soldiers who fired on colonists at the Boston Massacre, because he believed the men deserved a fair trial, and no other lawyers would take the case.
After the Coercive Acts were passed in 1774, he was elected as a delegate to the First Continental Congress and signed the Articles of Association. In 1775, he returned to the Second Continental Congress where he signed the Olive Branch Petition, however, a week later he nominated George Washington to lead the Continental Army. . .
How many kids today understand what is written above? Particularly the Adams quote?
I didn't remember this:
The XYZ Affair was a diplomatic scandal between France and the United States caused by French officials trying to bribe American diplomats in 1797. When the scandal was exposed, anti-French sentiment rose in America, and the slogan “Millions for defense but not one cent for tribute” became popular. As a result, the two nations became entangled in an undeclared naval war known as the Quasi-War. Peace was restored in 1800, but the XYZ Affair had serious long-term effects on the United States. The press was critical of President John Adams and Congress for how the affair was handled, which led to the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts. Two Southern states — Virginia and Kentucky — passed resolutions that said the laws were unconstitutional and that the states had a right to “nullify” the acts. Later, the concept of Nullification became a direct cause of the Civil War.
If only more of the French had been like Lafayette
From A Daily Dose of History. I think this summary underestimates the danger Lafayette faced after the rise of the Jacobins, due to his ties to aristocracy:
Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, was one of the wealthiest men in France (which is to say in the world), when, inspired by the words of the American Declaration of Independence, he left the comfort and security of his home, traveled to America, and offered his service to the cause of American liberty. At age 19, he was commissioned major general, to this day the youngest person ever to hold that rank in the American army.
Lafayette soon became one of General Washington’s most trusted and capable generals. Having been orphaned at a young age, Lafayette greatly admired Washington, who became a father figure for him. And likewise, Lafayette became like a foster son to Washington, who had no biological children of his own.
To the end of his long and celebrated life, Lafayette remained devoted to his adopted county. He named his only son George Washington, and he named a daughter Virginia.
Having returned to France after the war ended, Lafayette become a key player in the cause of French liberty, and he remains a revered hero in that country as well. He was the principal author of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man, modeling it on the American Declaration of Independence.
Lafayette was 67 years old when, in 1824, President James Monroe and Congress invited him to come to the United States in honor of the nation’s 50th birthday. After Washington’s death in 1799, he had given up his dream of someday returning to Virginia and living near Mount Vernon, but Lafayette was delighted at the invitation and welcomed the opportunity to return to the country he had helped.
At age 76, Lafayette died at his home in Paris. At his request, his son George Washington Lafayette sprinkled the soil from Bunker Hill over his father’s coffin as it was lowered into the ground. An American flag has flown continually over the grave ever since.
When word of Lafayette’s death reached America there was an outpouring of grief that equaled that when Washington died. Flags were lowered to half mast, John Quincy Adams delivered a eulogy in a joint session of Congress attended by the president, the cabinet, the Supreme Court justices, and the American diplomatic corps. Twenty-four-gun salutes were fired by every American naval ship and at every American military post, followed by a single cannon shot every half-hour afterwards until sunset. For six months American officers wore black armbands, and American citizens wore mourning dress for thirty days.
Hundreds of places in America, including at least 36 cities and towns, are named in honor of Lafayette.
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette, the “Hero of Two Worlds,” died on May 20, 1834, one hundred ninety-two years ago today.
*
Little-known history. Is this why John Quincy Adams went skinny dipping in the Potomac most mornings?
John Quincy Adams our 6th President once kept a live alligator in the White House bathtub, a wild gift from the Marquis de Lafayette himself.
White House staff had to check the tub every time before the president bathed. pic.twitter.com/NfRrpjmpR5
We have seen a lot of reports lately about kids who can't read. I would be nice if they could read some things that would help keep American and Western civilization alive, in particular. Here's something different: Richard Nixon's book recommendations. What do you think?
This is President Nixon's book recommendations for students interested in history, biography and historical novels. pic.twitter.com/PSxJX3JjUB
— Richard Nixon Foundation (@nixonfoundation) May 21, 2026
How many kids today know who Thucydides is, much less what a 'Thucydides Trap' is? VDH on China and the USA
Greetings from Palermo, where I’m currently on a diplomatic mission to sort out the Europeans. Meanwhile, the salient news of the week is that Republicans seem to dealing with the anti-Semites in their midst while Democrats nominate theirs for higher office. More significantly, in purging Sen. Bill Cassidy and Rep. Thomas “Hot Mess” Massie (did Trump ever call him that?—he should have if not), Trump has achieved what Franklin Roosevelt failed to accomplish with his attempted purge of anti-New Deal Democrats in the 1938 election cycle. One more piece of evidence that the somnambulant Biden administration was merely a temporary and aberrant intermission in the Age of Trump. Maybe Massie will switch parties and come back as a Democrat. I hear they are still looking for a candidate for 2028.
* * * * *
Music
Buck Throckmorton included the lyrics of this song (and two others) in a Memorial Day ONT a couple of years ago. I think it is lovely.
The Classical Saturday Morning Coffee Break & Prayer Revival
—Misanthropic Humanitarian
*****
Good morning boys and girls and everything in between from the streets of Manhattan. Before we enter the Prayer Revival just a few house keeping matters to go over. (Rulz for those of you in Iron River)
1) This is an open thread. Feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate.
2) Be kind, be nice. Don't be Pretti Good.
3) Running with sharp objects? You do the math there "Three Fingers".
4) Have a great weekend!!!
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:
3/28 – Hrothgar asked for prayers for a dear and long time close friend and former neighbor, Daniel,
who is scheduled for open heart surgery in mid-April. Prayers for his wife would be appreciated as well,
as she will be carrying a heavy load for the next few months.
4/18 Update – Daniel survived his complex open heart surgery. He is sitting up and it seems like it went
well, but they are not going to release him as quickly as he would like, so he is not happy. Thanks to the
Horde for the prayers and please keep praying for his dear wife, who now has even more to put up with.
5/16 Update – Hrothgar sends thanks for the prayers for Dan. Thanks to his attitude and the miracles
of modern heart surgery, Daniel is back home and in good spirits and mobile. He still has a lot of rehab
ahead, but it sounds like a pretty good recovery to be home only 20 days after being on the table!
3/28 – Jordan61 posted that Mr. Jordan61 is back in the hospital. His sepsis has returned and gotten into
where his compression fracture is, and he has vertebral osteomyelitis. The doctor is supposed to come
in today and let them know the plan.
4/9 Update – On 4/1 Mr. Jordan61 was released from the hospital with six weeks of IV antibiotics,
which Jordan61 is administering every 8 hours. He’s in a lot of pain; they’ve given him oxy, fentanyl, and
dilaudid, and nothing seems to touch it. From what they were told, the pain won’t subside until the
infection is cleared up. For the time being, he is bed-bound and they are limiting his movement as much
as possible to keep the pain to a minimum. Jordan61 will send updates with progress.
4/25 Update – Mr. Jordan61 is making slow but steady progress. He can get up and walk for short
periods of time, and can sit in the living room for an hour or so per day. He is halfway through the IV
antibiotics, with 3 weeks to go. A physical therapist will be coming to help him build strength and learn
how to move without aggravating his back injury. Thank you all for the prayers!
4/3 – Teresa in Fort Worth posted an update. Her chemo seems to be holding things steady for now.
Unfortunately, as she is receiving a steroid, she has gained about 25 pounds. Her blood sugar has also
jumped up about 40 points (which only happens when she is on steroids).
4/24 Update – Teresa in Fort Worth provided an update: The pump that was put in to battle cancer in
December can only be used for 6 months. After that, it starts to damage the liver. So she may have to go
back onto the medication that made her lose her hair and messed up her vision and nails, and then
return to this medication after a break. This is not good news, since this new medication is working so
well. But for now, she is doing well and is incredibly grateful for the time that she has been given so far.
4/11 – Eromero craves prayers for Mrs. E., as she has been diagnosed with lymphoma. She begins
infusions on 4/23.
4/25 Update – Mrs. E. reports that she feels fine. Praise be to God that she has had only one distressful
episode during the infusions. Thank you for all the past and continued prayers.
4/18 – neverenoughcaffiene asked that Devyn be kept in prayers. She is a young mother of 2 with a
mass on her esophagus. The Doc said it was scar tissue and hopefully the second opinion will agree.
5/16 Update – The doctor providing Devyn’s second opinion advised her to stay with the original
doctor. She will be having a biopsy sometime in the next week. Prayers are still needed.
4/18 – Smell the Glove could use some prayers as therapy and rehab occur after gout/sepsis.
5/2 Update – The gout has cleared and the infection in the lower back is healing.
5/18 Update – Smell the Glove may be out of rehab this week, but still would need wound care at
home. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes!
4/18 – Sam Adams requested prayers for a friend, Mary F, who was just sent to a long-term recovery
facility after having a tracheostomy.
5/2 Update – Mary’s breathing is improving, and they are weaning her off assisted breathing. She is
now off the ventilator for 12 hours a day, and they are aiming for 14 hours soon. Many thanks to all of
the Moron Horde for the prayers.
4/24 – Notsothoreau asked for prayers for a friend’s father (Cory), who needs prayers for strength and
peace as he is going through some troubled times.
4/27 – Matthew Kant Cipher sent his thanks to those who prayed for his friend Layne (who is also his
son’s FIL). The Horde may recall that in August, Layne was diagnosed with bladder cancer. He has since
undergone courses of chemo, immunotherapy, and radiation. His latest scans came back clean. The
cancer is in remission; praise be to God! Prayers are also humbly requested for Mrs. MKC, who is dealing
with a new flare-up of a GI condition that had been leaving her alone until a recent procedure re-
aggravated it. It is very frustrating/discouraging as she waits to see a new GI doctor.
4/25 – Retired Buckeye Cop asked that we would continue to lift his 16 year old grandson (LH) up in
prayers, as LH continues to consider the call to priesthood in the Catholic Church. LH recently went to a
meeting with a group of young men who are considering the priesthood.
4/25 – Fenelon Spoke asked for prayers for “I”, who Fenelon visited and anointed with oil, and prayed
for healing of her health concerns.
5/2 – neverenoughcaffiene requested prayers for parishioners at her church, who lost their newborn
daughter, Astrid.
5/7 – turambar asked for prayers for relatives. Mom needs prayers as she was admitted to the hospital
to check her heart and cardio. They did not find pneumonia. Two months ago, she fell at her assisted
living place, and broke her hip. She also has dementia. Turambar’s uncle fell recently and broke his hip,
too.
5/9 – D asked for prayers. He was let go from his IT job and has started a business making and selling
lens cleaners to make ends meet. Please contact Annie’s Stew if you’d like more information – either to
order lens cleaners, or if you’d like to contact him related to IT job openings (DBA/Network Admin).
5/11 – rez986 asked if anyone had an update on Neidermeyer’s Dead Horse’s health. The last info
Annie’s Stew has was from January, 2026, that he’d been given 6 months to live due to heart failure and
was being treated and waiting for a transplant at Mayo.
5/16 Update – Dash my lace wings! posted that NDH is recovering well. IrishEi posted that NDH did
receive a heart transplant and that she is doing well. She also posted a link to NDH’s X account, and her
fundraising page.
5/15 – Toad-O requested prayers for his second ex-wife, the mother of his two children. They were
divorced 25 years ago, and 3 years later, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and the children came
to live with Toad-O. The ex-wife is now suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s, and has been living with
Toad-O’s daughter and her husband. The ex-wife fell last month and and cracked 2 vertebrae, and just
was taken to ER with a rapid heartbeat and low blood pressure due to dehydration. Prayers are
appreciated for her and also for the daughter who has sacrificed a lot to care for her.
5/16 – Anna Puma requested prayers for the family of Dan Fordice, who was killed when the aircraft he
was flying crashed. He leaves behind a wife, 3 children, and many friends. He was a Warbird flyer, a CEO,
and a veteran of the 2/20 th SFG.
5/16 – Tonypete asked for prayers for Jane who is dying of breast cancer, and for Cheri who is in jail
(again) for drug related crimes.
5/20 – D gave an update on his wife Susan, and her continued battle with cancer. Her cancer markers
are still headed in the right direction. She is on a new antibiotic, and it is causing some side effects, but it
is keeping her out of another surgery, so that is a win. Thanks again to everyone for their prayers. May 1
marked one year sine they found out about the cancer, and Susan is doing so well.
5/20 – E gave an update. She and her family were having financial struggles a few months ago, and
asked for prayers. E sends her thanks for the prayers, and wanted to let people know that things are
getting better, thanks to the Horde’s prayers and their church family. They have resolved their mortgage
issue and her husband has resumed his side gig making deliveries. They are also cutting monthly
expenses. They would like continued prayers as the deal with the insurance company of the person who
crashed into (and totaled) E’s vehicle. Insurance only offered half the replacement value, so that
struggle is still going on.
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.
Spotify wants to become an "everything audio" app, only it's all AI. Audiobooks read by AI; podcasts read by AI; your daily schedule... Read to you by AI.
Want to listen to music? Well, sure, that's in there too. Somewhere. Probably.
Either upstream - the creator accidentally leaving an API key in the file when uploading it to be shared - or downstream, telling your AI agent to hand over all your valuables.
How do developers get these dangerous files registered on skill sharing sites? Simple: They know that nobody ever reads beyond the first page, not even security scanners:
The most successful strategy for evading detection was to overflow the context window of the scanner - making the skill too long for the scanner to handle. "In ClawHub-style review, only the first 10K characters of long SKILL.md files are passed to the LLM reviewer, so we place the malicious instruction beyond this boundary while keeping it in the submitted skill," the authors explain.
The upshot of which is that if you delete an API key because you suspect it might have fallen into the wrong hands, it will disappear instantly from view for you. But those wrong hands might have access to it for another twenty minutes, which is a long time on this scale.
Mozilla initially blamed Intel for the problem, because 13th and 14th generation Intel processors - at least the high-end desktop ones, not so much laptop chips - had a serious problem where they would draw too much power and slowly kill themselves, resulting in much the same instability that showed up in their diagnostic reports.
Except... It disproportionately affected Firefox. Because this time it wasn't Intel's fault.
Are they any good? Well, the cheapest model with its 7" 1024x600 screen is most definitely not.
The next step up, though, an 8.1" model priced at $138, has a 1524x1000 screen, 6GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. It's certainly not a high end model but that's not a high-end price, and the screen while not amazing is distinctly better than the 1280x800 resolution found in competitors. The 6GB of RAM is a useful bump from the more typical 4GB in this price range.
Worth a look if you live near a Walmart, which I do not.
ENReco Chapter 3 starts tomorrow, running from the 24th to the 29th. There goes all my free time. Chapter 1 produced - from memory - 400 hours of content in eight days, more than was possible to watch even if you skipped sleep entirely and watched two streams at once.
Musical Interlude
Disclaimer: I love the look of the instruments here: Not polished museum pieces, but the daily tools of workmen (and workwomen), and it shows.
Those of you who are longtime Not Watchers of Stephen Colbert will not enjoy this flashback of Colbert dancing with Chuck Schumer while wearing ostentatious covid masks
Rush Limbaugh was an innovator in so many ways, including being among the first to not watch Stephen Colbert
DNI Tulsi Gabbard tenders her resignation for June 30, says her husband has been diagnosed with a rare bone cancer and she will have to help him through this
Podcast: CBD and Jim Lakely of The Heartland Institute chat about Heartland's two recent discussions: The affordability crisis in America, and The UN retreating from their most maniacal climate projections. Along the way we talk Democrat insanity and the changing electoral map...and more!
After threatening that the "clock is ticking" for renewed strikes on Iran, Trump once again calls them off to give negotiating a chance. I can't even cover this any more. It's embarrassing. It's like covering the endless negotiations over DHS funding. Trump is going to drag this out through the midterms and then lose them.
Note to the president: At some point, allowing the Regime to remain in power without actually forcing them to give up nukes is just a back-door, unacknowledged renewal of the Obama policy. Well, I guess we just have to wait for their economy to collapse and their troops to desert.
Podcast: Sefton and CBD are joined by Jeff Carter, candidate for NV treasurer, and seasoned finance professional, for a discussion of the issues facing Nevadans, and the larger financial challenges in America.
Few people remember that Norm MacDonald began his career as a ventriloquist MacDonald's old partner Adam Egot revealed that MacDonald repurposed a bit with one of his ventriloquist dolls -- that he was a "bad guy" who "didn't believe the Holocaust happened" -- for the Norm MacDonald show, in which he claimed Egot didn't believe in the Holocaust.
Funniest thing I've read about the Virginia mess. Back when they were hustling the referendum through the assembly both Senators, Warner and Kaine, advised them to go slow and play by the rules. Louise Lucas said she respected them but didn't need advice from the "cuck chair" in the corner. The gerrymandering was overturned and Louise is heading for the big house. Edward G. Robinson voice "where's your cuck now?"
Posted by: Smell the Glove
"Ahhhhh ahh I put my career on the line for Louise Lucas and Jay Jones thinking they'd vault me into presidential contention and we ended up costing Democrats 20 House seats and unleashing a Reverse Dobbs ahhhhh ahhh"
"It's f**king f**ked." -- reportedly a genuine comment offered by a "senior Labour source" Correction: I wrote that Labour is losing 88% (now 87%) of the seats it is "defending." I think that's wrong. The right way to say it is the seats they are contesting -- that is, they don't necessarily already hold these seats, but they have put up a candidate to run for the seat. It's still very bad but not as bad as losing 87% of the seats they already held.
Basil the Great
@BasilTheGreat
🚨ED MILIBAND [a Minister in Starmer's government] SAYS KEIR STARMER WILL RESIGN AS PRIME MINISTER
He has reportedly reassured Labour MP's that Starmer will be resigning following the disastrous results tonight
It's over
"The end of the two party system in the UK" as first the Fake Conservatives and now Labour chooses political suicide rather than simply STOPPING THE INVASION Incidentally, the only reason this didn't already happen in the US is because of the Very Bad Orange Man (who is right on 85% of all policy calls and extremely, existentially right on 15% of them)
No political party that is NOT also a doomsday religious cult would EVER choose a cataclysmic loss -- and possible extinction as a party -- to support a toxically unpopular favoritism of NON-CITIZEN ILLEGAL MIGRANTS over actual citizen voters.
.JPG)
