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
On the evening of January 2nd, while conducting breathalyzer tests on motorists as part of the traditional BOB campaign meant to combat drunk driving in Belgium, police in the commune of Duffel noticed something very peculiar. A car that was approaching their checkpoint seemed to do so at a snail’s pace, finally stopping dozens of meters before reaching them.
As they approached the vehicle, traffic police officers immediately noticed that the person in the driver’s seat seemed unusually short and young. Their initial impressions were confirmed when they reached the driver’s window. It was a young boy, no more than 12 years old. Next to the child was his father, who nonchalantly admitted that he had asked the boy to drive home because he had had too much to drink.
Not ideal by any means. Especially when you find out this additional detail.
Sitting in the backseat of the car were the boy’s mother and two young siblings, all of whom seemed ok with the situation. Interestingly, the mother had a valid driver’s license herself, but somehow thought it was a good idea to let her pre-teen son drive the whole family home at night.
Check out the whole thing. Actually, I'll save you the time.
And, in case you’re wondering how the family got home that night, the boy’s mother took his place behind the wheel and did what she was supposed to do in the first place.
Minnesota Trail, the lesser known sequel to Oregon Trail
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'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.
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As we step into January 2026, the fashion landscape has undergone a seismic shift. After domination by the understated elegance of stealth wealth neutrals, the pendulum has swung hard in the opposite direction. Maximalism is back! We are embracing more fun layering, vibrant colors, faux fur details, pattern clashing, and over-the-top accessories. It is confident, curated, and unapologetically expressive, drawing heavily from '80s power dressing while infusing modern sophistication. It is perfect for January when everyone needs a mood boost after the holidays.
Designers are emphasizing statement pieces, dramatic shoulders, vibrant patterns, tactile textures like feathers and fringe, and clashing prints, balanced for impact rather than excess. It's about channeling joy, power, and individuality.
Key designers leading the maximalist charge in 2026, as seen across Spring/Summer 2026 runways and early-year buzz:
Saint Laurent remains a powerhouse for "Glamoratti" maximalism. Sleek yet powerful looks with exaggerated shoulders, rich fabrics, and confident styling that feels intentional and elevated.
From The Luxury Closet
Versace delivers iconic, high-drama glamour with vibrant colors, sculptural elements, and that signature loud luxury. Even with creative transitions, the house continues to embody fearless maximalist energy.
These standout Versace pieces scream pure, unfiltered maximalist fire:
Gucci embraces eclectic, layered maximalism with vibrant patterns, heritage twists, and playful details that celebrate personality and bold mixing.
Vibrant Gucci runway shots that perfectly nail the eclectic maximalist mood:
Moschino reminds that playfulness is alive and well, with over-the-top, colorful, witty maximalist designs that mix patterns and textures in the most fun way.
These Moschino backstage/runway shots show the bold, eclectic chaos we're loving:
Other major players include Chanel (under Matthieu Blazy's direction, adding feathery, colorful drama and whimsical volumes), Bottega Veneta (tactile textures and joy-inducing shades), Balenciaga (wild proportions and feathers), and Chloé (boho-infused maximalism with lace and prints). Emerging voices like Meryll Rogge bring electric pops of color, while houses like Dior and Givenchy add whimsical, statement-driven silhouettes.
This "mindful maximalism" isn't about piling on everything—it's strategic: one hero piece paired with thoughtful balance. It's empowering, nostalgic, and perfect for shaking off winter blues. Are you ready to embrace the chaos? Here are a few ideas on how to style this look:
This outfit:
With these shoes:
This outfit:
These shoes:
This shirt:
These jeans:
These shoes:
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Thanks, Piper!
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DJ Doof - Guess The Theme
Difficulty Level - 2 out of 5
What's the common thread / common meaning / common leitmotif?
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Tonight's ONT brought to you by faaaaaabulous furniture
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All content is the intellectual property of Doof Enterprises, LLC. As if you'd really try to steal it.
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 Second January Edition? Not much going on here this week, but I do believe I am out of danger with respect to the cold I had last week, so I have that going for me. How about all y'all? Doing well?
With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?
So last week we had what I thought was a highly productive conversation on fundamentals of shooting stance courtesy of troublemaker nurse ratched. Here is her troublesome comment.
Ok. Riddle me this.
I get sight alignment and trigger pull.
But why stance? In what real world shooting situation will you be able to make stance a priority? You may be on one knee peering over a half wall, looking around a corner with your weight on your weak leg, moving sideways, backwards, or maneuvering a stairwell. I mean. I get planting your feet and being solid when you’re just standing at a line shooting holes in paper, but how is that a transferable skill to real life?
Not trying to be a troublemaker.
Posted by: nurse ratched at January 04, 2026 07:40 PM (IhIKR)
Which sparked a lot of well considered responses. Might the answer be to incorporate the practice of different stances into your range routine? What do all y'all think?
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Colt Boa
Nice! I am not entirely certain I remember the Boa model.
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AR-10 Madness!
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Ax Weasel
Q: Weasel, as a recognized expert in organic tree farming, what can you tell us about paper making?
A: Why, I am glad you axed.
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Our Pal The Nakamura WT-300
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Highway Patrol!
This week's episode: Human Bomb! Holy crap!
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Project Moonbase!
Have we seen Project Moonbase before?
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Olivia Cigars
How they're made.
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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: Football And Food...A Match Made In Heaven.
—CBD
Maybe not that specific food, but I wonder why football food is so much more important than baseball or hockey or basketball (does anyone know if the NBA is still around?). Yes, the games are a bit longer, but there is an entire culture that has grown up around the football meal, and not just tailgating! It's in the home as well. Chicken wings, all sorts of dips, nachos, potato skins, chili, deviled eggs, guacamole, pizza, jalapeno poppers, pigs in a blanket, and on and on and on!
What is it about football? maybe that there are usually multiple games, so the games intrude upon normal meal time? Or the embarrassing pomp and circumstance of the games lends itself to food and drink excess?
Who knows. But it can be fun, especially since it is, in most homes, restricted to a Sunday or two, and not the interminably long entire season!
So what's your favorite football food? I am partial to pizza and wings! Pizza wreaks havoc on my waistline, so I try to limit it, but wings are almost always fun, and rarely bad. Hell, my local Applebee's has excellent wings! (Please don't tell anyone that I have eaten there)
The new food pyramid is great, at least in comparison to the ridiculous one that emerged from the gaping maw of our government in the last century. And since it pissed off all the right people, I am thrilled! But it also makes me sad that Americans have become so detached from their food, from the farms to their tables, that they don't know how to construct a healthful diet.
Eat a wide variety of foods, cooked by you from fresh raw ingredients, be active, and don't eat too much. That's my method, and it seems to work pretty well. Sure, I try to avoid a lot of carbs, because they seem to make me fat, but if they work for you, go for it!
The insane focus on food misses the mark. It is supposed to be a pleasure. It is supposed to be a centerpiece for the family. It is supposed to be a respite from the insanity of the world. Instead, too many of us have dragged the complexity of the modern world into the kitchen, and it has made us fat and worried!
Relax, have a piece of bacon, and enjoy the bounty of our wonderful world!
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Because I am a cooking nerd I will often add complexity to a simple dish, because I think there might be some marginal improvement in the end result. So when I decided to sear chicken thighs in a Paella-inspired spice rub, then finish them in a warm oven, I realized that I could add significant time and a bit of complexity without an appreciable improvement in taste, well, I had to jump!
So I boned the chicken thighs so they could lay flatter in the pan and get more of the skin nice and crisp and crusty and gloriously brown. And it's easy, but time consuming.
Was it worth it? No, probably not, because the spice mixture worked great (a lot of Paprika, Oregano, salt and pepper), and finishing them in a warm oven kept them lovely and moist, and the marginal extra crisp skin was...um...marginal!
But it was fun to do, so I will probably keep doing it that way until I get really good at removing the bone, then I will never make the dish again!
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Speaking of Football Food! Here's a solid recipe from the website "Amazing Ribs." Easy BBQ Pulled Pork Recipe works well, although I think that he uses too much Rosemary in his signature rub. But that's just my personal taste...you might think that it is the Platonic ideal of dry rubs!
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That's a beef cut guide from South Africa! We are used to a particular way of butchering beef, but most countries have their own way of doing it, and the end result is just a bit different, but amusing and sometimes delicious.
For instance, the French cut their lamb into a shoulder roast (epaule) that is delicious, and amazingly tender in comparison to our traditional cuts.
Does anyone have experience with that sort of thing?
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Anne Burrell was a fine chef, whose recipes were also written well enough for the home cook to decipher, and not just roll our eyes and say, "F*ck off, there are too many steps and too many ingredients."
Her Focaccia recipe is a winner, and if you are feeling energetic, make her Ricotta the same day. The combination is delicious. Focaccia and Ricotta.
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It's a four-panel cartoon, so it's impossible to see on the blog, but click it and you won't be disappointed! Calvin And Hobbes
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A friend graciously gave me some genuine grown-in-the-USA garlic, and I tasted one clove and planted the rest, because my pathetic failure last year is an anomaly...right? I hope so, because it's in the ground (actually, a large pot), and it had better work this time!
Send all of your extra antelope 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!
That's the spring end of a pair of kitchen tongs that I use probably every day. They are of course made in China, but shockingly, the "stainless steel" is actually stainless steel, and the design, though simple, is excellent. That is my third pair of them, and I use them so often that I have two pairs in rotation.
But...and there is always a "but"... the spring is a pathetic piece of junk that is the failure point on every pair. Why not pop for the extra 10 cents and use a stainless steel spring?
Obviously the entire kitchen needs to be redone...maybe mid-century Scandinavian?
The people of Iran made a huge mistake in 1978-1979. Their support for the Ayatollah Khomeini was catastrophic on many levels, especially since the country was meandering toward full modernity and entrance into the 1st World with the Shah in power. What they got for their efforts was a savage religious dictatorship that quickly consolidated power by killing its rivals, and even a large number of supporters. And they didn't stop there...the massacres of 1981 and 1988 were the largest, but the Mullah's police state routinely imprisoned, tortured, and killed its supposed enemies, including women who dared show their hair!
With President Trump firmly on the side of freedom, the struggle against the theocratic dictators intensified after the Israeli and American strikes against the Mullah's nuclear ambition. The decapitation of Venezuela and the loss of its support for Iran seems to have added even more fuel to the revolutionary fire!
Whether the people of Iran are successful remains to be seen. If the army enters the fray it will get even bloodier, and the IRGC has already demonstrated its viciousness. News reports are suggesting that President Trump is considering military options, but that is a complex decision. Will America simply prevent the Iranian army from entering the cities, or will it be a more involved effort?
The people of Iran (Persia!) are in an existential fight, but they must win the war mostly on their own. Large-scale interference on the part of the West will at least partly delegitimize whatever comes next for Iran, although the choice between winning against the Mullahs and remaining under their thumb might make that an unimportant point.
But they are fighting the forces of evil, and they deserve the support of the freedom loving people of the world.
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On the other hand, the rich, entitled, spoiled left of America has elevated their violence against entirely normal and rational effort of the federal government to protect our borders as some sort of revolution against the jack-booted thugs of fascism running rampage across our country, arresting Americans and throwing them into the American version of the Gulag. The reality is different, as ICE seeks out law-breaking border crashers and, hopefully, deporting them. That is a far cry from the fever dreams of the lunatic left, who sees every government law enforcement officer as an amalgam of Pinochet, Hitler, and Franco.
They have taken their right to disagree with the actions of the government to ridiculous extremes. They have demonized and doxxed ICE officers, paid professional protesters, created the conditions for violent protests in left-leaning cities, and created the conditions for a violent response to their clearly illegal actions. And the sad part is that there are clearly understood methods of disagreeing with the policies and behavior of the government. Peaceful protesting is a time-honored tradition in America. Agitating for political change via the vote is too, but they are so sure of the holiness of their mission that they do not appreciate that violence against the government rarely works when the majority of the country supports the actions that are so infuriating to the lunatic few.
Renee Nicole Good was Minneapolis 'ICE Watch' 'warrior' who trained to resist feds before shooting
"Resistance" can take many forms. Only a few cross the line into violence, but the left has decided that circumventing the political process and moving to violence is the only appropriate response. That there has been a muted response from the federal government is a testament to the training of the officers involved and their political masters. In a real fascist dictatorship (like Iran), those nightly protests in Portland would have been met with water hoses, gunfire, and wholesale detention. Those professional "warriors" in Minneapolis would have been run off the road, arrested, and thrown into some hellhole of a prison for an indeterminate amount of time. Or just shot as they threatened the safety of the ICE officers.
But we do not live in anything resembling what they imagine, and that is why they feel confident in their behavior. Hopefully the seemingly justified shooting of the violent protestor in Minneapolis focuses the minds of the others, and the temperature is turned down just a bit.
Sunday Morning Book Thread - 1-11-2026 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]
—Open Blogger
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. 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...
So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, enjoy a freshly-made batch of Chex Mix, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?
Massive kudos to MP4 for his debut Sunday Morning Book Thread last week. CBD sent me an email saying I could take the week off and that someone else would be covering for me, but I didn't know who it was until I checked the queue of blog threads on Saturday evening. I was very pleased to find out it was MP4! He did a great job and I hope we can entice him to do more Sunday Morning Book Threads in the future!
This is a random pic I found on a website advertising 23 Unique Home Library Ideas. Naturally, this company wants you to use their products and services, but there are some decent ideas on the webpage if anyone is looking to spice up their library.
HOW A BOOK IS MADE
Technology has come a long, long way from Gutenberg's original printing press featuring moveable type. The video above shows just how easy it is to print a small number of books. Naturally, this process just scales up for huge print runs, like Kamala's New York Times bestselling book about her presidential run (stop laughing!).
In my job I've had to make frequent use of the university print shop, which has most of the machinery shown in the video. They can basically custom-print anything you can imagine, and if they can't do it, they'll outsource it to someone who can. It's just cool what they can do. Personally, my favorite machine is the massive paper cutter, which trims thousands of sheets of paper at once.
Here's a short video about how Amazon's Make on Demand service works. Amazon prints millions of books a year based on customer requests. I have quite a few books that have been printed in Monee, IL, just a few days after I've ordered them on Amazon. The audio isn't great, so you will want to turn on closed-captioning to follow along.
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HOW BOOK THIEVES STEAL MANUSCRIPTS
There are a few lessons to be learned from this video:
Never email your unpublished manuscript to someone you don't know. Double-check the email address to make sure it's correct. In the example above, changing just ONE character in the email address allowed a manuscript thief working at a publishing company to publish the manuscript without the author's permission.
If you are publishing a serialized version of your story online so that you can solicit feedback, make sure you upload the finished, polished manuscript to your final publishing platform as soon as possible. Yes, you do own the copyright on your works, but it can be challenging to prove that sometimes if someone is poaching content from your website and then publishing it as their own material.
"Brandjacking" means your good name is being stolen to be used on content that isn't yours. So if you have published a few books and have had some modest sales, you do owe it to yourself to protect your brand.
I work with professors who are often leery about putting their course content online because they don't want their content being stolen by someone else. It's a valid concern. Unfortunately, the reality is that if someone can view their content--even if it's hidden on a password-protected learning management system like Canvas--it can be stolen and repurposed. This is how cheating sites like Chegg gather data. They rely on students to submit content for them to then publish for other students. I've even downloaded content from courses because I wanted to have a copy of the content for future reference. Not to sell it as my own. Just to have it as a resource. I know one professor who goes so far as to remove modules in his course as soon as the module is over. He doesn't just unpublish them from his Canvas course. He deletes them entirely. Which is kind of pointless since as soon as students know that he does this, they're going to download copies of the content as soon as the module becomes available.
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MORON RECOMMENDATIONS
Before I read it, I didn't know that Dracula was an epistolary novel.
Clever books, like epistolary novels, have always interested me. One comes to mind which I stumbled upon long ago, and found it as fascinating as I found the characters distasteful. When Captain Pierre Laclos first published Les Liasons Dangereuses in 1782, it caused such a scandal that it was briefly banned. Of course, this only made it even more popular behind closed doors. Eventually, a publisher's note was added to the novel, insisting that the author in no way represented the truth.
The story behind the story is that a series of letters, mostly between the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, had been found and assembled, and when put into chronological order, told a strange immoral tale. These two aristocrats schemed between themselves to seduce a young noblewoman; for Merteuil, it was revenge, and for Valmont, merely the challenge.
The letters tell the story in both statements and hints, and describes the cooperation and then competition between the decadent pair. Eventually, the competition turns into hatred, and Valmont exposes Merteuil and ruins her.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at December 28, 2025 09:11 AM (0U5gm)
Comment: The central story of Dangerous Liaisons (I'm not French, so I'll use the English translation) seems to have universal appeal, as the story has been adapted numerous times around the worl, even as far off as China and Korea. It's been told and retold in many different media over the centuries. I was first exposed to the story in high school. My drama club took a trip to London one year and we watched a stage performance of Dangerous Liaisons, which was pretty cool. The 1999 movie Cruel Intentions spawned its own franchise with a prequel, a sequel, and even a television series.
People seem to be fascinated by the deliberate destruction of innocence as depicted in this story. It's very much a tragedy, as no one escapes unscathed.
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You might enjoy Tony Perrotett's Route A.D. 66 (published in the US as Pagan Holidays). He decides to take the Roman version of the Grand Tour, using ancient guidebooks and travels from Rome to Greece and on to Egypt and Arabia. Clever and funny.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at December 28, 2025 09:16 AM (ufSfZ)
Comment: We take for granted how easy it is to travel around the world today. Back in the ancient world, much travel was done on foot. If you were lucky or wealthy you might have a horse or cart. You would, of course, have to take care of the horse and cart because your livelihood depended on them. My pastor at church has been giving us a guided tour of Paul's travels during his ministry. It's been fascinating to see how he traveled between Israel, Asia Minor (now Turkey), Greece, and Rome, as well as exploring the difficulties he had along the way.
One of you Morons sent me an email with an Amazon link for Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time series. It was a boxed set with the first three novels in hardcover for about 1/3 the normal price. Naturally, I screamed, "Shut up and take my money!" and purchased it.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I have no idea when I'll get around to reading it, so it goes on top of my teetering TBR pile for now.
WHAT I'VE BEEN READING RECENTLY:
The Final Architecture Book 3 - Lords of Uncreation by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I finished Adrian Tschaikovsky's epic space opera trilogy just before New Year's Eve. That was the final book I completed in 2025. It was well worth the ride. The series as a whole took a bit of time to get going and Tchaikovsky is prone to exposition dumps, particularly in Shards of Earth, but overall it's a good read and quite entertaining. I liked the character development.
The series also featured dueling assholes--a protagonist and an antagonist. Ollie, on the side of the protagonists, is one of those professional assholes that doesn't really get along with most people, but if she chooses to be your friend, she'll be your friend for life. Ollie's major character arc was overcoming her biases against the Parthenon society, as it's composed of "perfect" Amazonian warrior-women while Ollie suffers from numerous birth defects that left her body crippled and deformed.
At first I thought there was going to be some mild wokeness in the story, but much of it was justified by the setting and characters, so it didn't bother me much. Also, Tchaikovsky didn't seem to be too enamored with perfect socialist societies, instead preferring the rough-and-tumble life of the spacers who really keep society running through their rugged individuality, scavenging and trading wherever they can to keep flying between the stars, regardless of the dangers posed by "unspace."
I won't spoil the climax, but it's pretty badass. Idris uncovers the truth behind the so-called "lords of creation and uncreation." The Architects are not what everyone thought they were, either, serving their masters unwillingly, weeping at the destruction they are forced to cause throughout the cosmos.
The Complete Chronicles of Conan - Centenary Edition by Robert E. Howard
This has been on my TBR pile for several years now. I remember being excited when the Centenary Edition came out, but then I got distracted and busy with other things. Now I'm reading it and enjoying it quite a bit. Robert E. Howard's Conan is quite a bit different than Arnold Schwarzenegger's depiction in the movies, though I think he captured Conan's spirit quite well.
I did realize that while compilations of stories by an author are a fun read, they can start to become repetitive after a while. Howard has a formula, for sure. Conan will become enmeshed in some complicated scheme or a situation that's outside his usual understanding and he'll need both brains and brawn to sort it all out. This repetitive formulaic storytelling is not unique to Howard, of course. I had similar experiences when reading Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories or Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot stories. It's probably best to read a few stories, then switch to something else, and come back to the stories again.
I can also tell that Howard was HUGELY influenced by H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Their fingerprints are all over Howard's stories. From Lovecraft, Howard weaves the setting, with it's alien gods and ancient powers walking the land, unknowable to mankind. From Burroughs, Howard develops some of Conan's traits from both Tarzan and John Carter. Conan is wild, unpredictable, animalistic. He's also cunning, powerful, and strong, able to overcome his enemies through sheer determination. He's also chivalric and honorable in his own way. Not quite a Southern gentleman, though.
John Carter of Mars - Volume 1 by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Since I got a bit tired of reading Conan, I decided to mix it up by reading Edgar Rice Burroughs for a bit, starting with A Princess of Mars. John Carter is a former Captain in the Confederate Army of America who goes to Arizona after the war to seek his fortune in gold prospecting. While being chased by Apaches, he hides in cave, then proceeds to have an out-of-body experience that propels his spiritual form to Mars (or Barsoom, as the locals call it).
He meets the local native green Martians and gains their trust. Then escapes their custody to join the red Martians, who are much more human-looking, and falls in love with their princess. It's easy to see how much Burroughs influenced the pulp adventure genre with his stories.
I was a bit surprised to find out that Burroughs was American. For whatever reason I assumed he was British. But nope, he was born in Chicago. I also thought he was writing books later than he did. Although he was a contemporary of Robert E. Howard, that was more towards the end of Burrough's life. A Princess of Mars was published in serialized format in 1912, while Howard was still a child.
The Dresden Files Book 1 - Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Jim Butcher's latest entry in The Dresden Files comes out in a couple of weeks. I believe it's the beginning of the end of the series, since I've read that Butcher wants to finish with around 20-21 stories. Anyway, in preparation, I've decided to do a re-read of The Dresden Files from Storm Front to Battle Ground.
Storm Front introduces us to Chicago's only professional wizard--he has an ad in the Yellow Pages and an office in midtown. Butcher also begins laying out the foundations of his urban fantasy settings, establishing the core rules in which his characters operate. At this point, Harry Dresden is fairly powerful, but he still has a long ways to go until he reaches the heights of power he wields later in the series. He'll take many levels of badass along the way. For now, he's enmeshed in a scheme by a rogue wizard who is creating a magical drug that opens up the "Third Eye" of normal people and lets them see the world for what it really is. In Harry's world this is a very bad idea, because most people are not prepared for that experience without extensive training. There are things that are revealed when using the Sight that can drive you insane. Harry himself will experience one of these later and he pays a heavy price for it.
It's pretty good for a debut novel, but I think the series really gets going with Book 3, Grave Peril as Butcher expands the world considerably and introduces amazing characters, such as Michael Carpenter.
The Dresden Files Book 2 - Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
This is probably my least favorite of The Dresden Files. It's not bad, but it's not the strongest entry. Harry is called upon to investigate a series of murders that only take place during the full moon. Naturally, he reaches the conclusion that it's the work of a pack of werewolves that have infiltrated Chicago. However, his work is complicated by the fact that the FBI is investigating the murders as well and their motives are not exactly pure.
This is where we also see how Harry begins to adapt and grow as a character, as he realizes that the tools and tricks he used in the first book, Storm Front, are not powerful enough to aid him. So he upgrades his equipment using his magical skills. This will become a recurring theme throughout the series. As Harry points out more than once, a wizard who is prepared for a contingency is a very, very formidable opponent, so he does his best to be prepared. Though often his preparations go by the wayside and he has to rely on his wits, skill, determination, and raw power more than once.
Some theories of loop quantum gravity predict small fluctuations of the speed of light in a vacuum. New experiments put an upper bound on how big those fluctuations could be, ruling out some of these theories.
I call them theories rather than mere speculation because they actually made sufficiently robust predictions to be ruled out in the first place. A theory can be wrong, but it's not a theory if you can't test it.
Too late, really. Zen 6 will be out this year, and if you want integrated graphics it looks like Intel's Panther Lake is faster - though only if you are willing to go with a system with soldered memory. If you need conventional DIMM or SODIMM memory, you get models cut down from 12 GPU cores to just 4, which isn't beating anything.
Nvidia GPUs are hardest hit so far, with reports of stock on all models running low in Germany and Japan. Since that was the first direct warning we had of the memory crunch (though in retrospect the signs were there months earlier) I bought myself a 9060 XT while they were in stock and on sale. Which as of time of writing, they still are.
Earlier AM4 motherboards often had as little as 16MB of ROM for the BIOS, which became a problem as AMD kept releasing new chips for the platform - Socket AM4 first appeared in 2016, even before Zen 1, and the most recent new processor for that socket, the 5500X3D, was launched in June last year. There were simply too many different models of compatible processors to fit all the necessary code into 16MB.
With AM5 confirmed to support the upcoming Zen 6 chips later this year, and strongly hinted to support Zen 7 due in 2028, it will end up being an even longer-lived platform with more CPUs, so motherboard makers are fixing the problem before it arises.
Also, without Amazon ever asking permission to do so.
Also also, without Amazon bothering to sync the data properly from your online store so that they don't, for example, still list long-discontinued products for sale.
No, they didn't have a brief moment of self-awareness. They're blaming three years of AI for thirty years of their own failings.
Musical Interlude
In 2008, a young Suzuka Nakamoto was part of a short-lived trio called Karen Girl's - yes, with the misplaced apostrophe - and performed Over the Future, the opening theme for the anime series Zettai Karen Children.
You may know her better as the lead singer for Babymetal.
Thanks Mikeski for pointing me to the Babymetal cover of Over the Future.
(I checked three different versions of the first clip. The full-length animated one is available in every single country in the world, except, for some reason, Belarus. If anyone is reading this from Belarus, sorry.)
Saturday Night Club ONT - January 10, 2026 [Double Ds]
—Open Blogger
Welcome to Club ONT - A collaboration of the Double D's - The Disco and The Dino.
One less D than when we started this thing. Adjust your expectations accordingly. The place might look a little different, but it will still open on time, and it will still only be as classy as the patrons. Yeah, that means YOU! Oh boy...
[Top photo:John Moulton Barn, Grand Teton National Park. Photo Credit: NPS]
He says to sales lady "I would like to buy a Baptist bra for my wife, size 36B."
With a quizzical look the sales lady asked "what kind of bra?"
He repeated a "Baptist bra, she said to tell you she wanted a Baptist bra, and you would know what she wanted."
"Ah now I remember" said the sales lady, "we don't get as many requests for them as we used to. Our customers lately want the Catholic bra, or the Salvation Army bra, or the Presbyterian type."
Confused a little flustered, the man asks "So, what are the differences?"
The lady responded "It's all really quite simple a Catholic type supports the masses. The Salvation Army lifts the fallen. The Presbyterian type keeps things staunch and upright."
He mused on the information for a minute and then asks "So, what is the Baptist type for?"
"They" she replied "make mountains out of molehills."
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Related comment of the week:
(It was either going to be here or in the comments. Might as well embrace and put it front and center.)
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Someone say boobies?
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Drink of the Night
Playing card cocktail tonight. We're still on the FOURs. As fate would have it on the first night without him, this one is in honor of our "D emeritus"
Just kidding, Doggo. You know we still think you're a good boy.
A Utah police department's use of artificial intelligence led to a police report stating - falsely - that an officer had been transformed into a frog.
The Heber City Police Department started using a pair of AI programs, Draft One and Code Four, to automatically generate police reports from body camera footage in December.
A report generated by the Draft One program mistakenly reported that an officer had been turned into a frog.
Thank you for your continued patronage of Club ONT. We regret to inform you that the "Club ONT 2026 Suggestion Box" has gone missing, so we will be unable to implement anything you may have jotted down and dropped in there. The box was last seen in Doggo's possession. On a completely unrelated note, Doggo was last seen digging a hole out back and burying something. We may never know what he was doing.
What a voice! And when she was young, absolutely adorable, which isn't a bad combination at all!
Linda Ronstadt's Love Is A Rose
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The Doors seem to be either an acquired taste, or maybe just not for everyone. I like them, although not as much as in my youth.
The Doors' Break On Through (To The Other Side)
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Hard to beat Merle Haggard for classic country. But there are so many genres in country music that I can't keep them apart, and I don't much care. Well, maybe modern pop country is beyond the pale for omeone whose first taste of country music was "Wreck Of The Old 97!"
Merle Haggard's Mama Tried
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Garrett's favorite artist!
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I am not a fan of Nirvana, but this is a solid song, which explains its popularity.
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These two videos are on Rolling Stone's list of best music videos of all time. Of course the number one video is by Beyonce, and that immediately proves that the list is shit.
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. We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies (TM) a spin it landed on home building.
As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. All (legal) hobbying is welcome. Discussion of current events, religion and politics can elsewhere. Pants are optional. As always, puns are welcome and encouraged.
Play nice. Don't be a troll and do not feed the trolls.
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Home building? Is that really a "hobby"? Sure - with a little imagination and artistic license.
Many have built their own homes, with a wide range between tailoring a model and full custom. Many have remodeled, renovated and expanded existing homes. Even if none of those apply to you, most of you have experience living in a house.
Full disclosure: this post is shamelessly designed to obtain wisdom and ideas as we embark on a project to design and build our own house. We are in the early days, but tinkering with floor plans and thinking big thoughts. Your ideas may help inform our plans, so thank you in advance!
No, we do not intend to swing a hammer and pour concrete ourselves. We will have professionals involved but we still need to make the right design decisions.
No, we're not going to post too many details here for OpSec reasons.
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Have you built your own home? Share victories, horror stories and lessons learned.
Whether you built your home or not, what unique feature in your home are you most pleased with?
What unique feature seemed like a good idea at the time, but turned out to be too difficult, not worth the money, or something that ended up not being used as you envisioned?
In retrospect, what great idea did you consider and rejected, but now wish you had included?
Do you have any secret doors or hidden passageways (that you can disclose)?
Did you use pre-packaged plans or hire an architect to create custom plans?
Other than the usual pit of despair that comes from change orders and a bruised bank account, what lessons do you have from your experience of building or renovating?
Did you do anything to take care of the workers during your project (like bring coffee in the morning or a cold case of beer at the end of the day from time to time)?
Did you have a big party at the end? If so, did you invite people like architect, contractors and subcontractors?
What was the biggest surprise of the process (good or bad)?
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Designing a kitchen:
And picking countertop material.
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This is a nice timelapse of a custom home build - with cost for each step along the way:
Fancier but also includes cost breakdowns:
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Japanese building techniques:
Nails or screws?
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Hmm....
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What changed?
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Completely different program, but very impressive.
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Note: I have intentionally skipped most content from television shows and YT channels on homebuilding, home renovation, home rescue, etc. I don't want this thread to be about TV personalities, clickbait videos, or other manufactured drama.
I have also skipped tiny homes, shipping container homes, and the world of making homes out of airplanes or similar. We're not doing any of that.
Tumvante is the Swedish word for mitten. This random example is from 1920.
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Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did an ice fishing 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 your own. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.
- You have to muzzle it in public - You have to muzzle it around kids anywhere it is - Only adults can walk it legally - You can't let the pit bull loose in a dog park - You must spay or neuter by 6 months of age
We have personal experience with this topic here in the wild and wooly Central Valley of California, where even smaller dogs can be dangerous when they run in packs. VDH alluded to this in Mexifornia,
Most recently, our little blind kitten (who got over at least part of his blindness) escaped from the garage and was killed along with one of the old garden kitties he had befriended.
A few years ago, our precious little Shaggy the Dog was killed by a gang of pit bulls which ripped down part of our fence. See his photo with the PetMorons below. The dogs who killed Shaggy were kicked out of town by the sheriff, along with their owners (who had their own problems). The dogs had shown early signs of chasing a man on a bicycle, too.
I also know someone who has raised a much-loved champion Pit Bull. He kept her on leash in public.
Meet The PetMorons
This is our dear departed Shaggy. Hard to believe that he was given to us by a neighbor because he was causing family conflict. Probably involving urine.
I think he was about ten years old at the time of this photo. He was as sweet as he looked. Had some quirks.
* * *
We had a new baby bird enter this world this morning (Jan 7). As some of you will recall I did a lot of posts from the last brood, but this time I’ll just be posting milestones.
He/she will get their first feeding this evening, and every 3-4 hours for the next 2 weeks.
We are expecting another hatching in the next few days.
Regards, David
Really Tiiiny
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&&&
A few pics of our dragon - she’s been featured before. Our son rescued her 7 years ago, and she was in such poor health that she was not expected to survive. This January she’ll be 12…
>>> She likes our enclosed porch on sunny days and has been very well behaved around the Christmas trees.
Later:
She was awake for a while this afternoon and evening, and this is what we’ll see for next few days to a week. She’s lying on her favorite heated rock and quite snug
Fun photos of Nayro! 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.
On December 20 (scroll down), we saw some lovely wildflowers, including alpine flowers from Neal in Israel, from photos he took in Montenegro. We continue with his adventures today:
The other location where there were some attractive plants to photograph was one of the country's oldest monasteries, which is known for its gardens, as well as its antiquity.
They seem to use shaping of shrubs to lead the eye.
And the hanging baskets are magnificent.
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Striking entryway
Awww - A tiger under tiger lilies!
This is obviously not in the alpine regions of Montenegro.
Edible Gardening/Putting Things By
Went up north here in Israel to get away for a few days and check up on our vacation home. The current crop of lemons on our tree is a few hundred fruit. I need a few Horde members to fly over and help us pick them.
Best regards from northern Israel,
Biden’s Dog
They look great!
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We also had a bleg last week to get the Japanese going on development of tomato varieties (other than Momotaro?), so here's one:
CHILLING WITH THE RED 🍅 FRUIT/VEGETABLE and new blockbuster tomato variety called CANOVA at the Seed Co Vegetables trials site in Zimbabwe this afternoon. CANOVA is suitable for open field and green house tomato production.
It seems like a long time since the year began just days ago, doesn't it?
Zorhan Mamdani may have made a mistake when he said this during his inauguration:
We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.
Did people really think of New York government as based in rugged individualism? Do people who wish to be free from communism really think that they are totally independent agents?
Mamdani is good at smiling, but he also issues sound bites which we should maybe remember as the business of running the city presents itself. We will have opportunities to undermine the present popularity of socialism in at least a few minds.
Many people don't want to see poor Cea Weaver cancelled, just because she thinks home ownership = white supremacy and she hangs with a bunch of people who want to impoverish her mother, her family and ultimately each other.
Why are we downplaying momentous events in Iran? Melanie Phillips said this about Iran a while ago, and Trump has also responded. The internet blackout makes reliable information hard to get right now, but there is a lot goin on.
Data Republican (small r), whose mad genius database skills have laid bare the corruption and self-dealing between Washington and an army of NGOs, was the subject of a weekend hit piece in the Salt Lake Tribune — and her husband might have gotten the worst of it.
On Sunday, the Trib's "emerging news reporter," Brock Marchant, published an article that was little more than a summary of an earlier Rolling Stone piece that Jennica Pounds (Data r) says contains "multiple factual inaccuracies."
Rather than interview Pounds directly for his report — she isn't difficult to reach — Marchant contacted her husband, Brent, through his work email. He did so late on Saturday night, mere hours before the 6 a.m. Sunday publication.
Jennica posted that Brent "responded professionally" and explained that "his business activities are entirely separate" from the Data Republican website but that Jennica would reply later. "As a mother, my family responsibilities naturally took priority on a weekend, and I was unable to immediately respond to your inquiry."
Also, Jennica's deafness and autism often require assistance for clear communication.
"Instead of allowing me a fair opportunity to reply, you chose to rush publication," she continued, proving "you prioritize sensationalism over accuracy, fairness, and responsible journalism."
What happened next is predictable.
Incidentally, Data Republican's complex "X" post on how government types view systems rather than people, as applied to Venezuela, probably hurt some feelings.
The Classical Saturday Coffee Break & Prayer Revival
—Misanthropic Humanitarian
[Similar theme at deer camp about shooting the Monster Buck. "It's possible but not probable".]
*****
Good morning boys and girls and everything in between. Before we enter the Prayer Revival just a few housekeeping matters to go over. (Rulz for those of you in Marion)
1) This is an open thread. Feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate.
2) Be kind, be nice.
3) Running with sharp objects? Remember your "Affordable Care Act" Deductible. It is now more expensive than the sale of your neighbor's kidney. Just sayin'.
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:
11/15 – Sponge posted an update on the “First lady”. She is doing OK from the surgery pain-wise, however it appears her compromised immune system from chemo is susceptible to viruses. She has been spiking a fever all weekend.
12/13 Update – The First lady is doing well. She is still on restrictions but things are progressing nicely. The last mammogram showed clean. They are grateful to all who have been praying for her.
1/7 Update – They send thanks for the thoughts and prayers over the past year. The latest visit with her urologist revealed blood in her urine. The Doc didn’t seem concerned, but there will be more scans of her bladder and kidneys to see if they find anything more serious.
11/20 - Bluebell sent an update on grammie winger - good news! At her appointment, the doctor said her bloodwork is nearly perfect and her cancer cell count is dropping. She is in minimal pain. The chemo is working, thanks be to God! She will go back in 3 weeks for another round of chemo and then they will do a CT scan to see if she can have surgery to clean out the rest of the tumors. She is convinced – CONVINCED – that this is due in no small part to the treasured prayers of friends and family! They gave her weeks, and now she is looking at possible remission.
12/17 Update – Bluebell sent along another update from grammie winger. She has had 4 rounds of chemo, which have fried her short term memory (her words) and caused great fatigue. She was scheduled for surgery this week, but the doctor decided she was too weak, so she will continue with chemo until she is stronger. She apologized for not being around much because she can’t follow conversations, but is praying that will get better once her chemo is over. In the meantime, she wishes to share her Christmas greetings with the “motley crew”, and she appreciates every prayer.
11/29 – From about That Time asked for prayers after a lymphoma diagnosis. From about That Time has already begun chemo, and the kids and granddaughter had fun cutting off a ponytail and shaving hair in preparation.
12/13 Update – The first week of chemo was “like buttah”, but the second week was spent in the hospital, dealing with side effects.
12/3 – Teresa in Fort Worth posted an update. She had an MRI on 12/3, and will meet with the oncologist on 12/4, the surgeon on 12/8, and the surgery on 12/11. This is a good thing, because it looks like more tumors are starting to crop up in her liver. It doesn’t appear to have spread beyond there yet, thank goodness.
12/18 Update – Teresa will have a “pump fill” on Friday, then head out of town. (The fill is just Heparin and saline to keep the pump flowing for the next 2 weeks.) After they are back, the pump will have the new chemo medication. The best Christmas present is, if this pump works, she could go 2-3 YEARS before worrying about the cancer coming back. It is truly a Christmas miracle. She wrote that they are blessed to have such stellar medical care nearby and so many people saying prayers on their behalf.
12/12 – Bulg requested prayers for his wife’s brother’s wife, whose dementia has taken a turn for the worse. This week she entered a memory care facility. He asks for prayers for her, Bulg’s brother-in-law, and their two grown daughters. Bulg also asked for prayers for a woman from church who has cancer, and the woman’s granddaughter, who lives with her.
12/13 – Our Country is Screwed asked for prayers for a dear friend’s 3 week old granddaughter who is battling meningitis. They are waiting on results from an MRI. Another friend’s wife is having kidney issues. She has only one kidney, and it isn’t functioning well.
12/13 – San Franpsycho requested prayers for Mrs. F, who sprained her foot due to a fall on 12/12.
12/13 – FenelonSpoke asked for prayers for retired organist Jessie, for strength and for her to feel God’s love. In the past month Jessie’s daughter has died from cancer, as have her two closest friends from church, whom she had known about 85 years.
12/13 – Schnorflepuppy asked for prayers for his wife. She was diagnosed a few weeks back with inflammatory breast cancer and started chemo on 12/2. On 12/3 she spiked a 104 fever and had to be brought to the hospital, where they discovered pneumonia. She has been in ICU for most of the week, to get her enough oxygen and work on the pneumonia. She is improving, but slowly.
12/22 Update – Unfortunately, the improvement trend has reversed. She has spent the last 8 days on oxygen support. The doctors would like to wean her off the vent eventually, but they need to see more improvement in her condition and thus far, they haven’t.
12/26 Update – Schnorflepuppy’s wife got progressively worse on Christmas Day and started a rapid decline, despite the best efforts of the doctors and staff. She transitioned to palliative care on 12/26 and passed away in the afternoon.
12/16 – Jim in Kalifornia sent an update that surgery went well, and his thanks for the prayers.
12/16 – Banana Dream asked for prayers for his wife, who is having surgery on 12/17 to remove pins, steel, hardware, etc. that was put in a year ago after a really bad break of her ankle. The hardware has caused various nerve issues and inflammation over the last year, so the surgeons will be removing it.
12/17 Update – Banana Dream sent his thanks to everyone who offered prayers for his wife’s surgery. It went well. The surgeon removed most of the hardware. There was one part that was too fused with the bone, so it had to stay in. She is doing well. In about 2 weeks, she should be able to walk and then in 6-8 weeks she should be fine.
12/17 – Annie’s Stew sends thanks to God for notsothoreau, who sends many, many prayer requests from the various comments and postings. Notsothoreau is so diligent and such a sweet person!
12/17 – Weird Dave requested prayers. His parents have realized they need to move to assisted living, but they are 1500 miles from Weird Dave. Prayers for clarity on how to make the necessary changes as efficiently as possible, as well as to find the best place for his parents, that will also work for the entire family.
12/20 – Legally Sufficient asked for prayers for a brother who was having carpal tunnel surgery on Christmas Eve. There was a cancellation, so he took the spot, even though the brother is hosting the family dinner on Christmas Eve.
12/20 – Morgan, longtime lurker, takes tango lessons from Sebastian, whose son, Matias, is recovering from brain surgery. The MRI were read on 12/19, and the surgeons did not remove the entire tumor. Even though the biopsy indicated the tumor was benign, the boy is probably facing several rounds of chemo. Please pray for the boy’s continued recovery in El Salvador.
12/20 – Nurse Ratched requested prayers for her friend T. He is having some unrelenting (probably cancer treatment related) pain and needs comfort – both physically and spiritually.
12/23 – Joe Kidd asked for prayers for his friend, Bill, who is grieving the sudden death of a former girlfriend. They had broken up a few months ago over her alcohol use. Bill describes the loss as the toughest thing life has dealt him. Bill is the sole caregiver for his 90 year old mother and may need to take early retirement to continue in that role. Prayers for comfort, strength, and wisdom are welcome.
12/23 – Prayers are requested for Inspector’s boss, “B”, who is in his early 40s, and is being hit hard by Covid. He went to ER, after coughing so badly that he separated a couple of ribs. The pain in his ribs is so bad he doesn’t want to cough, which increases the odds of pneumonia. Please pray for healing.
12/27 – buzzion asked for prayers for a friend named Christina. Christina has struggled with a lot, including addiction and relapse. Buzzion has not heard from Christina in a while and hopes she is okay. Please pray that Christina finds her way and knows that people love and care for her and believe in her.
1/3 Update – Christina was arrested on 1/3. Please pray for this to be a final wake-up call for her.
12/27 – JB asked for prayers that he would gain peace about what God has planned for his job in 2026. Also, please pray for JB’s estranged son, that he and his household will be saved.
12/27 – San Franpsycho posted a praise report from a former colleague, who has defeated metastasized uterine cancer.
12/27 – BlackOrchid requested prayers for a Navy Veteran uncle who has been struggling with his health the last few weeks. The root cause is undetermined, but recurrent infection/sepsis keeps sending him back to the hospital. It seems to be worsening his dementia, which makes it harder for BlackOrchid’s aunt to handle him.
1/3 Update – BlackOrchid’s uncle (her “stand-in dad”) is still not doing well. He will probably need to be put in a LTC facility although they are doing everything possible to avoid this. He is 86, and at the stage where his immune system can’t fight back well.
12/27 – pookysgirl posted that their unborn baby girl, Violet Marie, had passed away.
12/27 – free tibet posted about his diagnosis with Giant Cell Arteritis and subsequent vision loss in the right eye. This is a recurrence of the same from 5 years ago in the left eye. The treatment is not painful but regaining vision is “very iffy”. Thank you all for the prayers.
1/1 – L asked for prayers for her brother Ron, who is hospitalized. Ron has been in and out of the hospital for 6 months. He has a nasty infection in his knee, that will not clear, despite 5 rounds of antibiotics. L and her sister have been run ragged trying to help Ron.
1/3 – Legally Sufficient asked for prayers for the repose of the soul of a boss, who passed away suddenly early Sunday morning. Prayers are appreciated for strength, faith, and understanding for the boss’ wife and all who loved him.
1/6 – Diogenes requested prayers for his best friend since college, who was diagnosed with cancer. Within hours or hearing this, the friend’s son, a man that Diogenes has known since he was a baby, collapsed from what appears to be a brain tumor. The prognosis isn’t hopeful. Please pray for both of these fine men.
1/6 – Commissar of plenty and festive little hats sent prayers of thanks that it was not cancer, and asked for prayers for courage to even set a date to reverse the colostomy surgery. It was a lot to get over the first time!
1/7 11/6 - D sent an update on his wife Susan, and her battle with pancreatic cancer, as well as her recent infection. He sent his thanks to everyone for the prayers. They are helping and much appreciated. Susan’s infection finally has been healed, so she was able to resume chemo. It’s been really rough.
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.
I say alleging, but according to the filing, the president of the National Music Publishers' Association put the entire plan in writing as an email threat sent to Twitter even before the campaign started.
And you can prod it into spitting out sentence fragments from Harry Potter by feeding it sentence fragments from Harry Potter, because it is just a very sophisticated autocorrect algorithm.
The headline is more sensationalist, but this is what the story boils down to.
You know what else are sophisticated autocorrect algorithms? A lot of people. (Twitter)
The FCC said today's order allows SpaceX to "upgrade the Gen2 Starlink satellites with advanced form factors and cutting-edge technology," and "operate across Ku-, Ka-, V-, E-, and W-band frequencies, supporting both Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) and Mobile Satellite Service (MSS)." The FCC said it is waiving "obsolete requirements that prevented overlapping beam coverage and enhanced capacity," and is letting SpaceX "add new orbital shells at altitudes ranging from 340 km to 485 km, optimizing coverage and performance."
Amazing what can be accomplished when the government isn't at war with its most productive citizens.
Page has already bought a $173 million property in Miami.
The tax strikes very close to home for Page and Brin, because they have special voting privileges that under an explicit provision of the legislation means they will be taxed not at 1% of their on-paper wealth per year, but at 5%.
Amazing what can be accomplished by not interrupting your enemy when they are making a mistake.
They four can return at any time aboard the Crew Dragon capsule, and NASA is in talks with SpaceX to move forward the planned February 15 mission to send a fresh crew to the space station.
Two nights ago on CNN -- on the yearly celebration of January 6th -- Abby Philip and her leftwing guests agreed that Ashli Babbitt deserved to be killed because a cop gave her an order and she refused to comply.
Great, teachers are coming up with new excuses for staying at home on their fat asses:
Eric Daugherty
@EricLDaugh
17h
🚨 JUST IN: Because of the protests and riots, Minneapolis Schools are CANCELING mandatory in-person classes, offering virtual learning until Feb. 12
It's like a 3rd world country. Too dangerous to leave your house because of leftists.
SEND THE GUARD!
On MSNBC, a left-wing rabble-rousing fake pastor lies his gay ass off:
FactPost
@factpostnews
Pastor: I saw ICE agents circling a young woman who appeared to be Hispanic. I said to this ICE agent, 'Take me, stop harassing her.' The agent got in my face, pointed a gun at me, and said, 'Are you afraid now?' To which I said, 'I am not afraid.' The next thing I knew, they were putting handcuffs on me, and they put me in the back of an SUV. I asked them if I was under arrest. They said to me, 'Well, you're white, you won't be any fun anyway.'
Mark Hemingway commented: "Of all the things that didn't happen, this didn't happen the most."
Elderly AWFL Karen wants you to know she's sick of you MAGA types calling her a Karen. You know who the Karen is? YOU.
Woke asshole AWFL broke her retainer by grinding her teeth because she's watching Trump "attack science." She becomes distraught when she finds out her dentist might have voted for Trump.
Democrat party official and LGBTQ activist arrested for, you'll never guess, child porn.
Dumpy leftwing Junior AWFL says she's fleeing Nazis in the US by moving to Germany. Dis Bitch can't even cut carbs, I don't think she's going to emigrate.
Somalis are once again the perfect example of the failure of empathy in the West.
Why should this Somali man be allowed to live in our country after he raped a 10-year-old girl repeatedly over an hour, plus raped another 18-year-old girl?
Conan O'Brien: "Comedians" Who Do Nothing But Shout "F*** Trump" Are Not Comedians, Actual Comedians Need to be Funny
—Ace
This guy's a liberal asshole -- remember him doing PSAs for the beauty and stability of Haiti, after Trump correctly diagnosed it as a shithole?
He's making an argument for Fighting Liberal Comedians like himself to actually try to be funny, because actual funniness is the "best weapon against power." (Um, it's not-- weapons are the best weapons -- but it's a weapon, I guess.)
So he's not making a conservative point here, just telling his fellow shitlibs how to be more effective in their anti-Trump agitation.
But if he's running down Steven Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel -- which he CLEARLY is -- I approve.
Oh, by the way, in case you see this video of George Carlin ranting about "ideology becoming your identity" in your feed, it's an AI fake. I got suspicious because 1, Carlin was a cranky far-left liberal and he usually tried to spare the left from criticism, and 2, the guy died like 25 years ago but this rant sounds like it's about the current moment, right now. It's just not possible to see the future that clearly, and I can tell you that because I've gone into the future with the time machine I don't have and all of our predictions are far from the mark.
Axios: Trump Alerted the Secret Service about Marjorie Taylor Greene, Believing She Tipped Off Code Pink About His Location So That They Could Ambush Him
The relationship between President Trump and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene grew so poisonous that the White House told the Secret Service that Greene may have tipped off Code Pink protesters about his surprise visit last fall to a D.C. restaurant she recommended, two sources on Trump's team tell Axios.
That episode -- which involved a chaotic confrontation between anti-war activists and Trump -- embarrassed the president and intensified concerns in the White House about his safety, a year after he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.
Why it matters: Trump aides view the Joe's Seafood debacle as a point of no return in his relationship with Greene, a Trump ally-turned-critic who left office this week.
Greene told Axios that any suggestion she revealed Trump's dinner plans was "an absolute lie, a dangerous lie. I would never do that."
She said she recommended the restaurant to Trump but didn't know when he would go there.
Greene added that only the fancy lobbyist hangout -- a few blocks from the White House, at 15th and H NW -- and Trump aides knew of the reservation. She said: "The story you should be writing is why didn't the Secret Service sweep the restaurant," and have metal detectors at the door?
Yeah, that's not a defense. That's bringing up irrelevant bullshit to cloud the issues.
It's unclear whether Greene is being investigated by the Secret Service, which did not respond to a request for comment. Greene didn't respond when asked whether the Secret Service had contacted her.
Zoom in: Trump's Sept. 9 outing to Joe's with Vice President Vance and several Cabinet members was part of an effort to show the president's deployment of National Guard troops had made D.C. streets safer.
Protesters with the liberal group Code Pink got within feet of Trump's table and chanted: "Free DC.! Free Palestine! Trump is the Hitler of our time!"
For weeks afterward, Trump aides say they tried to discern how the group knew about his unannounced dinner plans, which were known only to a few people. The media wasn't given a heads-up about Trump's plans.
...
White House officials didn't provide direct evidence that Greene alerted the protesters, but said their suspicions rest on two factors:
1. Her suggesting where Trump should dine
Officials say that after recommending the president go to Joe's, Greene repeatedly called White House staffers the day of the dinner to confirm he was going.
I mean... that's game over, right? She claims that she didn't know when he was going but she kept calling him on the day of the dinner to verify he was going there.
After Trump heard about Greene's calls, he called her shortly before leaving the White House and confirmed his planned visit, the sources said.
Greene -- who was a regular at the restaurant -- didn't show up there when Trump and other officials were there, which struck some Trump aides as odd.
Indeed. Why didn't this attention whore and would-be teachers pet show up?
2. Greene's relationship with Code Pink
White House aides note Greene is friends with Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin.
Greene and the organization are aligned in their opposition to the U.S. providing military aid to Ukraine and Israel.
Benjamin last year praised Greene for opposing Trump's bombing of nuclear sites in Iran and for calling to strip foreign aid from the Pentagon's budget.
...
"I have enjoyed a friendship with Medea for a few years now, even though politics says that's not allowed," Greene said later.
...
The other side: Greene felt slighted from the early days of Trump's second administration, according to a source familiar with her thinking.
She believed Trump lieutenants didn't take her suggestions seriously and ignored her outreach even though she'd shown her loyalty to Trump for years, the source said.
That's because you're a fucking retard and your ideas are retard-shit.
This is exactly what I told this little WH tool that wrote this absurd dangerous LIE about me on behalf of the WH because they are mad at me for telling the truth about the President and forcing the release of the Epstein files. Now they are making up horrific lies about me!!
Her denial makes me think it's true, because she just starts spamming out irrelevant claims, like that it was all the Secret Service's fault because, she claims, they didn't sweep the restaurant. Okay, maybe they did or maybe they didn't -- that's irrelevant to the question of whether you tipped off Code Pink, and spamming out irrelevant nonsense makes me think: "The guilty mind betrays itself."
I don't feel like quoting or addressing the rest of her screed. It's her usual shrieky-freaky scatterbrained ding-a-ling nonsense.
New Yorkers are shocked after footage goes viral of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani's Tenant Director stating that white people will be HEAVILY impacted after they transition property "as an individual good to a collective good" [CBD]
Podcast: The Somali grift might be the biggest financial scandal in American history, will the Mullahs finally fall? CFPB gets a lifeline from a corrupt judge, Brigitte Bardot...RIP, and more!
This isn't Christmas Eve fare, and I thought about waiting until the 26th to post it, but supposedly an amateur detective has solved the Zodiac killer mystery. And the horrific Black Dahlia killing. He says it's the same person! I always thought of them as very far apart in time but I think Black Dahlia was mid-fifties (nope, 1947) mid and the Zodiac murders began in 1968 so it's possible it's the same killer.
The killer, if it's the same man, would have been in his 20s when he killed the Black Dahlia and his 40s when he did the Zodiac murders. Possible.
A little caveat: I saw someone snark on Reddit, "The Zodiac case gets solved more often than Wordle." There are a ton of coincidences here, supposedly, like a Zodiac cipher being solved by the name "Elizabeth." Elizabeth Short was the name of the so-called Black Dahlia.
If you don't know about the Black Dahlia, don't look it up. Just accept that it's grisly on the level of Jack the Ripper.
Yes, the named suspect resembles the police sketch of Zodiac.
