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
Drew Holden: Leftwing Media "Analysts" Are Baffled by the "Mysterious" One-Year Plunge in Crime. Spoiler: It's Only a Mystery to Propagandists Who Won't Admit the Obvious
—Disinformation Expert Ace
How did crime plunge so suddenly -- so "unexpectedly," if you will -- the moment Weekend at Biden's was shuffled out of the White House to be replaced by a law-and-order, deportation-minded president?
The leftwing media insists this is a giant mystery whose depths cannot be plumbed.
Crime--particularly violent crime--is down dramatically over the last year. Cities like New York, Memphis, and Washington, D.C. where murders, carjacking, and theft plagued the public in the wake of COVID-19, were all found to have experienced double-digit decreases in violent crime. Experts, the legacy media, and many Democrats are scratching their heads. As a recent New York Times headline declared, "What's Behind the Staggering Drop in the Murder Rate? No One Knows for Sure."
Other outlets and commentators have been similarly befuddled. New York Magazine dubbed it "The Mysterious Plunge in America's Murder Rate." Experts "said it's too early to tell what is prompting the change," the Associated Press intoned; the Washington Post cited a liberal expert who cautioned that there was "no silver bullet" to make sense of the data. For TIME, the drop in violent crime "can be attributed to a kaleidoscope of factors, none of which can singularly or definitively account for the decline." CNN shrugged that "it's nearly impossible to zero in on any one reason" for the drop. "The bottom line: Experts aren't sure why violent crime continues to fall," Axios reported
Not until 21 paragraphs into the Times piece do the authors give us a hint about how it happened: experts "do not wholly discount" policing, particularly "the multipronged effort that many cities mounted against violence in the past few years, including hot-spot policing, summer jobs for youth, cognitive behavioral therapy and focused deterrence, an approach that calls for paying sustained attention to the small number of people at highest risk of committing violence."
In other words, violent crime is in freefall across the country thanks in large part to better, more targeted policing aimed at restoring law and order. The biggest threat to our renewed ability to combat crime might be a legacy media hamstrung by the baggage of prior anti-police animus.
Holden looks at the bright white evidence that apparently blinds the media from seeing the clues:
...
The Democratic mayor of Memphis, Tennessee--long among the most violent places in America--welcomed a federal task force to the city in September. Federal agents provided additional capacity for local and state law enforcement to bring the necessary force to bear to combat crime. As even the New York Times admitted, "to date, the task force has made more than 6,300 arrests, conducted more than 68,000 traffic stops and recovered 1,532 firearms... crime rates, which had already been declining, have dropped even more since Oct. 1: Murder and sexual assault are down nearly 42 percent, while aggravated assault is down about 35 percent."
Similarly, Baltimore, Maryland, saw a 50-year low in murders in 2025. City officials credit federal support, more aggressive hiring efforts, and a focus on arresting repeat violent criminal offenders as a key source of the decline.
Read the whole thing. In case after case, crime is down because, get this, cops started enforcing the law, usually with federal help.
Relatedly: The Somali pirates who fleeced this country for billions and billions of stolen booty are angry that their piracy has been slowed and are demanding... reparations.
Brandon Straka #WalkAway
@BrandonStraka
Feb 20
SOMALI FRAUD: Somali migrants in Minnesota are demanding reparations over alleged trauma from law enforcement actions. After $10B in fraud, now they want more.
Tosca Austen
@ToscaAusten
Feb 20
You've got to be joking!
Somalis in MN are demanding reparations for "ICE trauma" while 81% of their households are sucking up government welfare?
So here we are. We give them a new life, handouts galore--food stamps (54%), Medicaid (73%), cash welfare (27%)--and now they want MORE from hardworking Americans?
Americans should demand reparation for the taxpayer dollars that were stolen from welfare and SNAP schemes.
Donkey-Chompers: If You Thought My Shocking 21-Second Brain Glitch Followed by Drunk Kamala-Level Word Salad Made Me Look Stupid, Maybe The Real Problem Is With Your Stupid Brain, Stupid
—Disinformation Expert Ace
She says you're just so used to Trump firing off quick answers, almost as if he's thought about the questions before and so has a firm answer already in mind, that you just can't appreciate a World Class Mind such as hers taking 21 painful seconds to "um" and "uh" and "err" and "uhhh" her way before delivering an "answer" that sounds suspiciously like a stoner trying to bluff her way through an oral report about a book she never even checked out of the library.
She does not explain why she thinks that cowboys existed before horses, or what philosophical Imponderable she was attempting to conjure when she said that Venezuela was south of the equator.
In the video, an emotional AOC, appearing to hold back tears, pushed back against critics who saw her faceplant in Munich, convinced she has no idea what she's talking about. Her defense? It's not her, it's you, who's the problem. "If you think that I don't understand foreign policy because out of hours of discourse about international affairs, I paused to think about one of the most sensitive geopolitical issues that currently exist on Earth, I'm afraid the issue is not my understanding, but rather the problem is perhaps you've gotten adjusted to a president that never thinks before he speaks."
They say karma dishes out what we deserve. Is that true?
No matter how .@AOC spins her rant in Munich, it was a disaster.
She knows it. She is devastated.
She can't quit talking about it.
Her voice is hoarse from it.
Munich was her big chance to be the global liberal darling and prance on to '28 and she blew it.
Spin mode can't hide how she substituted foreign policy knowledge with theatrical melodrama.
To shade her humiliation, she ran into the arms of .@nytimes
for rescue and even THEY couldn't defend her.
That's how bad it was. Don't ever let her forget it.
One of the Australian conservative commentators suggested she did a lot of Cope Drinking over the weekend, resulting in a Kamala-Harris-like hangover hoarseness.
(I first wrote "horseness" but that's not due to her being drunk, that's just her genetics.)
Also note that her sad Simp Beard is on the bed snoring.
What a stateswoman.
If you can believe it, this e-girl thot is responding as e-girl thots do, sniping and bitching on Twitter.
BAR NONE: Sen. John Kennedy mockingly compares AOC to former VP Harris after her comments at the Munich Security Conference.
He says Republicans should continue to use "Operation Let Her Speak."
"So far it's working, and my message to my friend the congresswoman is: You go… pic.twitter.com/bxtph0NNf0
My having been a waitress makes me 1000x more qualified to govern on behalf of working people than whatever lifelong politician nonsense you've swung from your whole career.
Why should working people vote for you if this is what you think of them?
Reminder: AOC was never "working class." Her father was an architect and she grew up in the leafy, tony NYC suburb of Westchester.
Kevin Bass
@kevinnbass
Feb 21
Your father was an architect. You were a privileged DEI admit to Boston University. You worked as a waitress in your 20s. You made it in politics because you look good on camera. Everything you have has been handed to you. You have no understanding of the working class.
Cristiona
@Cristiona
12m
Where did you go to college? Where did you grow up? What did your parents do?
Rich kids often have low wage jobs, because their parents pay for everything. You have no idea what it means to be working class you cosplayer.
There's a concept I heard of years ago called "genteel poverty." Children of the wealthy who have dreams of working at high-status jobs, but find those high-status jobs elusive, often work as servers and waitresses. This, in their class, is not considered low-class; it's just slumming until the dream job comes along. Note all the poets and actors working in the service industry.
They refuse to take more serious-but-unglamorous jobs like insurance or office work because those jobs would in fact reduce their status. Those jobs aren't for footloose dreamers waiting for their big break; those jobs indicate that someone has accepted her reduction in social status and is now a lowly member of the mid-level managerial/clerical class.
If you're a waitress, you're an undiscovered superstar just waiting for your big shot; but if you take a job at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, you're just a car rental agent.
Donkey-Chompers' stint as a waitress is not evidence of her "working class" background but her real background as a child of privilege with no actual talent to sell in the job market and a snobby attitude towards the real work that most people do.
Teaching yourself how to accept $10 bills by pushing your (sus) breasts together and taking it out of a patron's hand is not preparation for the presidency.
After Killing of Top Narcoterrorist In Military Raid, Cartels Engage In Widespread Violence and Arson Across Mexico
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Mexican police, with the assistance of US intelligence, killed a narcoterrorist during a raid.
They drug terrorists retaliated by killing a mayor and setting Mexico ablaze.
Major drug lord 'El Mencho' killed in Mexican military operation with US intelligence support
Nemesio Oseguera's death triggers widespread cartel violence across Mexico as armed groups block highways and burn vehicles
Cartel leader's death sparks violence in Mexico, US embassy issues shelter-in-place order
Major Mexican drug lord Nemesio Oseguera, known as "El Mencho," was killed in a military operation Sunday morning, the country's Defense Department announced, marking one of Mexico's most significant blows to organized crime amid pressure from President Donald Trump to intensify the crackdown on drug cartels.
The announcement came as government officials warned of clashes in Jalisco state and widespread criminal activity across the country, prompting the U.S. Embassy in Mexico to issue shelter-in-place advisories for multiple states.
On Sunday, Mexican troops reportedly conducted operations in Tapalpa, Jalisco, targeting Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, a former police officer who became the elusive leader of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), a major supplier of fentanyl to the United States.
Known as "El Mencho," Oseguera Cervantes carried a $15 million U.S. bounty and rose to power following the arrest of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, the former head of the Sinaloa Cartel. Over the past 15 years, CJNG has grown from a local criminal group into a global trafficking organization operating out of its stronghold in Jalisco.
...
The Mexican Defense Department said the operation was conducted as part of bilateral coordination and cooperation with the U.S., whose authorities provided complementary intelligence that contributed to Oseguera Cervantes' capture.
...
During the capture, the CJNG ringleader became wounded and died en route to Mexico City, the Defense Department said.
Four others were reportedly killed at the scene of a shootout between Mexican troops and criminal suspects in Jalisco, with Oseguera Cervantes among three additional individuals who were wounded and later died.
Authorities said they detained two other members of the criminal organization and seized a range of weaponry, including armored vehicles and "rocket launchers capable of downing aircraft and destroying armored vehicles."
...
Widespread criminal activity has been reported in Jalisco, the cartel's stronghold, as well as in northern regions that serve as key border and transit corridors for the organization.
The Security Cabinet of the Government of Mexico noted that multiple buildings were reportedly damaged during the "violent incidents," including roughly 20 branches of Banco del Bienestar, a state-run banking institution.
At least 21 highways remain blocked, with authorities reporting that five have already been reopened.
Photos showed numerous roadblocks and burning vehicles, with dark smoke rising into the sky, across the country -- tactics officials say cartels often use to slow or block military operations.
...
"We remain in Code Red. We reiterate the recommendation to avoid leaving your homes. The clashes are occurring in several federal entities," Jalisco state Governor Pablo Lemus Navarro added.
...
The operation against Oseguera follows sustained pressure from the Trump administration on President Claudia Sheinbaum's government, urging Mexico to step up its fight against drug trafficking amid threats of potential U.S. intervention.
"There is absolute coordination with the governments of all states; we must remain informed and calm," Sheinbaum said on Sunday. "In the vast majority of the national territory, activities are proceeding with complete normality."
The president of Mexico was installed into office by the narcoterrorists. She is both an extreme leftist, an open borders (with the US) extremist, and a catspaw of the cartels.
Wall Street Apes
@WallStreetApes
14h
Cartel violence is being allowed in Mexico because President Claudia Sheinbaum works for the Cartel
A Senator from Mexico went on Fox News and exposed it all
* The President of Mexico works for the Cartels
* She was funded by money from the cartels
* It's not just the President, there are an entire group of Mexico politicians labeled the "arco politicians"
* Mexico is a "Narco state"
* Mexicans are afraid of the alliance between the Mexican government and the cartels
* The Morena (political party) is financed by the cartels, that's how they get elected
* Once they get elected the deal is for the Mexican government to then protect the cartels
* The President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo doesn't want this information getting out
* Mexicans and the Politicians who are no paid off by the cartels want Donald Trump to help with the cartels
The Mexico Senator exposing all this says she is now being threatened with prison for speaking out "The President has threatened me to proceed against me with criminal prosecution to get me out of the Senate and get me in jail just because I told you in this space in Fox News"
And now the assassination of Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo, an own cartel critic...
The cartel runs the Mexican government
She says that she will not join America in taking action against the cartels burning Mexico to the ground because drug terrorists have "human rights."
Trump has repeatedly offered her US help in confronting the cartels, and she has always insisted that they not be touched. Because she's on their payroll.
Meanwhile:
The Mexican drug cartel known as CJNG—one of the most ruthless criminal enterprises in the world—saw its profits explode from 2021-2025, with drug and human trafficking supercharged by Biden’s open-border policies.
That's not an idle claim. "El Mencho" was in fact the beneficiary of San Francisco's Sanctuary City policy. Dianne Feinstein gave him a helping hand when he needed one:
A reminder that the chaos in Mexico today as a result of the cartel targeting operation can be traced all the way back to El Mencho starting his criminal career in California
He was a beneficiary of the Sanctuary City welcome helpfully offered by Democrats, back under then-San… https://t.co/orpsMjodp9
Our Communist Enemies to the North are promoting travel to Mexico over travel to America, calling Mexico "safer." I guess that depends on the city, to be honest.
Mamdani Calls Upon New Yorkers to Do the Jobs the Government Just Can't Do -- Shoveling Snow; He Says All Applicants Must Show ID Before Shoveling Snow
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Wait, is he saying that black and brown people aren't allowed to shovel snow? And married women?
Because I have been repeatedly told that black and brown people (and married women) don't have ID and don't know how to get ID.
Should we crowdfund an employment discrimination campaign against NYC?
Mamdani is begging for cheap labor to shovel snow because his Theater Kid Incompetence was revealed when he allowed the late January snow to stick around in huge four-foot piles of snow, garbage, and rat feces for a month.
But he says you need to bring ID.
Iliftfordoughnuts
@AndriaDont99498
Feb 21
Breaking:
Zohran Mamdani can't afford any more city employees so he's giving citizens the " Opportunity " To work for half the city worker rate and without the benefits. But only if they bring 3 forms of ID. You need that to shovel snow. Just not to vote.
Florida doesn't require ID to shovel snow. So Mamdani is lying when he says he's forced to require ID by "federal law."
While I hope everyone stays safe during the upcoming blizzard in the Northeast USA, you have to admit that Mayor Mamdani requiring an ID to shovel snow but not to vote is a bit crazy. Yes, I love living in the Sunshine State, where common sense and warm weather are the norm. pic.twitter.com/HxSF27ano4
Yet Another Would-Be Trump Assassin, Programmed to Kill By the Traitor Left
—Disinformation Expert Ace
As you certainly know, a 21-year-old lunatic from NC snuck into Mar-a-Lago by jumping on the back of a truck that had been cleared to pass through the gate. He carried a shotgun and a can of gasoline.
Unknown to this loser -- but easily discoverable by anyone with a sane mind -- Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend, but at the White House doing events.
Secret Service and security demanded the man drop the gun and the gas. He dropped the gas, but then raised the shotgun to his shoulder, preparing to fire.
He was killed.
But he was programmed to kill by Democrats' (and Thomas Massie's and MTG's) insane conspiracy theories that Donald Trump is a Secret Epstein Pedo.
Text message sent last week by the 21-year-old who was killed by Secret Service today after attempting an armed infiltration of Mar-a-Lago. Co-workers told TMZ he recently "became fixated on Epstein" and was "deeply disturbed by what he believed was a government cover-up" pic.twitter.com/WYYo7zf9Yu
The left wing is claiming the kid was a Trump supporter. Obviously, he was not. You don't try to kill a man you "support."
His family says they're "big Trump supporters," but that's not the same as this deranged killer being a supporter. The left believes that Trump support, unlike IQ, is genetically determined.
Immediately after the left programmed this robot to kill Trump, All-Purpose Expert Tom Nichols writes a piece, which Vanity Billionaire Press magazine The Atlantic gladly publishes, calls Trump a Nazi threat to the existence of the United States.
Thus, again, implicitly making the case that another couple of assassins should try to kill Trump. I'd say that publishing this just after one assassin tried to kill him makes this close to an explicit incitement to political murder.
Since the start of Donald Trump’s second term, Republicans have deployed ever more Nazi imagery and rhetoric, and espoused ideas associated with the Nazi Party, @RadioFreeTom argues. He examines how this dark fringe reached the center of the GOP: https://t.co/rahixGbMHe
This is a classic example of assassination prep, the purpose of which is to implicitly encourage and justify terroristic violence against half the country.
Personally, I believe that Tom Nichols is an intolerable threat to the country.
#AssassinsWanted, as Craig Kilbourne would "joke."
By the way, here's the owner of The Atlantic, Steve Jobs' unattractive AWFUL widow, cavorting with Ghislaine Maxwell.
Since the start of Donald Trump’s second term, Republicans have deployed ever more Nazi imagery and rhetoric, and espoused ideas associated with the Nazi Party, @RadioFreeTom argues. He examines how this dark fringe reached the center of the GOP: https://t.co/rahixGbMHe
Related: The latest trans shooter was flagged by Open AI for his many posts discussing gun violence.
They chose not to report him to the police.
I wonder why the trans killer got this kind of benefit of the doubt from supposedly anti-violence campaigners. It's almost as if some kinds of violence are privileged.
Canadian trans shooter was flagged via internal systems at Open AI for writings about real-world violence, including gun violence.
Over a dozen Open AI employees debated telling law enforcement.
OpenAI leaders decided not to inform authorities about a potential mass murder. https://t.co/UO75qVh4nY
A 2018 Yale study found that when white liberals talk to Black people, they dumb down their vocabulary. It's the beating heart of wokeness: Minorities are oppressed and in need of your beneficence. Here is Gavin Newsom literally presenting himself as dumb to appeal to Blacks. https://t.co/LakQPhRWGOpic.twitter.com/yQgFabSzx9
She writes about that study, which shows that white liberals "dumb down" their speech for blacks whereas white conservatives speak the same way to blacks and whites, here.
It's what a 2018 Yale study found: There is a difference between how white liberals and white conservatives talk when they talk to Black people. And that difference is this: When white liberals talk to Black people, they do something called "presenting lower competence." They literally dumb down their vocabulary, using fewer syllable words than they do when they talk to white people. And white conservatives don't do this.
"A new study suggests that white Americans who hold liberal socio-political views use language that makes them appear less competent in an effort to get along with racial minorities," the study found. "According to new research by Cydney Dupree, assistant professor of organizational behavior at Yale SOM, white liberals tend to downplay their own verbal competence in exchanges with racial minorities, compared to how other white Americans act in such exchanges."
Researchers found that Democratic candidates use fewer multi-syllable words in speeches delivered to minority audiences than they use in speeches delivered to white audiences--whereas the difference wasn't statistically significant in speeches by Republican candidates. The pattern held over decades of speeches that the researches studied.
Hilariously, they found that you have to literally tell a white progressive that a Black person is very smart ahead of time to get them to cut this out: "Initial data from follow-up studies suggest that describing a black person as highly intelligent, thus reversing the stereotype, or as already highly motivated to get along with whites, thus removing the need to prove goodwill, can reduce the likelihood that a white person will downplay their competence in their interactions with the black person."
The study proved not just that individual white progressives are racist, but that there is a system-wide failure to view Blacks as equals that is endemic to the progressive movement. Their entire woke worldview, which posits that minorities are oppressed and therein lies their virtue, is in essence racism disguised (from themselves as well as others) in an aura of self-righteousness. After all, what could be more racist than the patronizing view that Black people need to be protected from our big vocabularies?
Remember, Gavin Newsom just discovered he's dyslexic and that dyslexia will serve the same function as Joe Biden's Elder-Age Suddenly Discovered Childhood Stutter.
Newsom’s dyslexia is the Biden stutter, a sympathetic catch-all excuse for mistakes of all kinds that can be turned against anyone who notices said mistakes. Making laying the groundwork for it this obvious is a choice. I’d play it a little more subtle if I were him.
THE MORNING RANT: Musings on the Door Dash Lifestyle; Dave Barry Takes a Waymo Ride
—Buck Throckmorton
I may not understand the “Door Dash Lifestyle,” and I certainly don’t live it, but it’s still fascinating to me. On the one hand I am horrified at the Door Dash business model and its use of illegal, off-the-books labor. At the same time, I am mystified at its customers’ spending habits, especially when we hear of the financial squeeze those same consumers are under in regards to housing, inflation, etc. From DoorDash’s own website, half of its customers have household income below $75,000 per year, and 33% of its customers are in households with income below $50,000.
So, today’s post has a few quick items related to the Door Dash / food delivery industry, including a little bit of humor. But first, here is a link to my initial Door Dash piece from three months ago titled “Behind the Restaurant Meal Delivery Industry, there is a Black Market Exploiting Illegal Foreign Labor.” In it I documented that, “If you are having restaurant food ‘dashed’ to your residence, there is a very good chance that the person delivering your meal is part of a black market of non-citizen labor, illegally subcontracted by the actual ‘independent contractor’ of Door Dash, Uber Eats, and the like.”
Waymo’s cars are driven without humans. But when a departing passenger leaves a door open, the car won’t move until a person closes it. For that task, Waymo is turning to gig workers from companies like DoorDash.
The [Google]-owned self-driving car company confirmed on Thursday that it’s running a pilot in Atlanta to compensate delivery drivers for closing Waymo doors that are left ajar. DoorDash drivers are notified when a Waymo in the area has an open door so the vehicles can quickly get back on the road.
Chris Bakke sees a humorous way for DoorDash to lean in to this new revenue stream, stating that “If I ran growth at Doordash, I would pay Doordashers $5 to open doors on random Waymos so that Waymo has to hire our Dashers to close them for $6.25.” Per the Reddit post below, Waymo is actually paying DoorDashers $11.25 to close doors.
If I ran growth at Doordash, I would pay Doordashers $5 to open doors on random Waymos so that Waymo has to hire our Dashers to close them for $6.25. https://t.co/BvclHW6PN1
DoorDash said Wednesday its revenue rose 38% in the fourth quarter as it gained new U.S. customers and added new services like restaurant reservations.
DoorDash just reported its largest jump in orders ever.
As inexplicable as it is to me why someone would want cold restaurant food delivered for twice the price of eating at the restaurant, or picking it up myself, I did read an explanation on “The DoorDash Lifestyle” from someone named “SightBringer” on Twitter/X that helps me see it in a different light:
The “DoorDash lifestyle” is an artifact of three massive structural shifts older generations don’t see because they didn’t grow up inside them. Let’s break the illusion.
1. The marginal cost of money changed for Gen Z. For older adults, spending thirty dollars feels like spending thirty dollars. For kids today, the psychological cost is closer to: “three microtransactions worth of friction.”
Because their financial environment is built on:
• Instant digital payments
• Low-commitment gig incomes
• Parents transferring money fluidly
• Side hustles paid in irregular small bursts
• Stimulus-era normalization of cash flow volatility.
Teenagers today often have:
• $30 now
• $0 tomorrow
• $50 on Friday
• $15 in crypto
• $70 in Cash App from someone they did homework for
• A $20 Venmo from grandma
• $60 from a weekend shift.
There is no “budget.” There is flow. And in a flow economy, a $30 DoorDash order is not a “luxury”. It is just another digital outflow in a stream of constant micro inflows.
2. Consumption is now social currency. Older generations spent money to solve problems. Gen Z spends money to signal identity, reduce friction, and avoid emotional drag.
DoorDash is not about food. It is about:
• Eliminating effort
• Eliminating planning
• Eliminating discomfort
• Eliminating logistics
• Eliminating decision fatigue
This generation pays premiums to remove negative psychic load. Food delivery is an anxiety-management subscription. And they learned this from:
• Amazon Prime
• Uber
• TikTok dopamine tuning
• Frictionless apps
• The collapse of effort-based value signals.
Convenience is the default baseline now.
3. The middle class collapsed, but lifestyle costs decoupled from income. This is the part most boomers and Gen X don’t understand. Kids aren’t behaving like they’re poor. They’re behaving like people living in a post-middle-class economy where:
• Ownership is dead
• Savings are pointless
• Buying a home is impossible
• College is a debt sentence
• Inflation destroys the dollar
• Wages do not map to adult milestones
• Upward mobility is gone
So what happens? They shift to a present-maximization mindset. If the future is unaffordable anyway, why not buy the burrito now? Younger people are not reckless. They are rational inside a broken incentive system. The real truth - DoorDash is a symptom.
A society where:
• Future stability is gone
• Wages stagnate
• Housing is unattainable
• Attention is fragmented
• Convenience is normalized
• Friction feels archaic
• Everything is mediated digitally
…will produce kids who treat $30 like a tap on a screen, not a financial decision. They’re not “funding a lifestyle.” They’re surviving inside the economy they were handed.
That is eye-opening and educational, although I don’t necessarily agree with everything stated here. When I got my first job after college in the late ‘80s, I also couldn’t fathom ever being able to buy a house, much less enjoying constant travel to destination weddings and bachelor parties as is common today. I imagined how much more lifestyle flexibility I’d have if I just made $100 more per month, which is about $300 in 2026 dollars. But neither was I serving a lifetime “college debt sentence.” (That is a brilliant phrase.) I was seeking to avoid debt, not resigning myself to a lifetime of suffocating debt inflicted by my alma mater.
Following that somber note, here is something related to today’s topic that is a little more light-hearted. Dave Barry wrote a recent piece at his Substack about his first Waymo experience:
I will reveal later whether or not I survived, but first let me give you a technical explanation of how these amazing futuristic machines work.
Each Waymo vehicle is equipped with 29 cameras as well as an array of laser, radar and audio sensors, which collect literally millions of data points per second and feed them to a sophisticated AI-controlled onboard computer, which is in constant, instantaneous contact via satellite with a 14-year-old boy somewhere in Asia — he goes by “Kevin” — who steers your car remotely with a joystick.
No, that’s probably not how it works. I have no idea how it works. I do not fully understand how toasters work. But however Waymo does it, it has to be a better system for operating vehicles than the one we currently employ in Miami, which involves using Miami drivers.
----------------
My point is that I, for one, welcome the arrival of Waymo’s self-driving cars. Even if they’re not perfect — even if there’s some “glitch” in their software that causes them, at random times, to deliberately aim at pedestrians or oncoming trucks — they would still be above-average drivers in Miami.
----------------
It worked its way through heavy traffic, negotiated some clogged narrow streets and got me efficiently to my destination without hitting anything. My only criticism is that it’s too polite for Miami. At one point, another car cut us off, and the Waymo merely braked to avoid a collision without making any effort to let the other motorist know that he was an idiot.
I’m a self-driving car skeptic. When Waymo hits my town, I have some mischievous ideas about summoning Waymo up the switchback mountain roads with blind, hairpin turns around Chattanooga. And if Waymo successfully gets me up and back down the mountain, I’m willing to cut a deal with DoorDash to let them close the door behind me.
Good morning kids. Well, as a major Nor'easter is set to pummel the east coast with a massive winter storm, the likes of which we've not had in years, NYC's Muz-unist mayor Mamdani has an opportunity to solve the city's homeless crisis by moving all of them to the middle of the Central Park lake, and providing each with a sheet of used toilet paper, i.e. the front page of the NY Times and voila, no more homeless faster than you can say Gulag Archipelago! In all seriousness, if you are in the path of the storm, please stay safe at home, stock up on food and other essentials ahead of time and and stay off the roads if at all possible.
Americans are being asked by the State Department to remain sheltered in place in parts of Mexico due to civil unrest following the successful killing of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes on Sunday.
Cervantes was killed by the Mexican army with “complementary information” provided by the United States, The Daily Wire reported.
The State Department’s travel alert specifically notes that Americans in the Mexican states of Jalisco, Baja California, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas and Quintana Roo State “should shelter in place until further notice.” The states contain major tourism hubs such as Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara, Cancún, as well as Playa del Carmen and Tulum, among other major cities. “Due to ongoing, widespread security operations and related road blockages and criminal activity in many areas of Mexico, U.S. citizens should shelter in place until further notice,” the U.S. Department of State Consular Affairs posted to X on Sunday afternoon.
¡Hay chihuahua! Literally.
And elsewhere in the world, with Iran on the brink internally, there is still the potential that President Trump might order airstrikes or other military operations against the Iranian regime to help bring about its long overdue demise. The question of should we or shouldn't we and the consequences domestically and internationally, both long- and short-term are of course debatable.
The United States government (USG) should not go to war with Iran. Iran’s nuclear program is not a meaningful threat to the United States. How Iran is governed, how its government treats its people, and who the Iranians trade with is none of our business.
A genuinely America First strategy toward Iran would mean ignoring the country and the Middle East as a whole. The United States government has no core interests on the Asian landmass.
The USG should lift all trade sanctions on the Iranian regime, grant diplomatic recognition to whatever regime is currently in power there, and cease efforts to regulate or manage the Iranian nuclear program. Iran’s conflicts with Israel and the Arab states are not our problem.
Regarding the Middle East more broadly, the USG should shut down all of our bases and cut off all flows of foreign aid to the region. I mean this literally: no military aid to the Israelis, Jordanians, Egyptians, etc., and no humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. American officials should avoid giving any sign of favoritism to any nation, people group, or religious minority in the area.
The abject cluelessness as to the nature of the Iranian regime post the Shah and its driving force, ISLAM, for the past 1,500 years is absolutely radiant. The Jordanians, Egyptians and so-called "Palestinians" are one thing to be sure. But Israel, not only our one true ally in the region but aside from us the one remaining keeper of the flame of Western civilization and the advancement of humanity left in the world. Yes, whatever money in the form of aid that goes to Israel should be regulated and accounted for and dispensed responsibly, but the dividends to our national security are well-known and manifold as history has proven. The record is clear on that.
And as I and CBD have made clear on many a recent podcast (the latest episode linked here and in the sidebar as well as available on the usual outlets listed below). it is clearly up to the Iranian/Persian people to take matters into their own hands and take the lead in deposing their oppressors. If the US can help in that goal minus troops on the ground or the failed democracy projects of the past then we should be as minimally involved as we can. And no we should not recognize another Islamo-fascistic government should it God-forbid come to power.
“I thought that the lawyers for Trump made the wrong argument to the Supreme Court, and I predicted they were going to lose based on their argument. Look, if you argue that it’s fundraising activity by Congress, of course you’re going to lose,” Dershowitz said. “This, the Article One of the Constitution, says that duties and taxes can be imposed only by Congress, and Congress can delegate that authority to the president.”
“But if you argue that tariffs can be a weapon of foreign policy, a weapon of diplomacy, a weapon of preventing war, then it’s an Article II power of the president, and Congress has no power to limit it. And so I think what the president has said in his press conferences today is that we may have gone under the wrong statute, and maybe we have no power under that statute,” Dershowitz added. “But I want to prevent a war with Iran, and so I’m going to impose a very very steep sanction on Iran, not to raise money but to stop a war. I’m gonna have a big, big, big tariff on, who knows, in order to make sure that they comply with the foreign policy of the United States. Turn this into an Article II, not an Article I, function.”
Dershowitz said the president could still use tariffs as a foreign policy tool, within constitutional limits.
Funny how Roberts could rewrite the Obamacare individual mandate and declare it kosher, but is otherwise ignorant of Dershowitz's salient point regarding the wrong argument and take his red pen to make Trump's tariffs kosher too. Heaven forfend.
And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.
ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY LINKS
Millions of Americans across the Interstate 95 corridor throughout the Northeast are getting prepared to be heavily impacted by a potent nor’easter bomb cyclone that will generate large amounts of snow in a strong portion of the region beginning Sunday. Potent Nor’easter Bomb Cyclone To Blast Northeast With Largest Snowstorm In Years
Vandals poured a toxic chemical across the Trump-Kennedy Center’s outdoor ice rink early Friday morning, forcing officials to cancel that evening’s performance. A brown-black substance spread across the ice surface caused severe damage to the outdoor arena, Fox News reported. A gallon-sized container was left behind on the damaged rink. Officials confirmed the substance was toxic, though the exact chemical has not been publicly identified. (Maxine Waters' thigh cream - jjs) Kennedy Center Vandalized In ‘Targeted’ Attack Amid Left-Wing Backlash Over Trump Renaming
Records reviewed by Breitbart Texas reveal that Jason Houser — who has labeled Trump’s immigration policies “racist” — and Troy Miller — who, as Biden’s Acting CBP Commissioner, often amplified Biden’s DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ claims that the Biden-era border was closed to irregular migration — joined a Tuesday meeting with senior Trump administration CBP officials to discuss NTC changes. EXCLUSIVE: Ex-Biden DHS Officials Behind Record Border Failures Now Advising CBP on High‑Risk Traveler Screening
This is the Democrat Party today: A man who is running for a seat in the House of Representatives, Justin Pearson, has just refused repeated opportunities to affirm that there is, somewhere in the United States, a criminal illegal alien whom he wishes to deport. Dem Congressional Candidate Refuses to Say He’d Deport a Single Illegal Alien
“But if you argue that tariffs can be a weapon of foreign policy, a weapon of diplomacy, a weapon of preventing war, then it’s an Article II power of the president, and Congress has no power to limit it..." Alan Dershowitz Says Trump Team Made ‘Wrong Argument’ In Tariff Case
Abdullahi’s involvement with MAS dates back to at least 2012, when she served as a youth director in Columbus and later as a national program director. The organization’s youth programs have been marred by scandals nationwide, including an incident in Philadelphia where children were taught songs about beheading Israeli Jews, and a fundraiser selling merchandise glorifying Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists. Upon her election to public office in 2022, Abdullahi appeared to distance herself from MAS, updating her LinkedIn profile to indicate she no longer worked for the group. Unmasking The Muslim Brotherhood Ties Inside Ohio’s General Assembly
The Supreme Court decided President Donald Trump exceeded his powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in a 6-3 ruling issued Friday which struck down his use of the act to impose reciprocal tariffs. Greer reminded Raddatz that the administration had authority for tariffs under other laws aside from IEEPA. (RELATED: Scott Bessent Lays Out Future Of Trump’s Tariffs, Trade Deals) Jamieson Greer Says Trump Still Has ‘Very Durable Tools’ For Tariffs, Trade Deals
Jennifer Fasulo, a Spanish teacher at the high school in a suburb outside of Syracuse was placed on a paid leave of absence in late January, just weeks after she agreed to help students establish a Club America chapter, her supporters say, according to a report by the New York Post. New York High School Teacher Ousted After Helping Students Launch Turning Point USA Chapter
After years of Marxist professors spewing their propaganda at captive students who needed the class for graduation, the pendulum is slowly swinging to the Right. Texas Ousts DEI from Education
The Civil Rights Division filed a motion to intervene Wednesday in the case against Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), according to a DOJ press release. The lawsuit targets the district’s Predominantly Hispanic, Black, Asian, and Other (PHBAO) program, which classifies neighborhoods as “Anglo” or non-Anglo and distributes resources accordingly. DOJ Joins Lawsuit Alleging Anti-White Discrimination In Nation’s Second Largest School District
Bruen affirmed the right to carry; now the Court must close the loopholes and declare that the Second Amendment secures a right—not a privilege—untethered from shifting traditions. The Supreme Court Needs to Expand Bruen
THE 2020 and SUBSEQUENT ELECTION HEISTS , SHENANIGANS/FRAUD and AFTERMATH
“Epstein’s beliefs are a cold, dark shadow of what global governance says cheerfully. . .Childhood and dying represent life at its messiest and least efficient. . .The inputs are too impure. They must be refined.” Jeffrey Epstein’s Necrophilia—and Ours
DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AND RINO SCANDALS, MESHUGAS, CHUTZPOCRISY, INSANITY
The requirement has drawn sharp criticism given the city’s relaxed approach to voter ID. The Department of Sanitation of New York is recruiting temporary workers ahead of a major blizzard expected to dump nearly two feet of snow on the five boroughs, according to the agency’s official website. Registration demands three categories of documentation: two small photos sized 1.5 inches square, a pair of original IDs along with photocopies, and a Social Security card. Mamdani Requires Three Forms Of ID For Residents To Help Shovel Snow
Roger Kimball: Democrats cheer or jeer the Court as convenience dictates; their lone consistency is power—pursued relentlessly, defended fiercely, and projected onto opponents. The Left’s Elastic Principles On Judicial Authority
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) traveled to the Munich Security Conference with big ambitions and came home with a reputation problem. The trip was supposed to bolster her foreign policy credentials ahead of a future Senate or presidential run. Instead, it turned into a masterclass in unpreparedness, and now she's doing damage control in the worst way possible: a tearful late-night Instagram rant. Titty-Caca AOC Has Instagram Meltdown. It’s a Sight to Behold.
Yet America remains far more conservative than it is liberal, with 35% of adults describing themselves as “very conservative” or “conservative” while 28% call themselves “very liberal” or “liberal” and 33% identify as “moderate.” That’s a problem for a party that has been hijacked by the radical left. So they choose Potemkin Village candidates like Spanberger, former astronaut Mark Kelly and Tim “Midwestern dad” Walz, with national security credentials or other conservative-coded attributes to trick moderate voters. Miranda Devine: Dems will roll out their perfect agent of subterfuge, Abigail Spanberger, in response to SOTU
Ocasio-Cortez’s Munich performance was laughable—but her nostalgia for workerist politics ignores a century of Marxist failure, revisionism, and the authoritarian wreckage that followed. Titty-Caca AOC’s Ignorance Is No Laughing Matter
A Sunday report in the New York Times citing senior Iranian officials and members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, detailed that Ali Larijani — a former Guards commander and current head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council — has effectively taken control of national security operations as tensions with Washington intensify. Khamenei Activates Wartime Succession Plans amid Assassination Fears; U.S. Strike Planning Enters ‘Advanced’ Phase
Cartel gunmen have begun carrying out terrorist attacks in various states in Mexico in response to the death of the country’s most powerful terrorist cartel leader, Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes. Mexico’s government confirmed the death of the cartel boss, which resulted from an enforcement operation. Mexico Erupts in Flames After Death of Largest Terrorist Cartel Boss, El Mencho
The visit was a strategic re-entry into a region Washington neglected for too long, one that now sits squarely inside the map of great-power competition. America First Comes to the South Caucasus
Trump in January had approved Department of War (DoW) Secretary Pete Hegseth’s request to increase defense spending to $1.5 trillion in Fiscal Year 2027, up from the previous year’s $900 billion, a record at the time. This move, however, was heavily scrutinized by several members of the administration, including Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought, who is widely considered to be a deficit hawk, the outlet reported Saturday, citing four anonymous sources. Pentagon Reportedly So Awash With Cash It Doesn’t Even Know How To Spend It (the United Sefton Pastrami Fund is always a safe investment in national security! - jjs)
If during launch the helium stopped flowing it would almost certainly result in a failed launch. This issue not only impacts the tentative March 6th launch date that NASA announced yesterday, if a fix is not found quickly it almost certainly means no launch can occur before this launch window closes on April 6th. Problem pops up during SLS roll back after wet dress rehearsal countdown
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
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.
The target yet again is 3D printers and their offensive ability to print in 3D things that are absolutely legal to own but the state government does not want you to have.
You will need at least an AMD FX 4350 and a Radeon HD 7850 to run it, or in other words, any reasonably capable potato. Despite using 125W the 4350 was significantly slower than a modern ultra low power budget chip like Intel's 6W N150.
It does cost $30 so maybe wait for a sale, but it is remastered and getting very positive reviews.
I maintain a million-line Python 2.7 back-end application at my day job. It just works, and while moving to Python 3 is not hard, testing a million lines of code is.
Using AI to generate and validate a vast swarm of tests makes that upgrade viable.
It also means that people who don't know what they are doing can churn out unmaintainable slop at hitherto unimaginable rates.
Earlier in the game, Hughes took a stick to the face which caused damage to his teeth. Because hockey players are tougher than nails, he remained in the game and eventually scored a goal that will be part of US hockey lore forever. This photo after the game became an instant classic.
Hughes loves his country
“This is all about our country. I love the USA!”
- Jack Hughes
This is how you do it.
Americans want to root for and love our Olympic Athletes.
You know who DOESN'T love their country?? The Huffington Post
Notice that GFY response? Jimmy's Seafood in my hometown! Jimmy's has gained notoriety for battles with PETA. So glad to see them weighing in here, too.
Back to the hockey team and an amazing patriotic moment
🚨 EPIC PATRIOTIC SCENE!
The American flag waves HIGH above the ice as Team USA, gold medals gleaming around their necks, belts out The Star Spangled Banner in pure, unbreakable unity! pic.twitter.com/rXKjXm0Zva
The 1970s were a turbulent time for the American auto industry. Not long after the decade's kick-off, the dense fog of the Malaise Era set in, giving us numerous love-it-or-hate-it models, many of which sported an iconic Bustleback design. Emissions standards were implemented, leading to the widescale adoption of catalytic converters (which was definitely a good idea) and brutally low engine outputs. However, there was one gleam of light that made life easier for professional mechanics and DIYers alike: it was when U.S. automakers began switching to metric bolts.
The keyword here is began, because metric bolts didn't fully replace standard, otherwise known as Imperial, English, or SAE fasteners, for many years. Popular internet forums have no shortage of discussion revolving around this topic, but in terms of when America's big three automakers first committed, that would be the early '70s. Though, conversion was slow — to the point that some vehicles came equipped with both standard and metric fasteners.
Much more at the link.
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Got insomnia? Or just have about an hour and a half to kill? Then this article / video might be for you!
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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Spring 2026 Fashion Trends: Fresh, Playful, and Surprisingly Wearable
Spring is always about renewal, and the Spring/Summer 2026 collections feel like opening the windows to let a fresh breeze in. After a whirlwind of designer changes (nearly 15 new creative directors debuted!), the runways delivered optimism, color, craftsmanship, and pieces that actually work in real life.
This season strikes a balance: maximalist pops of color meet versatile, easy-to-style silhouettes. Whether you're easing out of winter layers or planning your warm-weather wardrobe, these are the trends worth knowing (and shopping), from budget steals to worthy splurges!
1. Colors Are Taking Over Forget safe basics running the show, Spring 2026 is vibrant! Colors you didn’t think about dancing together just do like they were born to be side by side.
Key shades to keep an eye on:
• Icy/Powder Blue (or Klein blue)- it's the color of the season.
• Deep Merlot/Burgundy — rich and grounding, easing over from winter but lighter now.
• Ballerina Blush & Butter Yellow — gentle pastels with a modern twist.
• Bold pops like cobalt, magenta, lime, tomato red, and grape purple for when you are ready to make a statement.
How to wear it: Start with a little accessory if you're shy, or go full monochromatic for that wow. Icy blue and Merlot? Yes. All the way yes.
Budget pick: Snag an icy blue button-up or sweater from H&M or Amazon for under $40—perfect for layering.
Splurge pick: A refined icy blue knit or tailored piece from Max Mara or Simone Rocha feels eternally elegant.
2. Sporty-Prep & Metropolitan Prep Vibes
Prep's getting a youthful, sporty update; classic lines with a fun twist. It's polished, practical, and perfect for changeable spring weather.
Highlights:
• Button-up jackets, oversized blazers, and chic trench coats.
• Minimal athleisure mixed with sharp tailoring.
• Borrowed-from-the-boys pieces like utility shirts or slouchy separates.
It feels effortlessly put together.
Budget pick: Oversized blazers and utility shirts at Zara or ASOS—often under $80.
Splurge pick: Structured blazer from Celine or Bottega Veneta add a luxury touch.
3. Feminine Details with Edge: Lace, Fringe, and Texture
Romantic touches are everywhere this season, but grounded with real craftsmanship—think delicate without being too precious.
Standouts:
• Lace accents & layering — sweet but never cloying.
• Fringe dresses and textured pieces (crinkle fabrics, pointelle knits).
• Sculptural shapes, drop-waist dresses, and voluminous skirts or pants.
These add movement and personality, ideal for dresses that go from morning coffee to evening plans.
Budget pick: Lace-trim tops or fringe from Mango look so elevated.
Splurge pick: Romantic looks from Victoria Beckham, Simone Rocha, or Chloé, pure runway romance.
4. Double Denim & Denim Everything
Denim's back bigger than ever, but fresher than your old jeans-and-jacket routine.
• Double denim (head-to-toe or mixed washes).
• Denim accessories (bags, shoes, hats) inspired by Miu Miu and Loewe.
• Dark or straight-leg jeans with unexpected colors.
It's nostalgic but updated, perfect for casual spring days.
Budget pick: Straight-leg or wide-leg from Uniqlo or Amazon under $60—great for mixing washes.
Splurge pick: Slim or straight-leg from Celine, Khaite, or Dior turns it into an investment.
5. Versatile Dresses & Clever Layering
Dresses are the real stars this season, adaptable, detailed, and so easy.
Top styles:
• Fringe, shirt dresses, crinkle-texture, drop-waist.
• Clever layering (open cardigans, lightweight knits over dresses).
• Slip dresses with '90s revival charm.
Versatility is key—pieces that transition day to night or pack light for travel.
Budget pick: Shirt dresses or textured minis from H&M or Zara around $50.
Splurge pick: Lace-trimmed or sculptural from Dior or Altuzarra—timeless and special.
Bonus Trends to Watch
• Electric florals — bold, graphic prints.
• '90s influences — slips, clean minimal black & white.
• Artisanal touches — handcrafted details, bold textures.
Spring 2026 feels celebratory —like joy wrapped in fabric.
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Thanks, Piper!
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DJ Doof - This Date in Music History Edition
On this date in 1976:
Florence Ballard of The Supremes died of cardiac arrest, age 32. She sang on 16 top 40 singles with the group, including ten number-one hits.
Born on the date in 1973:
American musician Thomas Scott "Flip" Phillips - drummer, percussionist, keyboardist and co-founder of the rock bands Creed and Alter Bridge
Born on the date in 1963:
English musician Roger Charlery, known professionally as Ranking Roger. He was a vocalist in the 1980s ska band the Beat (known in North America as the English Beat) and later new wave band General Public.
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Tonight's ONT brought to you by Moron self-branded businesses
(Photo credit - Diogenes at the SF airport)
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Tonight's ONT was created by unsung minions at Doof Enterprises, LLC. No medals or accolades - just cranking out the whelming content that you've come to expect!
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 February edition? Coming soon; March editions!!
I finished my taxes this week so I'm in a bad mood. Don't talk to me!
With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?
Last week we talked about range time objectives and the value of having a plan. If you had to identify the biggest 'problem' preventing you from achieving your marksmanship goals, what would it be? Stance? Grip? Sight alignment or trigger mechanics? What, exactly, are your goals and how were they determined? Are establishing goals and measuring progress important to you? Do you have a logical and methodical strategy for practice and improvement? If not, why not?
Not everyone wants or needs to be a great marksman. Just because you like to shoot doesn't mean you have to go all nutty about it like someone we know. As long as you are safe, perhaps achieving and maintaining a level of basic competency is all you are after. Does this describe you? If you had to guess, what percentage of all shooters do you think would fall into this category?
Let us know what you think in the comments!
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Biathlon Competition
Whoa! Our pal rhomboid brings the info on biathlon!!
The shooting sport I've long loved is biathlon. Love nordic skiing, but never lived anywhere you could do it as a regular serious hobby, so biathlon was sadly never a real option for me. On a trip to Lake Placid in the mid-90s I did encounter the Russian junior biathlon team (first noticed them as they skated past me like I was standing still - though in fairness I was doing classic style). Watched at the range for a bit - the chain-smoking, vulgarity-spewing Russian coaches didn't disappoint! And I think I still have a Russian 22LR box in my ski wax bag. (I also rented speed skates and glided around the speed skating oval where Eric Heiden and his sister won all those golds in 1980)
Competitive biathlon uses special 22LR rifles for the shooting portion (there are large-caliber centerfire biathlons with long-range targets, nordic field, and moose, which are not part of the international circuit that includes the Olympics). Almost all of these rifles are Anschutz, and most of those are Anschutz 1827 Fortner models, whose ergonomics and features represent the evolved state-of-art. These rifles have a straight-pull action, and use 5-round magazines, which are carried in various kinds of mag-holding slots in the stock. There are also small holes in some stocks for individual "extra" rounds, which are allowed in some formats for make-up shots.
The minimum weight is 7 pounds. Sights are non-magnified diopter with globe front sights (generally). There is a semi-rigid loop harness like a backpack arrangement that allows the skier to ski comfortably with the rifle on their back. There is a small sling attached to the fore-end, through which competitors stick their support hand to tighten up grip and stability. Minimum trigger pull is 1.1 lbs. There can be features aimed at reducing the effect of snow on the rifle and sights, should the skier fall during a race.
And the shooting is what makes biathlon a unique and amazing kind of race. It combines the most aerobic sport there is, cross-country skiing, with a sport that's all about breath control and fine motor skills. You glide into the range with a heart rate of 175, and now need to hit small targets (1.8" in prone, 4.5" in off-hand) 50 meters away. Fast. A good biathlete will clean the 5 target array in 20 seconds - any more, or any misses, and you're likely out of the running.
Competitors generally use 40g 22LR lead solids, with special cold-temperature lubricant and a bit of extra powder. There are usually two shooting sessions, first prone, second off-hand (standing), with a ski lap of the course before/after. Some longer events have 4 shooting sessions.
No other sport like it. And not only does biathlon center around the tension between speed and precision, thanks to the leverage of the shooting portion, it is the most dramatic kind of race around. The clear leader can, with one or two missed shots on his last range session, fall to 15th place - just like that. Missed shots result in either time automatically added to the competitor's finishing time or a lap around a penalty loop next to the range, which adds varying amounts of time depending on conditions and the skier.
I got a one-month subscription to Peacock primarily to watch the biathlon and cross-country in Italy this past week, and it's been spectacular. An indication that biathlon is moving out of its niche is that it is now the mostly highly rated TV winter sport in Europe. Which is incredible really. The amazing advances in cameras (number, type, and quality, to include drone-mounted) and production approach have made both biathlon and cross-country very watchable events. And there's no race format that's more dramatic.
Very nice, rhomboid! Thank you very much!
Does anyone else have biathlon shooting or competition experience?
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Here is a look at how the Anschutz biathlon rifles are made.
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Springfield Armory
Well worth a visit if you're in the area. Also worth a visit even if you aren't in the area.
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Our Pal The Howitzer
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I Hate When This Happens!
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Big Yo-Yo
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Highway Patrol!
This week's episode: Hired Killer!
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The Giant Claw!
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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?
Pork Butt has become oddly scarce around here, and even more irritatingly, relatively expensive. You damned hipsters ruin everything!
I found a very nice one at a local market, and as my one consideration to the impending weather catastrophe of biblical proportions ($50 says I get one foot of snow...not the two+ feet forecasted), I am making slow-roasted pulled pork.
If you look closely you will see a piece of parchment paper on the rack, which supposedly will keep the pork butt from sinking into the rack and making more of a mess. I have never tried it, so we shall see!
As for spices? Eh...I'm winging it. Salt, pepper, Mexican Oregano, paprika, some chile powder, garlic, and probably some other stuff I have forgotten. But it smells great, and I am looking forward to a large portion of it with some beans and cornbread as a reward for snow-blowing the 93 feet that the hysterics are predicting.
By the way, this will be an abbreviated Food Thread, because I was watching a hockey game this morning instead of writing it!
I think that the current hysteria over food additives, spearheaded by RFK Jr. is overblown. Yes, some of these additives maybe be unhealthful for humans. Or not. We really don't know for sure.
But...I am a big fan of eating foods with as few ingredients as possible, for aesthetic and culinary reasons as well as health.
Marion Nestle, professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, said she wants to know how the FDA plans to evaluate BHA for safety.
Previous toxicology studies on BHA have relied on lab testing and animal experiments, and it’s not always clear how well those results translate to humans, she said.
Human studies aren’t really possible, she added, noting that they’d take too long, cost too much and raise major ethical concerns.
The problem is that food is so hyper-politicized that it is difficult to separate fact from fiction, or propaganda! For instance, pushing animal welfare may seem to be a noble and caring pursuit, but it has many malign influences on the food supply chain, not least of which increasing the price of food. That might not be a huge deal in America, but the people on the margins will struggle, and some will die.
And of course the real goal of many in the animal welfare movement is the outlawing of meat production, because "MEAT IS MURDER!"
Tasty, tasty murder!
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I am a big fan of manly drinks like the Martini and the stirred Manhattan (shaken Manhattans are for effete pseudo-Texans), but a well-constructed cocktail is usually going to be tasty, no matter what its reputation.
I have a friend who used to be a successful bartender, and often when we sat at his bar he would make what many would consider "girlie" drinks for me, just to make me squirm with embarrassment. Sadly for him, he was excellent at his craft, and they were always tasty! Hell, his chocolate Martini was a revelation!
So here is a good beginning for what many would consider the quintessential girlie drink; the Cosmopolitan Cocktail. I would cut the Cointreau in half and replace it with more vodka, but it's a start!
Inflation bit us all firmly in the ass under the Biden/Obama dictatorship. Yes, inflation is down, but for many foods, prices are not. So economizing is more important for many people, and this website does a reasonable job at showing how we can eat fairly well without breaking the bank. One thing I don't like is the reliance on packaged foods that are far more expensive than their homemade equivalents. Vegetable broth? Come on...how tough is it to make?
But Cheap Eats is still a good place to start if you want to economize but don't have enough cooking experience to do it on your own.
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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!
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!
That is in Harrods, a very nice department store in London.
Apparently the people of the United Kingdom are incapable of ascending or descending more than four steps, and require mechanical means to accomplish these harrowing tasks.
I cheerfully claim the mantle of the lazy, but even I can negotiate four steps without pause or assistance.
USA Hockey Beats Canada For The Gold Medal...Canadian Transsexuals And Thought Police Hardest Hit
—CBD
The relationship between the United States of America and its northern neighbor has deteriorated significantly recently, and while it is easy and lazy to blame President Trump's tariff rhetoric and reality, the real reason is that Canada is rushing headlong into a leftist dystopia, complete with Newspeak, legal penalties for Badthink, and a medical establishment that worships genital mutilation and euthanasia.
Canada also worships its immigrants, both legal and illegal, and they are busily changing the social fabric of the country. Islam, with its virulent hatred of Jews and Christians is ascendant, and other immigrant groups have brought equally non-Western cultural mores to the country.
And of course Canada's economy is suffering under the thumb of its leftist overlords, as the country slides into an economic malaise that has it falling far behind its closet neighbor in every economic measure. Their GDP per capita is now lower than Alabama's!
Instead of emphasizing our similarities, Canada has decided to go the European route, embracing China's predatory economic policies, perhaps hoping that Canada will be eaten last! With this shortsighted decision, they have made America an adversary...one that is far more powerful, far richer, and far more able to push Canada to the side while embracing our real allies.
So the American hockey victory over Canada in this morning's gold medal game in Milan is a pleasure! Not just because the happily patriotic USA hockey team won, but because we beat Canada, and showed them that we are not a paper tiger even in their national sport. Hopefully it will be a harbinger of future economic and political events between the two countries, at least until, or if, Canada comes to its senses and admits their subservient position to the United States.
Sunday Morning Book Thread - 2-22-2026 ["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 (ht: Anonosaurus Wrecks). 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...(library card not included)
So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, start prepping those Super Bowl snacks, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?
NOTE: Kudos to Sabrina Chase for her excellent debut last week! It's always great to get the perspective of someone who has experience in the industry. My only qualification for this gig is that I'm a semi-literate tree rat who prefers to read books instead of shredding them to line my nest.
Libraries often show up in video games. In this case, we have a screenshot from Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO), my favorite Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (MMORPG). This is the Old Took's library, deep in the Great Smials, the ancestral home of Peregrin Took. Adelard Took is plagued by the ghost of the Old Took, who is haunting the library. It's up to me to drive out the ancient spirit. SPOILER -- It's a squirrel.
HYPERSPACE -- KEEPING THE "FICTION" IN "SCIENCE FICTION"
"Traveling through hyperspace isn't like dusting crops, boy. Ever tried calculating a hyperspace jump?"
-- Han Solo, Star Wars: A New Hope
According to Grok, the term "hyperspace" was coined by mathematicians in the mid-19th century when they began investigating properties of higher spatial dimensions in mathematics. We live in a three-dimensional world (or at least, that's all we perceive), but mathematically, there's no reason you can't have an infinite number of dimensions. Apparently you can even have *negative* dimensions under certain conditions that resolve problems in mathematics. Math is weird.
Also according to Grok, the first known usage of "hyperspace" with respect to space travel is from John W. Campbell's "Islands of Space" (1931), where scientists are able to traverse the vast distances between stars by accessing a higher-dimensional realm known as "hyperspace." This story also featured characteristics of a proto-warp drive, so Campbell's novella directly influenced two of the most iconic science fiction franchises of the twentieth century--Star Trek and Star Wars.
Science fiction has embraced the idea of "faster-than-light" travel whole-heartedly because it's really the only way for characters in galaxy-spanning stories to travel or communicate in any reasonable timeframe. Consider the fact that the Moon is a little over 1 light second from Earth. That means it takes about 2-3 seconds for signals to travel back and forth. This is about the limit where real-time communication is possible. The same signal would take anywhere from 6 to 45 minutes to travel to Mars and back, depending on where Earth and Mars are on their respective orbits.
Now extend that out to interstellar space. As Douglas Adams so eloquently states in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, "Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space." Voyager 1, the farthest manmade object from Earth, is approimately 25 billion kilometers out there and is still within our solar system. It has a long, long way to go before it enters the true interstellar void. It hasn't even entered the theoretical Oort Cloud yet.
Now back to hyperspace, which is basically a plot device that science fiction authors use to shape their stories. They LOVE it because they can create any kind of story they want. It's like magic in a way. Every author creates their own variation on hyperspace with its own rules and properties, though there are a few common elements that show up from time to time.
Gravity, for instance, is a common problem for hyperspace travel because the gravitational field of an object in space casts a "shadow" of sorts into hyperspace, forcing spacecraft to take convoluted paths throughout the galaxy to avoid large stellar masses and black holes. Even jumping to hyperspace within the gravity well of an Earth-sized planet can be dangerous, depending on the writer.
Hyperspace is often compared to tempestuous ocean, with waves, tides, and currents that pose navigation hazards to starships within its influence. Like gravity, these influences can tear a ship apart if one doesn't traverse hyperspace carefully. Jeremy Carver's Star Rigger series has fun with this concept, with pirates!
Another common danger in hyperspace is the existence of creatures or entities that inhabit that space. Because these creatures live in a "higher dimension" they possess powers far superior to those of us living in the lower dimensions. This is, in fact, the central conflict in The Architects Trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The alien architects can twist normal spacetime like a pretzel because they are born inside hyperspace and thus are far more powerful than any mere mortal.
Sometimes hyperspace not only possesses physical dangers, but also affects the mind as well. Those who enter hyperspace unprepared for its effects run the risk of becoming insane from the experience. Again, Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Final Architecture series explores this idea, as does Cordwainer Smith in his Instrumentality of Mankind stories.
How fast can you travel in hyperspace? As always, that depends on the author or creator. Both Star Wars and Star Trek have developed reasonably well-defined speed limits on hyperspace within their respective franchises. Warp speed in Star Trek is surprisingly slow compared to other methods of travel. Warp 9.99 is approxiamtely 8,000 times the speed of light. By comparison, Peter F. Hamilton's Void Trilogy has starships travelling at speeds in excess of 50 lightyears per hour. That means you could travel from Earth to Alpha Centauri in less than 10 minutes, which is approximately 438,600 times the speed of light. (Of course, nothing is faster than the Speed of Plot!)
I love science fiction, but I know most of it will never come to fruition in my lifetime, if at all. Science is looking at all sorts of cool things, but traveling through hyperspace may not even be remotely possible according to the laws of physics. Unless we can make a true revolutionary breakthrough in science, it's unlikely our descendants will colonize the stars faster-than-light. Though slower-than-light is perfectly feasible (with loads of engineering problems!).
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MORON RECOMMENDATIONS
I've stepped into The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. Just finished book one.
I like it but it is mild compared to his Discworld series.
An interesting idea that seems very attractive is a bit of a nightmare.
I am enjoying it.
Posted by: pawn at February 15, 2026 09:26 AM (uvB+6)
Comment:The Long Earth series is indeed very, very different from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. The basic premise is that humans discover an easy way to reach alternate Earths. Using a ridiculously simple device, we can "step" either to the "left" or "right" along an infinite chain of creation into unspoiled worlds that have never known the touch of humans. All our resource issues are solved on "Stepping Day." Of course, there are a huge range of issues that still crop up, but anyone who wants to leave the current planet and start anew is able to do so.
Humans also go to war with nonhuman races who have also discovered the Long Earth. Not every version is an idyllic paradise. It's a wild series that explores some very peculiar ideas in science, such as the notion of "perpendicular" worlds.
++++++++++
The most profound book from my Kindle library was Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors by Nicholas Wade. This is a popular science retelling of mankind's genetic progress. The period covered starts 4 million years ago, but focusses on the last 50,000 years. Pulls together lots of insights into humanity.
I highly recommend it. The science told has not been overthrown in the last 14 years since this was published.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 15, 2026 10:14 AM (u82oZ)
Comment: That's cool that the science still holds up. Probably means that it's well-grounded on scientific principles and not subject to the current whims of scientific fads. According to one of the reviews on Amazon, Wade posits that humanity has mellowed out considerably in recent times, despite our belligerent attitudes to those who are different. There's also some discussion about how culture shapes intelligence, which is one of those ideas that certain activists do NOT like to recognize as legitimate.
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The Dictionary of Imaginary Places is one of the prime treasures of my personal library. Alan Moore plagiarized it flagrantly for the appendix to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II, but apparently got away with on account of being Alan Moore. Feh.
Posted by: werewife at February 15, 2026 10:32 AM (5ayY3)
Comment: I love The Dictionary of Imaginary Places!
My copy sits on a shelf just a couple of steps from where I'm sitting right now. It has the usual places such as Middle-Earth and Narnia, but also a lot of wild ideas from authors going back as far as the ancient world, including Atlantis. Edwin A. Abbott's Flatland even makes an appearance. It's a cool book.
Due to some other diversions, I haven't been reading quite as much as I read earlier this year. That said, I do have a couple of books behind me since my last Sunday Morning Book Thread.
The Inhibitors Trilogy Book 2 - Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds
This continues the story began in Revelation Space, the first book in the series, but it takes place many years afterwards. Because there is no faster-than-light travel in this universe, the narrative by necessity must take quite a bit of time while character travel between worlds. Often there are disparate storylines that meet up at the end of the book as the events converge to the climax.
The Inhibitors--also known as "wolves"--have discovered humanity and proceed to dismantle the Resurgam system prior to wiping out all of the humans on the planet. Although they possess the power of simply destroying the world, the Inhibitors' plot is much more insidious and ultimately destructive. Fortunately, their convoluted plan gives the humans on the planet just enough time to escape aboard a "lighthugger" ship. This ship also carries within it terrible weapons of destruction, though their use against the Inhibitors is subject to debate. The weapons themselves possess sentience of a sort and have their own agenda. We also find out the ultimate goal of the Inhibitors, which is not at all what humanity expects. Turns out the Inhibitors are planning for something much, much WORSE than the rise of competing sentience and their plan is a long, long term scheme (on the order of billions of years) to save the galaxy as a whole.
The Inhibitors Trilogy Book 3 - Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds
Although all three of the Revelation Space novels I've read have their strange moments, Absolution Gap is by far the strangest. A sole survivor on a far distant moon orbiting a gas giant witnesses the planet disappear for just a second. During his dying moments, Quaiche has a divine revelation about his experience. He survives--barely--and creates an entire religion around the fact that the gas giant periodically vanishes for mere moments.
Meanwhile, lightyears away, refugees are fleeing the Inhibitors, guided by a strange little girl born with unusual gifts. They believe that the last hope of humanity lies within the gas giant system with a mysterious disappearing planet. Their only sign is that they must speak with "the shadows," mysterious entities believed to be whispering to us from the depths of hidden dimensions.
It's over allegations of running DDoS attacks and modifying supposedly archive articles after the fact, and the allegations are about as well supported as the recent conspiracy theories floated by Steve from Gamer's Nexus, which is to day, almost all of it is documented by multiple sources and the guy confessed publicly.
Which is a wee problem for me because those (Archive site) links I've been sprinkling through posts for the past year as more and more news sites decide they don't want anyone to read them?
Well, those links point to Archive.IS, but it's the same software and the same person.
I've switched to using Brave to prepare these posts, because it seems better at dodging around that problem, but it does mean that if you're using a different browser you might not be able to read the linked content.
On the other hand, I always, always present the full unvarnished truth without so much as editorialising.
Theories are that AMD has been planning not to launch Zen 6 until 2027 anyway, at least since they were close enough to launch to have a specific timeframe in mind. But Intel was promising Nova Lake this year as recently as January.
And it has hyperthreading, so 24 threads on that high-end model.
One small problem: While it does run in the old reliable Socket 1700 (used by Intel's 12th, 13th, and 14th generation chips) it is intended for industrial customers needing guaranteed supply for the next decade, and won't be available in retail channels at all. And ASRock has already said that they won't support these chips in their motherboards, so an upgrade might be off the table.
I've seen similar tests floating around recently, and the answer is pretty consistently 1300 AD. You have to know a few little tricks - the old long S ſ, thorn þ, and yogh ȝ characters have long fallen out of use, plus at some point u and v were merged and before that w was just two u characters.
But go back further and there's more change in each of the three prior centuries than in all the years since.
Handy guide to keep if the Tardis translator circuit is on the blink and you don't speak Latin.
CXMT was called out and sanctioned for this behaviour - at the time it was dumping new DDR4 memory on the market for less than the price of used.
Now it's... Well, it's doing exactly the same thing again, but this time it's raking in the dough thanks to massive global price increases rather than depending on CCP subsidies.
Microsoft has turfed long-time head of their gaming division, Phil Spencer, who admittedly had not been doing a great job of things lately, and also his expected successor Sarah Brand, in favour of Asha Sharma, formerly the company's President of AI Slop. And before that she was COO at Instacart.
No experience with the games industry at all, but again, Spencer was a veteran in the industry and totally screwed things up anyway.
Musical Interlude
Song is Tommy-Gun by Royal Republic. Anime is the one and only Black Lagoon. Accept no substitutes or your attack helicopter may encounter a inconvenient torpedo.
Disclaimer: Okay, so it does work. I thought it did.
Saturday Night Club ONT - February 21, 2026 [2 D's]
—Open Blogger
Welcome to Club ONT - a collaboration of The Disco and The Dino. Do you believe in miracles? A special greeting to any Winter Olympians among us tonight. Rumor has it that a member of the very first Jamaican bobsledding team is a lurker. As is an assistant equipment manager from the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" men's hockey team. Free drinks and unlimited restroom tokens to anyone wearing an Olympic medal!
Girl walks into a tattoo shop and asks for Elvis on one thigh and Johnny Cash on the other…
Tattoo artist says "Alright let's get to work, but I'm gonna need you to take off your pants so they don't get ink on them." After a few hours, he finishes both tattoos. She looks in the mirror and freaks out. "These don’t look like Elvis or Johnny at all," she says, crying.
"Sure they do," says the artist. "Here I'll prove it." The artist goes outside and grabs a man standing on the corner and brings him into the shop and asks "who are the people in these tattoos?"
The man looks intently and after a couple minutes and says, "I don't know who that is on the left and I don't know who that is on the right, but the one in the middle with the beard is definitely Willie Nelson!"
Ingredients
2 oz vanilla bean infused bourbon
0.5 oz fresh lemon juice
2 apricots sliced into chunks, pits removed
0.5 oz brown sugar simple syrup directions in post
pinch ground cinnamon
cinnamon stick garnish
ice
Method
Add bourbon, lemon, syrup and apricots to a shaker.
Muddle apricots into liquid.
Add cinnamon and ice.
Cover and shake well for 45 seconds.
Strain into a fresh glass with ice and garnish with cinnamon stick.
*****
The Babylon Bee is undefeated
*****
Club ONT Department of Technology
PSA; the Widows cursor is not symmetrical. You're welcome.
Working with only pixels and basic geometry, the only angles are 45 degrees (one over, one down) and 26.6 (one over, two down).
When you try to build the cursor properly, you'll find that you need half of a 45 degree angle, or 22.5, but since you can't do that, I think they picked the 26.6 angle as closest.
Long story short, it's a compromise brought about by the limited number of angles you can actually construct on a pixel grid!
If you were to place the tip on the same line as the 26.6 degree stem, the stem would not be midway between the lower corners of the arrowhead, it would be closer to the right side. Thus, it seems that it was shifted left to make that area more symmetrical because that error was less obvious.
Club ONT wishes the US Men's Hockey Team all the best in their quest to capture the gold medal tomorrow morning. Having said that, there will be zero tolerance for Slashing, Cross-checking, or Boarding on the dance floor this evening. Holding The Stick and Hooking will be tolerated in the parking lot only.
Nobody Does It Better? James Bond on Netflix [Lex]
—Open Blogger
Forgive me Ace (and others), but I am a Netflix subscriber. Have been for 20 years or so. I once told my son’s friend Netflix used to send DVDs in the mail. The little shaver was unaware Netflix existed pre-streaming. More to my bane was the inability to catch up, as easily as Netflix made it, with movies and shows I missed any given year. Though the streaming service does have older films and some TV series, it pales in comparison to what you could get via their immense DVD library.
Naturally, Netflix chooses to promote its original material, and there are some winners, but mainly the stream is not so merrily navigated—with a glut of not only original films and shows but also much dross from the last 30 years of cinema.
It was getting so bad, I had thoughts about trying another service. Enter not the dragon but 007 when, in January of 2026, Netflix added the entire James Bond catalogue. This comprises 26 movies, the first being Dr. No in 1962 and the most recent No Time to Die in 2021. With this move, Netflix succeeded in keeping me around for a little while yet.
As of this writing, I have not rewatched the 26 films. I believe I have seen them all over the years and many multiple times. Since the movies went live, I have mainly focused on the Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig pictures because I had never seen any of them more than once, and, after rewatching a few, remember why; these iterations of Bond aren’t very good.
I do like Daniel Craig as James Bond. He’s certainly the most muscled actor who played 007 and believable as a bruising secret agent, but the Craig-era films don’t feel much different than Jason Bourne or John Wick or any movie where a man kills his way through an onslaught of enemies. The action sequences are oftentimes as bad as a Transformers picture: that is, I can’t tell what’s happening it’s so fast and harried. Furthermore, Craig’s Bond lacks the jocularity of the previous portrayals. A perpetually dour and scowling Bond should not be on Her Majesty’s secret service.
Still, Pierce Brosnan is easily, for me, the least enjoyable Bond to watch. He possesses the wryness Craig lacks, but he can’t quite sell it the way Roger Moore did. He’s certainly more physical than Moore, but much of the time it doesn’t wash.
In The World is Not Enough, we are told Brosnan’s Bond has a bad shoulder, and once in a while he winces, but then the injury vanishes as he leaps and tumbles and falls and fights his way through myriad bad guys to no apparent effect. This scripting might not be Brosnan’s fault, but he doesn’t have the charm Moore did to convince a viewer charisma can outpace grit.
But let’s be frank: we would not have had Brosnan, Craig, or the others if not for Sean Connery. He made the franchise possible.
Connery was equal parts debonair and tough. He had skill, attitude, humor, and good timing. I don’t think you’ll find a more delightful sequence in any James Bond movie that demonstrate Connery’s range, than 007’s golf game with Auric Goldfinger and Odd Job. Daniel Craig probably wouldn’t even play Golden Tee, let alone a real game of golf.
Connery set the standard, and Roger Moore gamely took it up. It was a daring choice to succeed Connery with Moore. Bond became more dandified, but it worked. Connery will always be the best Bond, but Moore is easily a close second.
I also liked Timothy Dalton’s two-movie turn as Bond. He brought back a ruggedness to 007 that was absent for almost two decades.
I won’t discuss the one George Lazenby film, as it was silly and featured Bond wearing a kilt for thirty minutes and feigning a Scottish burr at Telly Savalas’s alpine seraglio.
The lousy writing of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service might only be rivaled by the inane stories cooked up for Brosnan and Craig.
I have little idea what happened in The World is Not Enough, Spectre or No Time to Die. Moonraker was far-fetched no doubt, but at least it was easy to grasp, as well as featuring one of the best Bond henchmen (Richard Kiel’s ‘Jaws’). The plots of the Craig and Brosnan films are so incomprehensible they are boring and make one want to fast forward to the end.
***
It’s natural that after 20 films or so, the Bond producers would look to go in different directions. I don’t mean the actor who plays 007, but some of the familiar background parts.
Throughout much of the Bond cannon, M, Q, and Moneypenny were only seen in glimpses— to give Bond a clipped reprimand, a testy lecture or a soft moment of flirtation.
In the newer films, M, Q, and Moneypenny are flushed out, but I don’t care for it. Does the M character become more compelling because we see her drawing a bath? Is Moneypenny more interesting because we catch a glimpse of her casual sex hookup pouting in bed as she talks to Bond, who is on the other side of the world? Giving these characters more play not only adds to the run time of the movies, but also makes the plots messier.
Prior to the Craig 007 movies, one could probably drop in on any Bond film and not have to know anything inside baseball. But during the Craig years, one film bled into the next, and you felt lost if you didn’t know who Vesper was (I still don’t).
This is likely the influence of television. Bond movies, either by design or incidentally, felt as if they had to mirror their idiot box brethren by making the films semi-episodic.
But there was also a clear cinematic influence on Bond occurring as well. A 007 picture always promised a flavor of spy-craft, but the more recent movies evolved away from patient spook-work into generic action films. James Bond movies have not waivered from offering exotic locations (and women), but the early films were well paced. The latter-day Bonds became too busy, globe-hopping at breakneck speed.
***
I came of age in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, so I’m trying to divine if my appreciation for the Bond films of those decades is the product, not of objective analysis, but some unknowing attachment to and association with my youth.
Even though I’ve looked in the mirror, I reject that diagnosis. The earlier films were simply better.
Not just 007 himself and the villains but even the secondary characters such as the henchmen. In the more recent Bond movies there are some bruising killers, but they have no flare (or even interesting names that I recall) such as Odd Job, Jaws, Nick Nack and the gay duo of Mr. Kidd and Mr. Winn.
In that same vein, can a fan of the more current Bond films hum any title song? A Bond song –setting aside the iconic 007 leitmotif—once stood out. I didn’t find any of the recent Bond intro songs memorable. And even if one or two are decent, they don’t compare to ‘For Your Eyes Only,’ ‘Never Say Never Again,’ ‘Live and Let Die,’ and ‘Nobody Does it Better.’ Adele’s ‘Skyfall’ (the only Bond song to win an Oscar) is nice, but it doesn’t come close to the crème de la crème of 007 songs, ‘Goldfinger,’ which never received any of Oscar’s Midas love.
That brings us to which Bond film is second best because there is no debate that in first place is Goldfinger. The song, the style, the villains, the plan, and yeah that golf game. My top ten 007 films are ranked as such…
Goldfinger
From Russia With Love
The Man With the Golden Gun
You Only Live Twice
The Spy Who Loved Me
For Your Eyes Only
The Living Daylights
Never Say Never Again
Dr. No
A View to a Kill
Besides Connery’s rendering of Bond, any credit for the success of the franchise must also be given to the early Bond directors Guy Hamilton and Terrence Young. I don’t know much about them, but the results are plain.
There have probably been more famous directors to take the helm of Bond movies, but they haven’t handled the material as well.
Perhaps the best season of television ever was True Detective Season One, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga. A star was born then, and as a result Fukunaga has been handed a lot—including 007 in No Time to Die.
But, as previously mentioned, this film is sloppy. Like many who attempted to take on Bond, he was foiled. Fukunaga clearly could not handle a sprawling, lively action piece and so we got a weak, banal action piece with a brooding, unfunny Bond.
This begs the question: where will Bond go next? I don’t pay much attention to the development of 007 films, but it has been five years. Will Bond be a women or gay, or a gay woman? Neither would surprise, though a lesbian Bond would at least make the sex scenes decent.
However, one might also ask is another Bond movie possible? 007 was a stand in for Britain, and the UK has fallen very far since 1962. England is collapsing from within, so how can we believe any of its agents can save the world or accomplish daring missions overseas?
For a long time nobody did it better when it came to producing a James Bond film, but somewhere in the early 21st century, when too many large-scale film productions ceased to be enjoyable, Bond got dragged down with the times.
Time will tell of course, but for now it seems Commander Bond may have met the one foe who could vanquish him: corporate, post-modern filmmaking. That villainous moniker doesn’t quite have the ring of Ernst Stavro Blofeld or Francisco Scaramanga, but it’s succeeded, for the moment, in putting the most suave and scrappy Englishman ever on his back.
While I wait for Bond to resurrect, I can at least enjoy (mostly) his earlier exploits via Netflix.
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 and it landed on panning for gold.
[Top photo:Alaskan miner panning for gold, 1916. Library of Congress collection]
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. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls.
***
Do you have gold fever? Have you ever prospected for gold? Are you wise in the ways of gold panning?
Are you fascinated by gold mines and the history of gold mining?
Is there gold or gold history nearby your location?
I have never panned for gold (mostly because of my dino short arms), but I am fascinated by mining. Mines are typically in off the beaten path places and the underground has the ever-present mystery of what lies inside. They hold history, promise, and mixtures of success and heartbreak.
Professional mining operations are gigantic, but hobbyists still pick at rocks and pan for gold dust and nuggets along riverbanks.
Panning for gold uses a dish full of gravel and water to sift off the lighter material and keep the heavier (and more valuable) material. Obviously, there is a lot to knowing what material is likely to have gold and where to find the material and then go through the labor of sifting through for tiny gold flakes.
If trapped in ore, the ore must be crushed, filtered, and smelted to separate and refine it.
Knowing nothing, I've selected content that seemed reasonably informative and entertaining and low in clickbait channels ("YOU WON'T BELIEVE HOW MUCH GOLD I FOUND!!!!!). Looking for commenters to help out with wisdom and knowledge.
***
This is a great intro video with a lot more knowledge than just equipment:
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Dan the Prospector shows how to pan (and he looks the part):
Here's another tutorial:
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This is quite a set-up and shows the full process. Think this guy is in Washington. This is a profession rather than a hobby but think he sells raw ore for hobbyists to crush their own rock. He is not panning along a riverbank but pulling rock out of mountain seams that has embedded gold.
***
One thing that surprised me when doing the research for this post is the scattered locations people find gold. It is not just in the mountains out west or Alaska. This guy is panning in Virginia:
and previously checked out Alabama:
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Lake Superior? Apparently there is gold in the sand.
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Gold mining has been increasingly regulated in Australia. One recent development is limiting the use of pumps to sort gravel, so this guy is trying out a manual rocker box. What's a rocker box? Click and find out.
***
On January 24, 1848, while supervising of a sawmill, James Marshall found flakes of gold in the South Fork American River. The mill was being built for Col. John Sutter. The discovery of gold at Sutters Mill in California kicked off the gold rush. The original sawmill looked like this:
The Smithsonian now has the first gold flakes discovered at Sutter's Mill. The sawmill failed when the able-bodied men abandoned the project to search for gold and prospectors overran the land.
In the rocky sediment of Nevada's deserts
Along the American River in California
Throughout the Alaskan Yukon River
In former Colorado mining hot spots
In Arizona's Lynx Creek
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Rockhounding is a hobby, but polishing rocks into spheres is a niche. Grinding and polishing machines are roughly three drills with polishing cups aligned in a triangle with a rock in the middle. Never seen one in real life and they look a little like a mad scientist alchemy contraption, but apparently they are a thing. I've seen spheres of wood turned on a lathe but this is a completely different program. Anyone familiar with this?
This home built rig combines mad scientist and mad max together:
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Horde Hobbying
This does not strictly count as Horde Hobbying, but last week's stained glass thread triggered a note from matteiglass to the Hobby Thread email inbox. Glass is a profession and he has decades of leaded glass experience. He did restoration of church windows, had a studio, and created large scale windows for clients. He has taken commission and done pieces on spec.
Perhaps he'll jump in and tell more of his story.
In the meantime, gaze upon this piece titled "The Soul of the Rose" which portrays the painting by John Waterhouse. It took over 1,000 hours. Click on the painting for the studio's website with many other marvelous pieces.
Thank you!
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Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did an stained glass 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.
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