Well, good news, bad news on the L homefront. Good news: I got by the fancy chocolatier in town, so the women in my life are going to have a Merry Christmas. Bad news: The oldest boy is currently blowing chunks and then angry/ugly crying. So it looks like we get (another) visit from the stomach bug this month. We were supposed to have a bunch of neighbors with little kids over tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure we’ll bag that. No use making enemies of them.
I love the tone of this. How DARE this MAYOR think he’s important enough for a fundraiser like this!
Well this was not how I expected this disappearance to end. How horrible.
Oh noes, Phil the Greek is my favorite noble. If we lose him, the royalty paparazzi spend more time on that airhead American girl.
Its like rocket science is hard or something.
“Its like rocket science is hard or something.”
If they had only deconstructed the patriarchal systems of colonialism, racism and sexism (as well as transphobia and fat shaming) in STEM!
A gay man at a party involving wine? Perish the thought!
*EDIT FAIRY HALPS!*
Thank you edit fairy!
“Warren’s broadside was a defining moment not only of Thursday night’s debate, but of Buttigieg’s candidacy as well. Although he held his own in responding to Warren’s attack—noting that the Massachusetts senator transferred millions of dollars from past campaigns to fund her presidential, some of it raised at high-dollar fundraisers just like the ones she now criticizes—Buttigieg will have a hard time convincing Democrats that wealthy donors aren’t seeking to grease the wheels of democracy in their own favor.”
oh noes, not money in politics!
“grease the wheels of democracy in their own favor.”
Say it isn’t true. No way, man, these are all hard working (for the people) guys and gals.
I have seen a lot of idiotic takes pretending that Warren won that exchange. That’s one of them.
He roasted her like a pig on a spit. And not with the transfer thing… she played class warfare on him and he pulled out the numbers on their comparative net worth. It was a mike drop moment in proggie land.
Please don’t talk about spit roasting Warren.
I liked Buttigieg’s response:
He’s obviously not a Liberatarian if he’s not down with purity tests.
That is the last time I hear a single word about Elizabeth Warren’s broadside. *shudders*
You know you want it.
Your a sick, twisted man, Spud.
Don’t try and flatter me.
Just heard a NASA expert say “Yeah it didn’t work but we’re really learning a lot so its not like it was a failure” words to that affect.
“Yeah it didn’t work but we’re really learning a lot so its not like it was a failure”
The Vast Majority of humanity is completely unable to utter the words “That was wrong”. I get trying to salvage the best of a bad situation, but being able to recognize mistakes and errors is almost impossible, without someone trying to show how the failing was not actually a failing.
My first job out of college was at a startup where the Owner/CEO was just like that. Safe to say- It did not go well.
I have no problem saying the words,
Well that didn’t work……
I say that softly, so no one else can hear it, on my own projects.
I say that all the time. That’s research.
Yusef! How are you and Wendy doing today?
Waiting so see if they take her other foot off, we hope so, it’s killing her, til then I’m parked in BhC, she’s in Vegas
After spending 10 years doing experimental engineering projects, I can say the only way an experiment fails is if you can’t learn anything from it.
Having the product work right the first time is cool, but it almost never happens.
The interesting bit about this is the contrast between the SpaceX and the Boeing approach. Boeing bid at almost double the cost of SpaceX . Their approach is to do the paperwork on everything, get it right the first time and have every I dotted and every T crossed. The SpaceX approach is to move fast… iterating and learning along the way. It is an approach that reflects the CEO’s roots in software development, where iterating doesn’t cost so terribly much.
SpaceX has been able to use this approach to be much faster and much cheaper than “old space” like Boeing. Boeing even came back and asked for more money on their fixed price contract – getting the better part of another billion dollars. Yet SpaceX has already reached the ISS with their capsule, and absent another diversion, they’ll have astronauts up there within a few months.
Right
This is actually a huge failure for Boeing.
Agreed with you both. Failure on something unmanned is always a calculated risk on SpaceX.
Also, from what I’ve heard Boeing leaned on NASA about the chair angle requirements so Space-X had to take seats out of the Dragon Crew capsule. Boeing is a dinosaur coasting on their reputation.
I can totally believe that.
Boeing has the experience in contract negotiations and the old boy aerospace network. Space-X merely has innovation.
“After SpaceX had already designed the interior layout of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, NASA decided to change the specification for the angle of the ship’s seats due to concerns about the g-forces crew members might experience during splashdown.”
https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/12/07/after-redesigns-the-finish-line-is-in-sight-for-spacexs-crew-dragon/
But guess whose seats met the revised-after-the-fact spec. Go on, guess.
Look Boeing can’t help it if their design has seat angle superiority.
And SpaceX is only able to do this because they are willing to make mistakes. To many people are unwilling to fail, even when it’s already happened.
For sure, learning form failures is important. But I just have a gripe with people not willing to say “This didn’t work”. There are a lot of people who are so afraid of failure that they will try to cast everything as a success, even when it is objectively not.
I like to say to my kids, “you learn more from your mistakes then you do from your successes”
I tell my kids ( I don’t really have any) that you can learn from your mistakes that failure isn’t a dead end and you can try again.
I tell them that sucess teaches you that you succeeded.
I can say the only way an experiment fails is if you can’t learn anything from it.
I tell our people basically that as part of our PDCA process. Also:
“This is basically permission to make mistakes.”
“If you get through this process without changing anything, you are either missing something, or you are too conservative.”
This is a fact. I’ve never seen a developmental program work as advertised right out of the box. It’s always an iterative process. It really is rocket surgery
Hi Brett.
Sorry (again) about the kids. It gets better. Sort of. Well, they stop barfing all the time, anyway.
I’ll be sorry to see Phil shuffle off. I have no love for the Royals, but I would absolutely drink with him.
Plus he rolled his LR recently and lived. Tough dude.
Aren’t people in Florida supposed to get sick less because they are outside more or something? Science?
+ 1 million Oranges
Nah, they get sick all of the time, it’s just that all the meth hides the symptoms of lesser diseases.
Hey Tundra,
You asked where I’ve been lately. Well…
Mostly I’ve avoided The Links since it’s all so fucking depressing and ridiculous. It makes me lose hope for this country and I feel bad for my progeny. Better to bury my head in the sand I guess. I’ve read a few articles (many good ones!), but usually well past active commenting.
Otherwise, it’s hockey season which means lots of running about, and I have been working part time at the local hockey arena. Driving a Zamboni is not as easy as it looks and holy cow the pressure when everyone is watching!
Speaking of hockey, my oldest played in a Peewee B tourney in Duluth last weekend with mostly Twin Cities teams. They got crushed by everyone except the two teams they played from the north (who also got crushed by cities teams), which tells you something of the sate of hockey in northern MN.
Anyhoo, I’ll try to pop in more often when posts are active. I still do enjoy the discussions.
I hope you have a wonderful holiday season (and everyone else too!)
Merry Christmas, Stillhunter.
You are living the dream, brother!
For what it’s worth, none of us read the lynx anyway. And this island of misfits actually gives me some hope.
So don’t be a stranger.
Hah! That’s awesome! I forgot about that one. Their version of My Maria is my favorite though.
So it looks like we get (another) visit from the stomach bug this month.
Stay strong man. The Leon household knows that fight all to well.
Its tough for a parent and knowing that there isn’t much you can do other than try to comfort the little ones. Good idea not to expose either your own to more of the local germ machines and vice versa. The parents will thank you.
This. My wife gets super upset because of all the families that bring kids who are clearly snotty and sick, to church. She threatens to not go every winter because of it.
The problem with sick little ones is that they have no concept of “holding it in”. The time between their body deciding it has to jettison some stomach contents and the first chunk hitting the bed spread is about 14 nanoseconds.
My youngest was the worst. He’d find an old candy bar left over from Halloween sometime in July and would eat it. Then at 3 am, he’s start barfing in the top bunk. When the puke dripped down onto his older brother it would start a chain reaction.
Seems like our kids get the spews about once a year. We have to keep a bucket by the bed in those instances for exactly that reason.
And then the Ladies Auxiliary barfed onto the Elks…
I don’t know i had a particularly bad stomach flu a few weeks ago, where i was vomiting all night. There was a point where i wished i could be like my kids and just let it come up instead of subconsciously fighting it.
Spawn 1 used to get carsick on road trips. He decorated an aisle in a Flyng J once. On the way to the bathroom.
My wife and the youngest have problems with motion sickness. The best was when we were getting off the plane in Honolulu and the youngest decided he couldn’t hold it anymore and puked on the back of my wife in the aisle as we were deplaning. He was “my son” for a few days after that.
Our daughter once, from a high-chair, managed to projectile vomit onto the plates of the 4-top sitting next to us at a VERY crowded Lawn Guyland Cheesecake Factory. It was not a good day.
When I was about 11, after a winding drive to the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, I spewed a path from the restaurant all the way through the casino to the bathroom.
When my kids were younger and the stomach bug hit one, my wife setup a triage on in house for the sick kid – they get their own room & bathroom and the other kid is forbidden to use it. Every time the sick kid pucked, a hazmat cleanup effort was done with bleach and wipes from top to bottom and all linens/clothes promptly washed in the hottest water possible.
Yeah, my 9yo has progressed from puking all over himself in the bed, to coming into our bedroom to tell us he’s feeling sick and then puking all over our bed, to proceeding directly to the bathroom and puking in the general direction of the toilet. Now we just need him to work on his aim.
I laughed because I remembered. It wasn’t funny then and its not funny now but still the memories linger on.
What is a Queen or King or Prince? I Don’t understand those eurotard terms.
I think it’s like “Kardashian” only with more money.
only with more money.
Puhlllease. At least the Kardashians get people freed from prison.
Are we saying the European Kardashians have LESS money than the Kardashians? Or that the Kardashians are more useful?
File this under “Things I didn’t think were possible”
The Kardashians are more useful.
I dunno. Tourism to UK would probably drop by 50% without the monarchial claptrap.
Does getting guilty people freed make them more useful?
The latter.
[golf clap for Mojeaux]
Its like rocket science is hard or something.
Hey at least these engineers kept it from nosediving into the ground.
Brett, I recommend you put the kid in an autoclave for a few hours to sterilize whatever’s infecting him.
What if he has prions?!? autoclaving is insufficient…let’s see.
Option 1. Autoclave at 134°C for 18 minutes in a prevacuum sterilizer.
Option 2. Autoclave at 132°C for 1 hour in a gravity displacement sterilizer.
Option 3. Immerse in 1 N NaOH (1 N NaOH is a solution of 40 g NaOH in 1 L water) for 1 hour; remove and rinse in water, then transfer to an open pan and autoclave (121°C gravity displacement sterilizer or 134°C porous prevacuum sterilizer) for 1 hour.
Option 4. Immerse in 1 N NaOH for 1 hour and heat in a gravity displacement sterilizer at 121°C for 30 minutes, then clean and subject to routine sterilization.
As usual, your solution is more thoroughly researched.
No love for Ethylene Oxide ?
Never met her. Is she hot?
She is very sweet.
She’s Polythene Pam’s cousin so yes?
Option 5. 1000°C for fifteen seconds in a gas-fired crucible.
aka The Big Lachowski
A baby found unharmed matches the description of Broussard’s 3-week-old daughter.
Could have been worse.
.
Additional silver lining: Texas has, and enforces, the death penalty.
*hands in libertarian card. Sorry, but some people just need killing.*
Botched insert:
“pretending to pregnant”
Is that actually a thing or did KVUE oop?
Yes.
Wasn’t there the case where the woman pretended to be pregnant for her Boy Friend, and then lured a girl in and cut out the baby?
WE had a cut-out-baby case here in Colorado…
https://www.cnn.com/2016/04/29/us/woman-who-cut-out-fetus-gets-100-years/index.html
Ugh. At least the mother survived.
Every wannabe baby stealer is a complete psycho, all the way back to King Solomon.
Don’t forget MacDuff was able to defeat MacBeth because “no man of woman born” could ever defeat MacBeth, but MacDuff was “from his mother’s womb untimely ripped”.
p.s. I’m doing the quotes from memory so if I’m off a bit don’t bitch Shakes fans
I am pretty sure that part of the Scottish play meant hea was a c-section birth.
Lay on, FloridaMan, and damn’d be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!
Fargo had a case like that.
And it is totes intersectional because the victim was native american.
Couldn’t they just find a furniture magnate who had quintuplets?
Ahj yes the Arizona Babies
I’m with you on that one. If it means I’m not a real libertarian (and it probably does), then I can live with that. Capital punishment should be very limited in application, but there are certain people who are indisputably guilty of particularly heinous crimes that absolutely deserve death.
“indisputably guilty” has a long history of being a slippery slope.
So does reducing punishments for heinous crimes.
I think when we do perform capital punishment, we should do it publicly. Preferably hanging people.
I’m kind of a fan of shooting or beheading. I think our execution methods have confused less bloody with less painful, and we regard methods that look disgusting as cruel, while far more painful and protracted methods, that are less loud or messy are permitted.
I was watching some trashy TV. I left the TV on when I started dicking around here on the internet. Some cop show came on. I just looked up to see a cop with someone pulled over, giving them the spiel about “how they are” and “they have to do something”. . . .it was obvious bullshit and aggravating.
Gilmore’d . . .Shouldn’t have been a reply.
Well, none of you are actually Libertarians.
The little bit of LA talk radio I’ve heard about the case has been awful. The talking heads proclaimed the husband had killed both and his the bodies. Ignorant assholes.
I used to be very pro death penalty. I have softened dramatically on my support, then a case like this comes up. Your last sentence summarizes it well.
I’ve said before (and surely will say again) the solution is a jury system with a healthy dose of nullification. If you believe someone “just needs killing”.. kill them, if 12 or so of your peers agree you’ll go free, If you fucked up you won’t. The problem with having the state execute people for you is that you don’t have any skin in the game and when the state executes the wrong mother fucker no one is held accountable.
I tend to think the standard should be “beyond a shadow of a doubt” instead of reasonable doubt.
Agreed, but I can’t define that adequately.
I think the purpose of execution should be to deter others from committing murder, not just revenge.
“Yeah it didn’t work but we’re really learning a lot so its not like it was a failure” words to that affect.
You want to learn from your mistakes.
I can’t help wondering what lessons they will learn.
Not enough diversity on the Engineering team.
Mister President, we cannot allow a wine cave GAP!
he’ll…he’ll see the big cheese board!
“I was just tying my shoe, when this clumsy fool tried to plant that ridiculous Camembert on me.”
Well this is interesting. (TW: Powerline (but on Omar, they are doing some of the best reporting around))
Omar is running around talking about how great one particular bill is. She’s issuing press releases telling her constituents about how wonderful the bill is because it contains $1.1B in debt relief for Somalia. Of course, the PR is all about how great this is for Somalia and all her Somalian constituents. The kicker? She voted against the bill and issued a different press release against the bill.
BTW: The bill was H.R. 1158 (“DHS Cyber Hunt and Incident Response Teams Act of 2019”).
Of course a bill named that has $1.1B in it for Somalia. What kind of rube are you that would be surprised to discover that an appropriations bill has all sorts of stupid fat larded into it?
Peak sad beard.
What precipitated that?
Not sure, he deleted basically all of his tweets.
Wow
And not a single person responded in the tweets by calling him SadBeard.
Is that just a Glibs thing, or does he hate it so much that any tweet calling him that automatically gets blocked and deleted?
So he’s finally succeeded at making the world a better place.
Probably about to get eaten alive by his cohorts for something he did 20 years ago.
I guess he can no longer tolerate his seeing signs of his intellectual inferiors everywhere. Courage, Matty.
LOL
You know who else logged off for a while (but did so long ago)?
Dr. Groovus?
Was there every any contact back from him? I’d like to think he’s sitting out on some beach with Mrs. Groovus with high end drinks in hand.
Dr. G and I had begun corresponding before he went quiet. I pinged him several times just asking if he was okay, but got nothing back.
“Heading out to a club with some dude named ‘Hunter’, seriously?, hit you back when I get home. – G-Max”
Dammit, I miss him. And Injun.
And Vhyrus.
Eddie?
LH?
?
Too soon!
(miss you LH and EF)
Ditto
#methree
Twitter being the Internet’s version of the urinal-wall of a seedy dive bar, where people pen random bits of graffiti, how pathetically empty does one’s life have to get so that admitting to enjoying reading and writing that graffiti seems like a good idea?
Is he about to kill himself?
thicc?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-7800417/Demi-Rose-dons-risqu-bikini-sporting-raven-wig.html
icc.
She’s a bit overweight, but not really war crimes level.
She’s not even the least bit overweight. Women are supposed to be curvy. I don’t see any fat on her at all except in the right places. I mean, that’s just me, I don’t like bones too much.
You stepped on my teasing MikeS! and that ass is more plastic than a Barbie.
Maybe it’s just me, but I think you can see the flashing from the mold if you look close…
“EXCLUSIVE: ‘Sometimes an actress is worth more dead than alive.’ Brittany Murphy’s half-brother breaks a decade of silence to blame her ‘accidental’ death on the star’s debt-ridden husband, saying she was killed in a ‘crooked deal gone bad'”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7786733/Brittany-Murphys-half-brother-gives-interview-10-year-anniversary-death.html
I’m still sad that she died.
I have no idea how this jives with the rest of his platform, but yeah!
It’s a fucking lie. If you think the paperwork associated with private health care is bad, just wait until you put the Department of Motor Vehicles in charge of it.
🙁
So he’s not abolishing the income tax either?
No; just income.
What? Disemploy all those bureaucrats? Think it through, gramps.
TBF: true socialists despise bureaucrats (at least in theory).
Well, we are often reminded, stridently, that Bernie is not a “true” socialist, merely the totally harmless “democratic” sort.
So the Red Guards take you to the reeducation camp not the NKVD.
Under the Sanders plan, there will be no paperwork. Just show up, answer a few questions, receive immediate treatment, and then head out for continued relaxing and enjoyable collective farming.
Hahahaha…
“Nobody needs fifteen kinds of diagnostic procedures.”
“No, no paperwork is needed. Please step this way, we need you to take a group shower before we treat you.”
Heh I was going to make an Arbeit macht frei joke but yours is better
Did his father fight the second World War?
High crimes
A Washington state lawmaker took part in “domestic terrorism” against the United States during a 2016 standoff at a wildlife refuge in Oregon and trained young people to fight a “holy war,” according to an investigative report released Thursday.
The report prepared for the state Legislature said Representative Matt Shea, a Republican from Spokane Valley in eastern Washington, traveled throughout the West meeting with far-right extremist groups, condoned intimidating opponents and promoted militia training by the Patriot Movement for possible armed conflict with law enforcement.
——-
The investigative team, headed by a former FBI agent and a former law enforcement officer, was hired in July. The incoming House Speaker, Democratic Representative Laurie Jinkins, said the report had been forwarded to federal prosecutors and the FBI.
The team’s findings, first reported by the news website Crosscut, said: “Investigators obtained evidence that Representative Shea planned, engaged in, and promoted a total of three armed conflicts of political violence against the United States … in three states outside the State of Washington over a three-year period to include 2014, 2015 and 2016.”
The report said Shea “participated in an act of domestic terrorism” when in 2016 he visited the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to support its armed occupation by two sons of rancher Cliven Bundy.
He sounds like a regular Benedict Arnold. Hanging’s too good for him.
“and promoted a total of three armed conflicts of political violence against the United States”
“Promoted,” iow exercised free speech.”
“Armed conflicts of political violence;” much scary words, little meaning.
Against the nation as a whole or some bureaucrats who were overstepping their boundaries?
Why, it’s almost as if he had advocated feeding a federal judge into a woodchipper, or something.
This occurred to me earlier:
Somebody linked a story this morning about a guy in Iowa sentenced to something like fifteen years for a hate crime; burning a rainbow flag.
A couple of days ago, there was a story about an airline mechanic who got three(?) years for “sabotaging” a plane in order to rack up some overtime.
WTF, America?
Some people just need a good spanking.
Nothing like a good spanky
I have that album. I love it.
Madonna did some good stuff.
Fight me.
I’m disappointed that William Shatner never did a cover of “Vogue”.
In his version, every time the dancers freeze-pose, all would have to shout “SHAT !”
Nothing like a good spanky
Indeed.
You meant this- https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/iowa-man-sentenced-15-years-after-burning-church-s-lgbtq-n1105131
I always thought that adding “hate crime” was an enhancement to another crime. I have a rough time believing burning someone’s flag is legit arson.
Then again, what do I know?
https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/712.pdf
I thought flag burning was legal?
I think it has to be your flag. You cant tear down someone else’s and blaze up. At least not in Iowa.
I stole the American flag that was in taters from a business in Nashville and then burned and buried it. Then replaced it a week later late at night with a new flag. How many years in prison do I get?
It’s legal to burn a flag that you own in a safe manner.
Stealing someone else’s… not so much.
Although, frankly, this seems like a misdemeanor to me.
I think he got hit by some sort of “three strikes” bullshit, too.
I find the story delightful only because he managed to piss off a church (from which he stole), the gays (for obvious reasons) and a heterosexual strip-club (the location of the flag burning) in one elegant maneuver. That man’s a stable genius of the highest degree.
If only he managed to work in the blacks, jews, and maybe disabled people, he may be eligible for some type of award.
no mention of women, huh, SHitlerlord?
Wouldn’t the strip club and the alphabet mafia include women?
Sounds like Glibs material.
And there goes my weekend… Change window for maintenance I’m on point for is from 22:45 tonight until 09:00 Sunday. And work announced an “exciting new PTO” plan today.
A day and a half?! You get that back during the week, right?
Officially no. Unofficially, I’m going to take it. I’m working from home the next two weeks anyways.
Meaning you don’t have PTO any more?
They’re giving him a tractor with a PTO hitch
That’d be an increase in compensation, wouldn’t it?
The old system was accrual for PTO (you would get x number of hours every paycheck) with a maximum accrual amount (usually 1.5x what you would earn in a year). You would then get 8 wellness days for the year. The new system kills the accrual, no rollover at all, and it’s now a “guideline”. Meanwhile, your wellness days now accumulate through the year where you get y hours for every z number of hours worked, to end you with 8 days at the end of the year.
Glad I was planning my long vacation next year, and I have the feeling there will be quite a few of those happening.
Home of the brave
A whistleblower at the Transportation Security Administration told CNN this week that officials have prioritized speed over security in U.S. airports, putting American passengers at risk. Jay Brainard, the highest-ranking TSA official in Kansas, said officials at the agency have diminished the sensitivity of metal detectors and disabled technology on some X-ray machines. Brainard said authorities have also issued orders to keep the baggage conveyor belts moving in certain circumstances and instituted policy changes that result in fewer pat-downs. Brainard said he notified the top officials at the agency and other federal regulatory bodies—which were established by Congress after terrorists slipped through airport security to conduct the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and kill nearly 3,000 people—but that little is being done to bolster the security measures. “My biggest fear is having something happen that costs American lives, and I didn’t step up and put a stop to it,” he told CNN. “It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when. We are long overdue for an attack.”
It sure would be a shame if that guy fell ito the intake of a spinning Rolls Royce aircraft turbine.
So, whistleblower discloses damaging information, nation’s airline passengers overwhelmingly pleased with TSA taking these steps.
And despite the fact that they haven’t caught a single terrorist and fail to detect 19 out of every 20 test bombs or guns that their auditors try to pass through the security screen, there hasn’t been a single successful hijacking or bombing of a U.S. aircraft in 20 years.
It’s almost like they are completely superfluous to the process! 😆
That’s a curiously self-serving way to phrase what happened. What a hero.
Buying one-way tickets, bringing stuff that they were legally allowed to possess and taking advantage of a doctrine of compliance with hijackers is ‘slipping past security’? 🙄
The one way ticket is another non-issue. A group that has money to burn on paying for flight schools won’t just buy a round trip ticket next time?
That one never made sense to me. Al Qaeda’s accounting office must be a bunch of real ball busters.
Don’t screw with your travel vouchers!
Yes, because after being unable to meet the bottom line for too long, Al Qaeda in 1999 finally relented and hired Jewish accountants.
They were on track to earn a profit by 2005, oh well.
Today there’s no longer any advantage in buying round trip tickets on most domestic routes. Two one-way tickets are priced the same as a single round trip one.
Correct. But it might get you flagged and SSSS and your boarding pass because they’re all about fighting the last war.
*SSSS on your boarding pass
Never. I fly between Boston and LAX all the time. Almost always on one-way tickets. I’ve never received an SSSS there. Domestically one-way tickets are perfectly normal.
I’ve received an SSSS flying internationally several times, usually when returning to the US. But not very often even though I almost always had one-way tickets for international flights as well. I have other theories why I was flagged.
Been to Istanbul?
I got flagged for a one way BOI-SFO, while I was still in the Guards, but this was back in 2003. I’ve bought one ways since but have always been a bit leery when not able to check in online.
Or rather I should say, I got flagged on that one.
This fall. I had a 20-hour layover in Istanbul: visited Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. Then continued to Prague. On the way back I had a short connection in Istanbul as well. The tickets were booked as two one-way award tickets on Turkish Airlines. No SSSS bs.
I have bought several one way tickets since and got extra screening every fucking time. Idiots.
Hit post too soon. That would be a tragic waste of a perfectly good aircraft engine.
I was going to recommend the GE CF6 engine anyhow.
Go big or go home.
“My biggest fear is having something happen that costs American lives, and I didn’t step up and put a stop to it,” he told CNN. “It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when. We are long overdue for an attack.”
That sounds like domestic terrorism.
98 and never got to be King!
Always a brides maid but never the bride!
Odd that the wife of a King is called Queen Consort, while the husband of a Queen Regnant is called Prince Consort.
“Duke” is more dignified than “Prince” anyway.
Duke of Earl
/Al Bundy
There was a guy in our fraternity in college who couldn’t hold his booze very well, and ended up puking several times.
He became known as the “Duke of Hurl”.
Who is dumb enough to want to be king when you can have all of the trappings and none of the responsibility?
Looks to me like he got lucky.
“It’s good to be king” is bullshit.
+1 sword of Damocles
Hello again, friends.
First let me say how much I appreciate this site. Please remind me: How do I donate? This place has given me thousands of dollars worth of relief.
Anyway, on with the show: this is what happens when people are denied the right of self-defense. [Red Dragon voice] Do you see!? Do you see!?
https://www.foxnews.com/world/england-armed-men-knives-sword-gas-station-manchester
You know you’re in trouble when the villains of Mad Max were more technologically advanced…
https://glibertarians.com/donate/
There is a linky on the sidebar on the right on the top page. Also,
https://glibertarians.com/donate/
Thanks for the reminder, everyone! Just dropped in a little holiday gift.
https://www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/2019/12/multiple-people-stabbed-at-beaverton-shopping-center-police-say.html
I blame Nike.
Beaverton mailing address but they’re not in the city, despite being surrounded on all side thanks to skillful bribing of state legislators.
*looks at Google Maps*
Holy gerrymandering, Batman!
Used to live in the next town over…there is a reason nobody ever stopped in Beaverton (not a pussy refuge) on the way to Portland.
Boeing screws the proverbial pooch. “We didn’t set the timer right.” LAME!
https://spacenews.com/starliner-anomaly-to-prevent-iss-docking/
Coasting on your rep, Boeing.
Last time that happened to me, there were eggs all over the kitchen ceiling
If it is Boeing, we ain’t going
On Monday while driving to work, the top-of-the-hour ABC News radio headlines mentioned the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. The newsreader mentioned that 19 million US troops died in the battle. I can’t find the audio anywhere, but a story on the ABC news website does mention that 19 thousand US troops died. That’s some good newsreading.
I thought it was 19 billion
I was a member of the college radio station back in my college days, reading the news on the morning shift. (I was on the air the day the elder President Bush threw up in the Japanese PM’s lap.) It’s extremely easy to make mistakes like this, although my recollection is that numbers were spelled out in words to try to prevent it.
The wire machine was fucking loud too.
I just assumed some dopey copy writer typed it in without a moment of reflection.
A bike gang took over an area in Catahoula parish some decades ago. Outlaw Bikers of….something….was the name of the gang. They bullied the locals, stole oil from storage tanks, ran a dope trade etc…the usual thug stuff. The last straw was when they started ambushing people on isolated roads and driving them off of the road and in at least one incident raped a woman after doing so.
A week or so after the rape the gang was tootling down one of those isolated rural roads on their way to their lair when they were ambushed by a couple of dozen locals in a hail of buckshot. I don’t remember how many were killed outright in the first few seconds, four or five I think, but the rest were stripped and horsewhipped. Oddly, no one ever found out who any of those locals were. No one seemed to know. To this day it is a mystery.
The bike gangs don’t go to Catahoula parish any more. Ever. At all. They go around it.
Speaking of gangs… it will be interesting to see where this goes.
I am not sure why they make such a big deal out of MS-13. There are dozens of gangs like that.
There is one in Houston operating near where my Step-Mom has her store that is apparently practicing cannibalism and general terrorizing of their territory. No one seems to care, least of all law enforcement.
MS-13 are particularly bad.
They have the spark of divinity.
+1 “I din see nuthin”
Don’t mess with the big dogs of Catahoula.
There used to be signs all over, misspelled and poorly written on boards nailed to trees in the open range days. I remember them well. They all said the same thing: “Shot my hawgs and I will shot you”
They weren’t kidding.
To this day the area between Catahoula lake and highway 8 is considered a place where time stood still in the 1830’s.
I had a pal in high school catch a backside full of rock salt while pilfering lobster pots. Served him right; don’t mess with a man’s livelihood.
“considered a place where time stood still in the 1830’s.”
Sounds awesome. Except for the humidity.
Ozy! What does this mean for the work you have done over the years,
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2019-12-19/military-can-no-longer-avoid-medical-malpractice-claims
The Japanese re-magine Thomas the Tank Engine as a terrifying war machine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q82bGtujFA
Of course they do.
They are just so weird in so many inconceivable ways.
Any of you guys see the new Star Wars yet? Not trying to be a dick if you enjoyed it but…
It’s basically an incoherent and shallow mess. I would say its the end of the franchise but I know Disney will continue cranking out these monstrosities for ages to come. As a fan of the series the whole let’s make this “Transformers with lightsabers” trend has been tough to watch.
On the other hand, the Mandalorian has been fun.
I thought it was ok, but I had low expectations. There were only a couple times I rolled my eyes and said “wtf is this bullshit”
Nathan J Robinson and Rolling Stone – 2 awful things that are even worse together:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D9hD89wxNk
[insert Curb Your Enthusiasm music here]
NJR’s British accent goes bye bye for some reason.
My favorite evil song, by some unexpected voices:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yHQBcUma8I
That was great:) skip the first 2 minutes of applause to get to song.
The circle continues
https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2019/12/judge-revokes-federal-grazing-permit-for-hammond-ranches-inc.html
HUGE if true.
There are reports that Mifsud is dead.
The Clinton Connection?
The CIA/John Brennan connection.
Clinton’s were spotted nearby?
That would be huge. And I love me some Sara Carter.
I got lost in the big brown eyes.
Hello all,
The NASA Response to the rocket failure should be shoved in the face of every reporter commenting on a SpaceX blowup.
As Heinlein once wrote “Blow Ups Happen”.
It’s part of the learning process if your pushing the envelope of design, engineering, or manufacturing.
If your an slow moving and risk adverse group using developed science and engineering, failure should be rare.
“Is Refusing to Date Trans People Transphobic?”
https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2019/12/14/refusing-date-trans-people-transphobic
“No, and please leave this dumb shit in 2019.”
https://twitter.com/MsBlaireWhite/status/1208066396636114944
Tone Lōc hit hardest.
Medina. Cold, funky.
Oh go fuck yourself.
Perfect example of the skin-suiting of “the community”.
Respect my choices but fuck yours.
“Is Refusing to Date Trans People Transphobic?”
There used to be this whole thing about choice. I keep hearing people talking about choice. And that was a good thing. But now I have to date people who I’m not attracted to? This shit is going to blow up in their faces in spectacular fashion.
“Flirting with co-workers helps reduce stress, study says
Well-received workplace flirtation that doesn’t veer into sexual-harassment territory is linked to positive, stress-relieving feelings, new research suggests — calling into question restrictive company policies on employee interaction in the #MeToo era, researchers said.
“When flirtation is enjoyed, it makes the recipient feel good about themselves — it makes them feel attractive, included and powerful,” lead study author Leah Sheppard, an assistant professor of management at Washington State University, told MarketWatch. “These are all psychosocial resources that lead to the reduction of stress.””
https://nypost.com/2019/12/19/flirting-with-coworkers-helps-reduce-stress-study-says/
https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1207683421557993472
What does handjobs from cute interns do for reducing stress? Asking for a friend.
Is she thicc and wear a beret?
He said cute.
Would.
A raspberry beret?
But is it worth the 95% chance you’ll lose your job?
The answer is . . .sometimes
Many years ago, I banged a coworker repeatedly. Do not regret.
I married one . . .I do regret.
Doh!
Wasn’t always that way. I banged several of my co-wokers and nothing bad happened. Would I do it today? Hell no.
“…workplace flirtation that doesn’t veer into sexual-harassment territory…”
What? Are they running out of witches to burn and trying to lure some more out? Fuck that, I am not stupid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA
“Don’t hookup where you vlookup”
“Not fooling us, HR Narc!”
Lol
“we did not get the orbital insertion burn that we were hoping for”
That’s normally good news
There it is. Had to wait for 39 to get it.
orbital insertion burn
I’m not trained on this technique.
https://twitter.com/kateconger/status/1207775775853699072
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
I’m just gonna leave this here:
https://youtu.be/SCg5VOaNz1s
People were talking about Dr Mudd in an earlier thread. I drive by the Mudd house on the way to the boarding kennel.
Better than Harcourt Fenton Mudd who got stuck living in a cave with a bunch of bitchy robots on curlers.
*in
+ Have you been drinking again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FGgHEKko3E
“We’re looking for the wrong tape of the night Epstein hung himself.
Try and find the video of Nicholas Tartaglione, Epstein’s cell mate, being transferred to another cell PRIOR TO Epstein’s suicide, as was officially claimed.
It does not exist. It never happened.”
https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/1208008142904332288
So, McAfee is soon to shoot himself in the back of the head? I hope his wife and children took out a good insurance policy.
I actually might believe he found a way to shoot himself in the back of the head.
Sure, me too, there always ‘could’ be a Clinton around.
In German, a vulgar way to tell someone to leave you alone is »Fick dich ins Knie!«, which literally means “Go fuck yourself in the knee”.
But that’s not even possible.
For you, maybe.
Who has an orifice in their knee? Srsly?
I mean, other than Hillary.
Anything can be an orifice if you’re brave enough.
+1 popliteal cyst?
Supposedly, Oscar Wilde was into intercrural sex.
“Its like rocket science is hard or something.”
So, Musk is kicking their butt, or what?
Currently drinking a Larceny, neat. I don’t drink quite as much as some here, but this is enjoyable, especially for the price.
I like it, too. Screaming good deal.
“we did not get the orbital insertion burn that we were hoping for”
Hoping for? Hoping? I think I might have a clue what went wrong here.
” Good enough for government work”
They had a 5 year 10 billion dollar budget, so they’ll get it done in 50 years for 100 billion, or maybe not…
1 – *examines hardware* “Does this work?”
2. – ” I hope so”
1. – “You hope? You didnt test it?”
2. – “No, hoping things work in the real world the way they do in your head is far more reliable than empirical testing. Damn dude, you must have gone to school in the dark ages, back before we got all woke and shit.”
* I am joking. The problem actually seems to be Boeing. Over time companies like that become calcified by bureaucracy and function much like governments. When a formerly innovative company begins embarking on regulatory capture to stamp out up-and-comers their funeral is soon to follow.
Well, this is what you get when government cronyism eliminates competition. Take the FDA for example. This is why medicine is pretty much stuck in 50 years ago.
Wrong lube?
First time you hope for the right results.
In production, you expect the right results.
Tomorrow is the company Christmas party (lunch). I really wanted to go to the gun show instead. I’m hoping I can get both in tomorrow, but it’s gonna be tight.
Ours was yesterday, for my biggest client. I was just there anyway, we do ours during normal work hours and there was food. If I actually would have had to go there just for that, forget about it.
The party is when Xmas bonuses are handed out…
Well, shit, if I’m getting money I’ll go.
Dicks. Let me guess, the handout is after the required brown nosing party.
Nah, don’t get me wrong. It’s not a bad event, I’m more bitching about the scheduling conflict than anything.
I’m quite lucky as far as employment goes. Same with most of the people I supervise.
A company Xmas party on a weekend? What kind of dick boss does that? Are you getting paid to be there?
Walk in, hand him a stocking with a lump of coal in it, say merry xmas with as little enthusiasm as possible and leave. Go to the gun show.
I’m the HMFIC, and I’ll be leaving with a weighty envelop full of holiday cheer.
Even the new workers won’t complain when leaving. The only disappointing thing is we do them at dry restaurants these days.
On the weekend? That’s different.
We had ours last Friday because so many people take off during the season. A vendor paid the whole deal, and then took us to a brewery nearby.
So no drinking at the Christmas party? That’s like no anaesthesia for a root canal.
Debate question for deer hunters:
When handgun hunting. jacketed hollow point vs lead flat nose?
Why not a SWCHP?
For deer, JHP. Anything big and tough, hard cast LFN.
What caliber are you using?
Nothing until next year, but usually .44mag. I’ve never actually shot one with the .44. Shot one with a .357, 180 grain lead flat nose a few years ago, but I hit it on the spine, so I never got to see penetration or internal damage.
I have hunted extensively with 44 mag.
I have taken deer and hogs. With Remington core-bond flat soft nose jackets (240 and 265 grain) they perform well on deer, nominally well on hogs. I bagged a 450+lb hog with that but it was a damned lucky shot….60 yards and the bullet hit it right in the eye. The brain cavity was filled with runny jello but the bullet did not exit. I have read about people shooting bear with that and the bullet mushrooms and stops before finishing penetrating fur, skin and fat – never reaching muscle or vitals.
That load performs very well on deer anywhere you hit them.
For the tough critters I prefer the hard cast flat nosed 240 grainers. My loads for them are between 1500 and 1750 fps and will penetrate about 11 inches of hard, dry oak.
The problem with handguns is that HP bullets don’t expand reliably. As an example here are five 38spl bullets I shot day before yesterday and recovered from hard soil. The Speer Gold Dots were a crapshoot and only penetrated about 4-5 inches of soil. The hard cast penetrated 9 inches. You wont have that problem as much with the 44 mag as the velocities are nearly double the 38+P’s, but it can happen.
I once bought a batch of 1000 JHP 44 bullets from an off brand company because the price was too good to be true (check your iron laws). You couldn’t make those expand if they were 2000fps in hard packed wet sand. I shit you not, and I was stuck with them.
Here are the five 38’s
https://postimg.cc/Kk8ZLxX2
That picture is interesting. Thanks for your thoughts on the matter.
44 mag, Jacketed soft nose or HP, inside 150 yards for rifle, handgun ~50 or so yards will kill deer like a lightning strike.
That is my recommendation.
Incidentally, because I know everyone is thinking about it, the most effective self-defense load for 38spl are full wadcutters cast in soft lead loaded up to around 1000 fps. Simple, decent penetration, terminal ballistics starts out as a cookie cutter but quickly mushrooms out to about 3/4 of an inch. And you wont get any of that “You bought special extra killy magical bullets because you were itching to kill someone!” from the DA’s office.
No sir. Just run-of the mill paper shootin’ plain ol’ cheap practice bullets.
Ugh… wifey and kids are driving to Florida in the morning. I’m stuck working all week because a change in management resulted in my vacation days being canceled so I miss both Christmas and my daughter’s 9th birthday. So, bottle of (ri)1, bottles of Sam Smith’s Chocolate Stout, and week alone to g.i. the house and shampoo the carpet.
That sucks. Then again, driving that far with the wife and kids? NY, right? There’s definitely a silver lining in there.
Yeah… it’s a 2 day affair. 12 hours, stay at hotel in the Carolinas, 10 more hours, arrive at in-law’s. I just hate missing her birthday. Also, purchasing fireworks and cartons of cigarettes in freedom loving states.
I’ve read most of my anthology of poems. It was interesting to see that a lot of the things I thought came from classic rock are actually from old poems.
And oh, the political incorrectness! Shakespeare’s first sonnet contains the word “niggarding”, Thank god the SJWs are all lazy, illiterate cretins.
He’s still #Cancelled because white and because old and because demoralizing the West requires dumping on its cultural icons.
I’m thinking of getting a neck tattoo on my ankle. Does that make me a coward?
Why get a tattoo at all?
Ajb is right . . .you need a brand.
Youth+Alcohol+Peer Pressure+Lack of Pussy.
I don’t have tattoos . . but my dating experience recently would indicate tattoo’s are highly desirable among young women.
My tattoos are over 30 years old. My perspective it different.
I’m thinking that young women have adopted the worst traits of young men. Equality!
That says more about your dating choices than it does about tattoos.
NTTIAWWT.
I’d argue that it says more about the potential dating pool for a guy in his mid 30’s.
Ah. well, yeah, that.
*Looks over shoulder at wife, tells her I love you and sigh’s relief*
Prison gets boring, or so I hear.
If I ever got a tattoo, Id get a W on either ass cheek. Then when I bent over, it would spell WOW
Upside down…..MOM
We were in Daytona Beach on a college spring break one year. We had my buddy all drunked up and talked him into getting a tattoo. He was going to get “If you can read this, pucker up” on his ass. But the tattoo parlor was closed (it was like 2am)
Be sure to pick a kanji that makes absolutely no sense.
http://soufoaklin.blogspot.com/2002/09/disgruntled-asian-tattoo-artist-inks.html