For days who actually won…
So stop obsessing and go do something productive!
h/t Tina for the graphic.
Stop following the doom and gloom predictors out there! Turn off the TV, the Intarwebz, and go read a book! We have a lot of options for you!
Sigh…
More medical tests today, and I REALLY need a good night’s sleep!
Go read the folks on the sidebar, they rite gud! 😉
I didn’t have spending 6 hours in the ER last night on my plan for the day…
Severe stomach pain finally drove me to go in. CAT scan with contrast (damn, talk about needing to go pee), two doses of morphine to get the pain down to a manageable level, and sitting/lying down, shifting around to ‘try’ to get comfortable…
But finally got the reading back, Diverticulosis, cyst on a kidney, and a prescription for a strong antacid. And a grump about old veterans that wait until the last minute to come to the hospital.
But they finally let me go, and Lawdog was gracious enough to come drag my ass home.
And yes I’m writing this at one in the morning, because now I can’t get to sleep… sigh
For the win!!!
We have a confluence of folks this weekend and last night’s supper was one of those…times…
It was Cedar’s turn to cook, but we were looking at between 18 and 20 people showing up, so her house wasn’t big enough (frankly, neither is mine, but we can shove ’em in)…
Country food for the win!
Smoked/broiled chickens, taters, stuffing, and corn with bacon! Plus gravy, rolls, etc… And yes, we ate off plastic, with plastic knives and forks because I only have 12 place settings… sigh… But nobody complained! Yay!!!
And people… OMG, people! We ended up with, I think, 19 for supper! Writers, artists, aspiring (all of the above), and others, plus a few guests from out of town. So we had the big table, the ladies table (yes, they chose it because the chairs are shorter), and the outcast (we ate in the kitchen, BONUS, we were closer to the food)…
And there were appetizers, and cakes for dessert, so nobody went hungry, and those who couldn’t make it got take out. The few leftovers were grabbed (for some reason I see chicken soups in the future).
As usual, the conversations ran the gamut of writing, cooking, guns, plotting, scheming, and lord knows what else… The women got off by themselves, and ‘I’ went in the other direction!
We’ve also planned the next North Texas Troublemakers supper, and I’ll be making reservations for it, planning on the last Saturday in January. More to follow on that.
Thanks to those who helped clean up, and it was off to bed early after a FULL day, and getting outshot at the range by a gurl…LOL
But I did let a couple of younger guys have a go with the Colt Python and they were squeeing like a couple of teenagers…LOL. At least they didn’t try to buy it!
With a new trick…
Voyager 1 continues to amaze. After 47 years, having crossed together with its twin into interstellar space, you’d think the spacecraft would stop surprising us. No chance. The probe had another glitch in the last few weeks that caused a loss of communication, but it managed to find a fix all by itself using hardware that had not been used since 1981.
Full article HERE, h/t Stretch.
The funny part is, this was done by Voyager on it’s own!
After all this time, that it and its twin are still working at all is a testament to not only the programmers, but also the builders who put the crafts together.
And this was done basically by slipstick and manual calculations and engineering, as computers were just coming into their own. So elegant math, possibly hand drawn blueprints, and no CNC machined parts.
THAT is a tribute to the old school types that designed them, built them, tested them, and sent them on their way…
I’m not sure, even with the technology available today, these feats could be duplicated. It seems much of the ‘math’ today is brute forced by the scientists/engineers with multiple iterations on massive computers, CNC machined parts, assembled by techs who have no loyalty to their companies, and everyone in the entire process looking for the next pay raise.
Sigh…
You’ve just got to have a bit of humor…
October 31 is an important holiday. No, I’m not talking about Halloween, although any holiday that involves eating candy is worth celebrating. Instead, I’m talking about Reformation Day.
On Oct. 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany. It was the culmination of years of wrestling with theology for the law student turned Augustinian monk. That act eventually led to Luther’s excommunication and a new path for believers to worship and pursue theology as they saw fit.
Luther saw a Catholic Church that was desperately in need of reform. The authority of the clergy had taken precedence over scripture, and church leaders kept the Bible out of the language of the people, thus making them dependent on priests to learn what God’s Word said. But the most egregious abuse of power he saw was in the system of indulgences.
Full article, HERE.
Martin Luther effectively ‘saved’ the church in many folks opinions, but at least one wag had a little fun with it, considering that it was Halloween…
And the pumpkin with Luther’s face for those who didn’t ‘get’ it is a nice touch!
I’m also betting the homeowner was not home, which is why they did it… LOL
And speaking of fun… an ‘interesting’ photoshop, make of it what you will…
And this mess will be done…
Except for the lawsuits we all know are coming…
Sam, over at Ammo.com sent an interesting little report about guns and gun ownership in the US.
Report Highlights:
Link HERE to the complete report.
Now I will grant you that ‘some’ folks have more than 2 guns. Some folks have a lot more.
Now the ammunition numbers are even more nebulous, with some claiming over one TRILLION rounds of ammo in the US alone. While that may seem like a lot, if 500 million guns have an average of 15 rounds per, that’s 1.5 BILLION rounds alone.
With 22 million CCP’s we’ve come a long way since Georgia in 1976. I got my first CCP in 1987 in Florida. And I remember an article in the WAPO back in the late 90s when a criminal was interviewed about robberies, and his ‘preferences’ were DC (no carry, very little ownership), MD (no issue), and he stayed out of VA (shall issue) “Because he didn’t want to get shot!” And the FBI statistics proved that out with homicides and violent crimes against people.
The other thing you STILL hear is anytime there is a change or loosening of concealed carry, or permitless carry from the left and MSM is the “There will be blood in the streets!” calls/headlines.
Funny how that doesn’t seem to ever happen…
The continual attempts to crack down on weapons, bans, etc. have turned many gun owners into scofflaws, as witnessed by the ‘compliance’ with the NY Safe Act, and Connecticut registration laws where the compliance is guessed to be around 10%.
One thing that does bother me is that few folks actually go practice with their weapons. They are not magic wands that will keep you safe if you don’t know how to actually use them, and keep them clean!
Kicking the soapbox back in the corner now…
Apparently not ‘everybody’ in Europe is in favor of ‘green’ energy…
The link to the X post is HERE.
The guard fires are lit!
Much like what we are finding here, the wind farms don’t produce as expected, they ruin the landscape, and are in the migration paths of birds.
Sound familiar???
Personally, I don’t think I want to piss off the Vikings.
Just sayin…
Why ask why???
How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?
Why do you have to ‘put your two cents in’.. But it’s only a ‘penny for your thoughts’? Where’s that extra penny going to?
Once you’re in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?
Why does a round pizza come in a square box?
What disease did cured ham actually have?
How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
Why is it that people say they ‘slept like a baby’ when babies wake up like every two hours?
If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?
Why are you IN a movie, but you’re ON TV?
Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?
Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They’re going to see you naked anyway.
Why is ‘bra’ singular and ‘panties’ plural?
Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?
If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?
Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane ?
If the professor on Gilligan’s Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can’t he fix a hole in a boat?
Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They’re both dogs!
If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn’t he just buy dinner?
If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?
If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
Do the Alphabet song , Bah bah Black Sheep, and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?
Why did you just try singing the songs above?
Why do they call it an asteroid when it’s outside the hemisphere, but call it a hemorrhoid when it’s in your butt?
Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog’s face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?
H.Y. Gregor has the first in a new series out, – Reka’s Grasp
As always, click on the cover for the Amazon link!
The blurb-
The devil lies in still waters.
Grad school applications are Nikita Baird’s biggest problem—until a friend dies in her arms after a sinister accident. Rusalka and Baba Yaga were just fairy tales—until they aren’t. Soon Niki can’t deny the truth. Something inhuman lurks in the river.
Worse, her own roommate just might be the killer.
Ryan Fortner, Crypto Division, works alone since his partner died on their last case together. Now he needs Niki’s help, even if he doesn’t want it. Together they plunge into a realm of shrouded histories, dredging up more than just folklore.
Niki and Ryan must navigate the currents of myth, tragedy, and redemption to stop the drownings—before the river’s grasp can’t be broken.
This is going to be an interesting series!!!
Next is Pam Uphoff with the 12th in her Chronicles of Fall series- Bad Cop
The blurb-
“There was a shield piercing Impression on the bullet. Karl had a shield up, too, and it wouldn’t have stopped that bullet.” A faint snort. “I think he’s a little indignant that the ‘Bad Cop’ saved him.”
Police Captain Lord Daniil Ambrose Vinogradov grinned. “As opposed to the Good Cop? I’m afraid that when it comes to double teaming on a suspect, the role of Bad Cop does come rather easily to me. And Nix is a damn good cop.”
“Ah. I thought you two disliked each other?”
“We’re rivals for the next promotion, and, well, I am more aggressively ambitious and less well mannered. Or to be less polite, a ladder-climbing asshole.”
As the attack on the 300, the Government Council, leaves the Three part Alliance without leadership, a runaway teenager leads a police detective deep into trouble, and romance.
And last but certainly not least, Holly Chism with the fourth in her Liquid Diet Chronicles- Meals on Wheels
The blurb-
Not by the (nonexistent) hair on her chinny-chin-chin…
Meg Turner, vampire, accountant, ruler of her own small territory. Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Not if you ask her, it doesn’t. Because the world’s going mad, the idiot mortals in charge are forcibly shutting down the economy without the understanding that it won’t start up again as easy as it’s going down, nor that it’s creating a nasty blood shortage for hospitals, much less vampires.
Even better, the head of her line is invading her dreams again, and teaching her history of all things. And teaching her about the laws, and why they’re there. It’s not just to avoid being noticed by humans capable of staking, beheading, and burning vampires during daylight hours—a vampire that breaks fundamental laws turns into something worse than a vampire.
And she’s got a bunch of those knocking at her border, wanting to come in. Worse yet, they’re sending their day-help into her territory to kidnap their meals, and they keep mistaking her for prey. And leaving their discarded empties in her territory to make it look like she’s draining humans without concern for the laws.
This really isn’t looking good, and it’s really not safe for her still-living friends and family.
I was proud to be a beta reader for this one!
And a couple of pics of a local hot rod…
70 Nova, with a LOT of work done, and a cagey owner about what power it has… But it’s HEALTHY!
