So Much for H'ween Blogging

Woken up by my own snoring on the easy chair, Sunday Night Football running, very watery Rum and Coke in the glass. Front porch light not on...neighborhood kids probably soaping my truck--screw it. Might be an hour of trick or treating left. I can eat that chocolate in a week. Chicago Bears are running well. Another nap beckons. No body wants to see my Saddam Hussein outfit anyway.

Sunday Ferret Blogging 31 Oct

Ripley was known as the "Propaganda Ferret," a sweet, docile thing named after the heroine in the Alien movies. She was the only ferret I've seen fall asleep on someone's lap. She's been responsible for several people getting ferrets, hence the nickname. That said, among other critters, she was the Alpha Ferret and let them know it. Nessie, her cagemate, was built like an East German shot putter, but knew her place when little Ripley imposed her will. Ripley and Nessie often worked together to ensure the floor was cleared of cats when they were loose. Cats learned the Air Force axiom, Altitude is Life.

Hospitality, Texas Style

I have never experienced a picnic or shindig better than those hosted in the Lone Star State. Be it a Chili Cookoff in San Angelo, or the San Antonio red carpet treatment for the best in Air Intelligence, Texas really knows how to party. Blackfive has an account of Houston's support to the US Marines in Iraq for the upcoming USMC birthday. Rock on!

Carnival of Lights

Benjamin at Reasonablenut has a good link roundup of tactical lights and their uses. My first night gun was the G23 (center) with night sights. Okay for aiming in low-light conditions, but not so good for target identification. I eventually got a handheld Surefire (bottom) to complement it; it's an old model Glock frame with no accessory rail and there were no holsters on the market to accomodate an attached light anyway. The Fobus holster shown is what I use for competition and open carry.

I bought the G22 (top) to save wear and tear on my carry gun which I'd been shooting in IPSC. It had the old railless frame too until I slapped that on a Mektek carbine upper and bought a railed frame, intending to mount a light on it. While my best friend keeps a setup like this as his nightstand gun, I still keep the G23 and Surefire handy for that. My G22 project was inspired by the diabolical stage designers of last year's Superstition Mountain Mystery 3-Gun Competition. One of the carbine courses included a wood frame house completely enclosed in black plastic. There was barely enough ambient light inside to see the targets...rushing in from the bright daylight outside? Forget it! I resolved to have some kind of light on each weapon in case they tried this next year. I sometimes pack the G22 openly in the new Fobus holster when I'm driving at night, keeping a conventional flashlight handy for non-Red Alert moments, because I can't dismount the M-3 while the gun is secured in the holster.

I took the little Surefire with me on my last tour to Korea (locking everything else up in the safe until my return). That's a handy thing to have. When you can't pack heat, pack light.

Russ Vaughn's "The Question"

The Question

The question you must ask yourself
As you head off to your poll,
Is who you trust to lead us now
That survival is our goal.
We tread the path of Jihad’s wrath,
Where misstep could spell doom,
And future times of horrid climes,
In Holocaust’s gray gloom.

What then again I’ll ask of you,
Should be our true agendas,
Privilege and prosperity
Or ways to best defend us?
Affluence won’t concern us much,
Other problems will confound us,
When our cities lie in smoking ruins,
With destruction all around us.

What sort of man I ask you now
Do we really want to lead us?
A nuanced pol, who talks and talks,
While Jihadis grimly bleed us?
Or a fighter, who will walk the walk,
Take the battle to them there,
Force their hand and make them stand,
Destroy them in their lair?

This veteran says let’s fight them there;
Lure all those fanatic fools,
To where they face armed fighting men,
Not children in their schools.
I know how I shall vote this time,
I’ll vote to win this war;
Not to let John Kerry lose it,
As he did mine long before.

Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne DivisionVietnam 65-66

To John F'ing Kerry

To the biased Liberal Legacy Media, the Left-Wing Moonbats of the Democrat Party, to Jacques Chirac, UK Gaurdian, and the UN Kleptocracy:

Here's to you.

(NQWS)

Hat tip: Countertop

The New Catalog's Here!

Kim du Toit, the Godfather of GunBloggers, shares my enthusiasm for the Cabela's Christmas Catalog. I've been agonizing over getting a pair of those beautifully functional-looking Uberti "Millenium" revolvers. What's stopping me?
a. I don't have anything else in .45 Colt, even reloading dies.
b. I haven't felt social enough to try Cowboy Action Shooting even with the equipment I already have.
c. My cartridge belt loops won't take .45s.
d. I'm a bit under-employed at the moment.

Neither of these conditions have ever stopped me from making impulsive purchases before, so we'll see....

God Bless America

Did Scott Stapp just sing "...Land that I Loathe"?

Later: the Red Sox win! Now who phones in first? Their President or their faux-fan Senator?

"Golden Age for the Boston Red Sox?" With all those free agents? Nuh-uh!

Next year, the Cubs kill the Goat.

Why Does the Left Fear the Draft?

Warning: caffeine-induced bad humored rant follows:

Hey, Moonbat, what could be so bad about a military draft? If circumstances got so dire that the Selective Service actually started Selecting, you have nothing to worry about. You can easily get a Backdoor Draft Deferrment, that is, reach out to one of your gay friends and take it up the Backdoor and get excused for conduct nonconducive to military service. Get pictures, so the draft board'll believe you. What? Too straight for that? Got something against gays? Are you really a Liberal Democrat, or just trying to get into some liberal chick's pants? Can't you just take one for the Flipper?

What about Canada? That's where most of the Vietnam-era dodgers went. That's a Socialist's Paradise, so you'll fit right in there. Cheap health care, French accents, minor-league hockey, almost everyone thinks like you do...what else could you ask for? All you have to do is put your life on hold for a few years until another weak-kneed Democrat takes office and offers amnesty. Happens all the time.

Another option is to head for the hills! Unfortunately, your only woodcraft consists of handcuffing yourself to a tree to prevent lumberjacks from doing their job or harassing hunters in protest. Forget about finding someone to help; all the woodsmen and hunters went and enlisted at the first call-up. Errrr...is that bear shit?

But whatever you do, don't shuffle into the induction center with an attitude like yours. I want motivated, red-blooded Americans protecting my family, not some whiny, foot-dragging malcontent who wasn't even smart enough to stay in college. I've met some draftees who stayed in the military long after the draft ended. They first had to have a fire lit under them by cranky, hard-living men of skill and bravery. The ones who stayed had a fire lit within them, a fire that burns hotter and longer than the butt-scorching variety. If you Fahrenheit (Butt##) is that much lower than your Fahrenheit (Heart##), maybe you'd be better off freezing your Butt in Canada.

A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

John Stuart Mill

Lileks Fantasizes Kerry Win!

Read today's Bleat!

Just Because They're All Out to Get You....

Varifrank has a great essay up on conspiracy theories.

Let’s face it; George ruined a lot of people’s plans, a lot of very powerful peoples plans. He broke a lot of rice bowls. The UN had a sweet deal going in Iraq until he came along and screwed it up for everyone. France had a sweet deal, 100 billion in oil contracts, weapons systems, infrastructure development. Germany had her hands in the Mesopotamian pie too, right up to her elbows. Russia was face down in the slop.

They gave us Afghanistan, they could hardly say no, but Iraq was always off limits. Once George decided to go into Iraq, the gloves came off. From that point on, George has made himself the target of a lot of people who made their living and kept their accounts in balance with the haul of cash made fencing the goods for Saddam and his family band of mad pirates.
Why?

He'll tell you why.

Give it Up for the Congo!

Forty thousand women and girls have. Beck at INCITE highlights the largest nation in Africa and influentual UN member...and reason why I think we should just load the whole UN Building onto the Glomar Explorer and ship it to the Azores.

Ah, those zany, fun loving Congolese! Of course, you may be thinking, "But that nation can't possibly be important enough to have any sort of real influence on the United Nations and, by implication, American foreign policy under a Kerry administration." As the French would say, "au contraire," which translates to either, "on the contrary," or, "I surrender!" depending on context. The DR of the Congo has all sorts of relevance in the United Nations. Just have a look at the committees of which it is a member:

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization

The United Nations Refugee Committee (on the Executive Committee)

United Nations Industrial Development Organization

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

International Atomic Energy Agency (You know, the people responsible for keeping states like North Korea and Iran from developing The Bomb).

Read more.

Or Maybe a Smiley Face!

:)
Nobody takes a blogschtick and runs with it like the Commissar at Politburo Diktat. Hey, slow down! You can trip and put an eye out with that! Today, the Caustic Comrade took aim at the vitriolic comments coming from Left that would be fightin' words a century or two ago and offers a solution:

Incredibly, some ill-informed, humor-challenged Repugnicans cannot tell when Lefties are "kidding," or displaying "humour." They claim that in statements like "Bush is worse than Hitler, so let's kill him," it's just hard to tell where the humor starts. Or, following unprecedent pre-election violence and statements like, "If all the votes are counted, we (the Dems) will win," Ms. Edwards' bon mot sounds like a veiled threat.

Here's a suggestion. Use (*k) when you're kidding, (*s) when serious. Like this: "Bush is the worst fucking President ever (*s). Send him back to Crawford, Texas (*s). He's worse than Hitler (*s). He's a war criminal, responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocents (*s). There's really no difference between him and Hitler (*s). He should be shot (*k)." Isn't that better?

RTWT.

Gunsmoke

The only black powder firearm I own is an Italian copy of the Remington 1858 New Army .44 revolver. I'm sure some guys get off tamping down the minie ball down their muskets in their Zoauve uniform splendor, but the last time I touched a single-shot weapon, I was a penniless high school student stalking tin cans and woodchucks with Dad's Sears .22 rifle. (Well, there was the TC Contender in .45-70 that I fired twice, but that's a different story.) Out here in AZ, there's not much opportunity for Revolutionary War reenactments, but plenty of cowboy sports and even a Civil War bunch at Picacho Pass. At the range or plinking in the desert, I remain a faithful devotee to the axiom "anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice." This is where the .45-70 gets a pass as the exception. I don't want to fire that one ever again.

The cap-and-ball revolver revolutionized warfare and self-defense by multiplying the firepower an individual could wield. As a battle weapon, it screams for a place in my collection, but which one to get? The Cabela's catalog was my shopping grounds and Google fuelled my decision-making. A majority of Civil War images I found where a pistol was proudly displayed, it was a Remington. On top of that, further research material lauded the Remington's top-strap strength and ease of reloading. And I could get one for less than $200 (except that I sprang for the extra cylinder and BP starter kit). Decision made.

If I decided to get another BP wheelgun, which would it be? Either another '58 NA or a Walker Dragoon .44 just to have.

For other Civil War goodies: if I'm ever wealthy, maybe a Sharps carbine or Henry Rifle.

BTW: Does anybody have a clean scan of the Far Side cartoon in my banner? I have no XP driver for my ancient Epson scanner, so I tried working off a photo. Bad idea. All Hail Gary Larson.

Worst Case Scenario

Neanderpundit thinks the unthinkable and opines what the country will be like if JFnK gets the job.

Terrorisim will no longer be a war. it will be a law enforcement issue. Kerry has made this very clear. So, when that carbomb takes out the disco where your daughter is partying, or the school your son attends is taken hostage and all the schoolkids are killed, or when the haberdasher's shop down the street is burned to the ground, kerry will make every effort to find those people, and prosecute them. Oh, some shyster lawyer will make a name for himself getting themost of the terrorists off, but that's ok. The billions he will take away from the intelligence community will more than pay for their legal defenses. And there will be plenty, because they want to kill us all. hell, everyone knows that, and dammit, they deserve to kill us all. it's their religion, after all.
We need to be sensitive to that.

There's more.

BestDamnSmackDownPeriod

Been surfing the KorBlogs and found Incestuous Amplification's profane but funny smackdown of a Yankees fan. IA claims to have retired from blogging, but after this, the pressure for him to remain is already mounting.

Hat tip to Marmot's Hole, Smackdown Ground Zero.

American Warmonger

Here's a guy who gets it:

But there were no WMD!: There were WMD in Iraq. Not nuclear WMD but chemical WMD and ranged WMD. If you can remember back to the first days of the ground war you'll remember the first missile fired was a SCUD aimed at Kuwait. A SCUD is a banned weapon, as was the Al Sammud II missiles that they said they did not have...until we found them and forced them to start destroying them. The first SCUD fired was rumored to have a chemical warhead. This was found out by radio transmission interception. It was later found out, when we picked these guys up, that they were too scared to handle the potentially leaky chemical warheads and opted for the explosive head instead. These were WMD and proof the inspections did not work. After the, ahem, peace was won we discovered something that absolutely wasn't chemical weapons. It was only barrels upon barrels of pesticide, concentrated enough to cause people to have chemical like effects in several cases (see: foaming at the mouth and shaking violently on the floor), in ammunition dumps, next to empty rocket shells. But this was only for agricultural purposes so I digress.

For more, click here.

Lies, Lies, Lies

"I was in Cambodia..."
"I served two tours in Vietnam..."
"I ran the Boston Marathon..."
"I bagged an eight-point buck..."
"I met with the whole UN Security Council..."
"I have a plan."

Update: Jay Tea at Wizbang has more.
Update: SmarterCop has a pretty good roundup.

Niece Blogging

Of four siblings, my baby sister was the only one who decided to procreate, so it feels odd that I'm an uncle now that I've reached the ripe old age I am. Now I gotta do the proud uncle thing and show the pictures, kind if like I did with her mother's pics when I was in Basic Training. "Is that your little girl?" "Yup, she's my little sister!"

Scary Terry Kerry

Heh.

My Favorite Comedian...

Has a man's hand stuck up his ass. Now Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, takes a poop on the pundits at Spin Alley after the third Presidential Debate. Tom Simpson has the link to the MOV.

Hat tip to Treacher

Ferret Blogging 24 Oct

I brought Coco home right after I moved into my new house. Gracie wasn't living in my bathroom any more and had lots of room to share in her new room. For some reason, they liked to nest in the second floor of some stackable storage containers.

Guffaw!

I'm rooting for the Sox in the World Series only so they'll shut up about the Curse of the Bambino forever...that, and since I've grown a beard, Johnny Damon is almost as handsome as I am. mASSBACKWARDS is a bit more partisan on the issue. Stop by and see whether they have a prayer of winning.

Howdy!

Here I am, sittin' around the mesquite campfire with my laptop and a frosty cup of rum and diet coke, watching the purple Sonoran sky fade to purpler. Oh, the blessed solitude in my little corner of the Blogosphere! But wait! Is that a coyote in bushes? No, it's some other critter, blogging at Cactus Road. Looks like he started his blog at the same time I did, but he's got lots more bells and whistles...and ads! You mean, I could make money doing this? I'll have to look into that. Don't think he's seen me yet...gonna clear my throat behind this rock so's I don't startle him. He's probably armed. Sounds absolutely Republican--could be one o' them Libertarians, not that there's anything wrong with that....

Hat tip to The Royal Flush, another fine blog.

Say It Aint So, Joe

The Iowa Hawkeyes beat the Penn State Nittany Lions 6-4 in Happy Valley today. What were they playing...baseball? As much as I love Joe Paterno, I think it's time to give him a nice cushiony seat up in the stands. Five turnovers! Maybe his replacement can convert Linebacker U. into a team that can play offense. Balance, Joe.

Dear Guardian

Dear Guardian Unlimited,

First, you try to influence our Presidential election with a letter-writing campaign, now you're calling for the assassination of our President? Charlie Brooker is a toddler snacking from his own diaper. Asshats like him remind us that although your country might be our best friend in the world, Britain is gradually sinking into the moonbat fever swamps. You really need to close off that Chunnel, the fumes from France are going to your heads.

Sincerely,
[my name]
A Citizen, Not a Subject
Tucson, Arizona, USA

Update: I didn't ask for an apology or retraction, since I think they're incapable of doing the right thing. To give them a piece of your mind, write to reader@guardian.co.uk

"Big Breasts" and Body Armor

The Questing Cat, blogging from the Sharp End, tells a gripping tale of his experience as a Combat Lifesaver.

We get to the dust-off point. We get him out of the vehicle, I and a staff sergeant from CA sit with him, and I am assessing him in my head, trying to figure out what is wrong with him. He can't lay down because too much blood is going down his throat. Probably too much blood getting into his airways, keep him upright. Urgent Surgical, Lacerations to the face, possible loss of eyesight, lacerations left and right shoulder, shrapnel entrance wounds, scrape left leg. I am cutting away his uniform with a knife he gave me. Exposing his wounds, seeing how bad it might be. Other than on his face, none are terribly serious. His face scares the shit out of me. Out of my mouth are constant comfort and jokes and bullshit and anything I can think of. I am even telling him not to worry and telling him what I see. He is drowning I am describing the water.

WHERE THE FUCK IS THE CHOPPER?

Read the rest. Hat tip to Trying to Grok again.

"Al Pieda" Strikes Close to Home

A couple of local lefty goons put a custard-cream hit on the First Lady of the VRWC, Ann Coulter, during her speech at the U of A today. A police officer wrestled down one piester while the crowd cornered the other. Did they think an audience coming to see AC would meekly stand by to an act of tart terrorism? Along with a few misdemeanor charges they face, one felony charge resulting from damage to the "muslim scrim" set background might ensure they never wield anything more deadly than a pie again.

h/t Protein Wisdom

Ghoulish Traffic Report

At This Blog is Full of Crap.

"Mekong Delta Blues"

Johnny Cash is having a zombie brainlock moment; he doesn't know whether to spin in his grave or render a supernatural belly laugh. When it comes to political heavy lifting, I get my analysis from Captain's Quarters, and so should you. He's got a link to an MPEG from "Sons of the Blogosphere" turning the Man in Black's Folsum Prison Blues into a parody of Kerry's miserable excuse for a campaign.

I hear that swiftboat comin', it's comin' 'round the bend, I ain't had my head above the railing since I don't know when

I'm stuck in the Mekong Delta,and time keeps draggin' on
But that Purple Heart collection is gonna get me home

Check it out.

And Now, For Something Completely Different

My graphics entry for the Truth Laid Bear Blogburst.

You do have the latest Macromedia Flash player, don't you?
%&*&%, where's that link?

Okay, 2K!

I didn't expect to get 2,000 visits until next month, but thanks the ongoing Mudslide, an AOL user visiting from Twisted Spinster put me over the mark. If I didn't have ice-water* running through my veins, I'd be giggling like a school girl over all the attention. Thanks for visiting and pointing out another site that has linked me. I'll have to mosey on over and see just how twisted the old gal can be.

*Hydrating from blood donation yesterday. Give blood!

The Good, the Bad, the Waffler

I prefer to ride alone.

But if I wouldn't run George W. Bush off if I was riding into Bad Country. In fact, I'd be honored to have the man watch my back in any seedy shantytown in the Third World.

He's got steel in his backbone, and a steady gunhand, even when things are gonna get Ugly. And though I don't take much to churchfolk, the good man's faith in a Higher Being has seen him through tough scrapes that would have broken a lesser man.

Now...that Kerry fellow...he just plain creeps me out.

I rode with a fellow like him once. Tuco would sell his brother for a bag of pesos and a bottle of whiskey, just like Kerry sold his Brothers for a Lefty political career. Now, if I was George, I'd make a noose out of Kerry's lies, flip-flops, and moonbattery...string it over a tree limb, and tighten it around that low-life's neck. Then, I'd stand him up on his extremely rickety credibility and ride off with the 2004 Presidency in my saddlebags.

Just as a I ride to the crest of the hill, the "gentlemanly" thing to do would be to shoot the rope.

But seein' as how this has been a vicious campaign, with lots of shots fired, and ya know...I don't really remember if I've reloaded since the last fight. Wonder if the punk'll feel lucky....

My entry in the Truth Laid Bear Blogburst: Heroes for Bush.

In the BONEyard for Halloween

The guys at AMARC don't like it when you call their inventory the "Boneyard." These are aircraft "put up on blocks" here in the arid desert to preserve them for the future (there are neighboring scrapyards that disembowel the dead aircraft). AMARC aircraft can be reanimated, much like zombies, only a lot better. They might be tired airframes used as a source of spare parts or they might be fresh off the assembly line, but the services don't have the resources to fly them all. This is the first year I've noticed the B-ONEs here.

Mudslide!

In the time it took me to give blood, pick up baseball munchies at the commissary, and come home, I got three and a half pages of this! Some folks even hung around the saloon for a while. Many thanks to Greyhawk for putting in a good word. Keep safe, sir.

Update: About 150 Mudville Gazetteers as of 19:30 MST. Blogger froze up for a while, obscuring my sidebar-thingy. Thanks for stopping by!

Ouch!

Tonight I realized that my ferrets, Lenny and Squiggy, had never had peanut butter, something my first ferrets, Gracie and Coco, relished as a snack. Well, I put a small dab on two fingers and Squiggy just stuck his nose into it, unimpressed. Lenny, on the other hand, licked furiously, then BIT! across my forefinger, fortunately, not hard enough to draw blood, but barely so. I tested his determination by raising my finger to eye level (ensuring he had a soft landing area in case he quit), but he just stayed clenched on my finger, hanging there. I finally scruffed him and extracted my finger, smeared his nose with the rest of the PB, and released him.

Fortunately, I didn't have to run to the Emergency Room and miss tonight's Mail Call from Afghanistan!

"Armored Cowboys"

Greyhawk of the Mudville Gazette is deployed to the Sharp End. His words and pictures evoke visions of a simpler, rougher, and more deadly existence in the Old West.

The sidewalks of my dusty town are made of wood and blood, rising up above loose sands to ease the burden of walking armored from point A to B. Here where the sidewalk ends a man not long ago a boy stands vigil in a slapped-together shack; at the sound of heavy boots on wood he rises and renders greetings. Return that greeting with a smile and present your bona fides, nod and sincerely wish a good day as he waves you on.

Read the rest.

Homeless Index Increases

By 1.5 beers. Farm Accident Digest explains.

Expen$ive Kerry$

Countertop at the Countertop Chronicles makes a point I hadn't thought of. If John Faceofahorse Kerry gets elected, we (the taxpaying public) are going to have to pay for Secret Service protection for every one of his residences! And tell me he won't raise taxes...he'll have to!

Update: Snopes debunks this as false! I stand corrected...maybe that's why I hadn't thought of it before! Don't worry, Countertop, I'll still read ya! Thanks to Mike D. for the correction!

Update update: Countertop is turning a mean eye towards Snopes to see they they may have vaulted the mako.

Only Compact a Man Should Carry

Unless it's a pistol, that is.

Relevant story via Blackfive and hundreds of others.

Rock Quack?

No, ROK WAC. Or the Japanese idealized Korean female soldier. I don't read Japanese, but I know anime cheesecake gun pr0n when I see it. The caption describes the weapon she's holding and other unintelligible (to me) Japanese things. The site maintains this disclaimer in English:

I has no sympathies with any Nazi Faascist or other neo political/military parties past or present.

Elsewhere, on the page marked joshi, you get a menu of unlabeled thumbnails which I painstakingly investigated on my slow dial-up connection. A taste:
Tobira holds a Type 64 assault rifle.
Geckou is flying an RC model plane.
Taiki is armed with an AK-74.
Sweet Midori holds up an M-16. Check out the doofus behind her.
Asakura sports a Minimi squad automatic weapon.
Bikini-clad Chou holds a Remington XP-100 used by the DEA.
Ryouhei has a stick-grenade in her web belt.
Vietnum (not her name?) holds an AR-18
Sitotu gets all medieval with a Janaese katana.

There are several more rows of thumbnails featuring more weapons and uniform styles, including WWII Afrika Korps and JASDF. My well of generosity is parched now. Check out the rest yourself.

Sunday Ferret Blogging

Jon once brought Mooglie and Rustle (middle left) down for a slumber party with the boys. Their relationship can be summed up in three stages; for the first two, Lenny and Squiggy were their hyperactive, leap-and-attack selves:

1. Ignore the little ones. Maybe they'll go away. Where's the food? Look! Tunnels!
2. That's it kid! I'm mopping the floor with ya!
3. Nap time!

Gloom, Despair, and Agony

Varifrank gets out of the house more than I do. Check out his take on the sorry-ass economy George Bush has wrought.

Live Blog Halloween!

This year, instead of sitting in the dark with the stereo headphones on, I intend to Live Blog the little trick-or-treaters that dare my doorstep! For your entertainment, I'll interview the kids about their costumes, document who got what candy, and make sure that I get pics of the hot-looking moms in the background.

This plan is null and void if I happen to get invited to a party that night.

Then I'll Live Blog Halloween Party!

A Vengeful Goddess

The only computer games that have ever really absorbed me are Civilization and Il-2 Sturmovik. Nematoddity at Tenebrous Necessity posted a story from Evergrey, who amuses herself with the Sims game.

I guess people actually play this game to make their little sims happy. I'll admit that i did that for awhile, but to be honest, it just got boring. So of course I reverted to my typical gaming pattern of torturing innocents to death. I start out by creating a random couple. I build them a littleroom, seen below, with a door. One they've both walked in to check their "home" out, I get rid of the door. As you can see, the room contains the following: a ghetto chair, a fireplace, a clown painting....

For the sake of all the people in her life, I hope this keeps her dark thoughts contained. Anyway, check out the screen shots!

h/t to Rocket Jones

Sure, She's a Hollywood Moonbat....

I haven't watched a whole China Beach episode with the sound on, but I thought Dana Delany was the highlight of Tombstone. Once fan sites started collecting Dana pics, they got my traffic. My favorite site even has wallpaper p-shopped from some of her best poses. They have one of the photo above, but they mirror-imaged it and painstakingly reprinted her nametape on the right...but they left the US Army tape backwards. Even so, it's on my wallpaper background now. Every time it see it, I have to fight the urge to chew her out for sloppy wear of the uniform. "Button up or take it off!" Hey, that's good advice even today!

Vote for the Oil Whore!

I'm pretty much a centrist across the spectrum except on two issues which I think are entwined: national security and the 2nd Amendment. If Joe Lieberman were the Donkey Party nominee, I'd spend more than the current nanosecond in deciding my vote. As it is, I can overlook some of GWB's failings because his opponent is not only incredibly feeble on both of my issues, he's the freaking AntiChrist to American veterans of the Vietnam Conflict (of which my Dad was one). Some of my likeminded blogger brethren are getting hatemail for their views.

Harvey at Bad Example was asked by a raving moonbat:

If you are a real man, you would answer me about why you would vote for an oil whore like bush.

Head on over for his answer.

Dennis Miller, Genius

THK: Nuttier than a pachyderm stool sample.

Holy Cow!

I don't remember which blogger it was that mentioned creating a homebrew liqueur including a mixture of liquors and some coffee beans soaking for a period of time. Well, here at Cowboy Blob's Saloon, Humidor, and Shooting Parlor, we try things like that. Unfortunately, without a recipe, my concoction ended up being mostly vodka and I think I used too many coffee beans. The brew was hideously distasteful straight, but cut with boiling water and brown sugar, it wasn't too bad. Now, I haven't had my nap today and it's after midnight, and I'm bouncing around drinking fruity rum drinks and doing relaxation exercises hoping I can get a few hours sleep this weekend.

Anybody out there have the real recipe for me?

Just Thinking

Your gay friend is watching TV and smoking a cigarette. You come back from brushing your teeth--twice--and exclaim, "What do you mean there's not going to be a Draft?!?

Oct 15 New Gun Pr0n (Updated)

Just got back from Diamondback Police Supply with my re-retirement present, a slightly used Rock River Arms LAR-15 converted to 9-mm (it was built on a receiver marked 5.56-mm). The previous owner threw in eight magazines of various size with it. He claimed it was finicky on ammo and didn't like the cheap Winchester whitebox stuff he was feeding it. Here's hoping that the case of Wolf 9-mm I have left over from last year's Ammo Day fits the bill. If not, maybe that case of Greek stuff I got for Xmas will be okay. So much ammo, so little time to shoot it. Ya know, if I got off the darned computer once in a while....

Update: I guess he should have said "finicky with ALL ammo." I got jams (failures to eject) or every second shot out of every magazine but one. This mag, the longest, functioned perfectly every time, except for the last shot. I tried this several times with three different brands of ammo--same result. Methinks Cowboy Blob has been had, but I'm not sure what my options are. I can't prove there's anything wrong with the gun...the magazines seem to be the problem. Any ideas?

Check Your Compass

The Political Compass has a six-part quiz that charts your political leanings. I could have printed my chart and used it as a pistol target it was so centered. Also misgivings were confirmed when I found out my cousin is a freakin' communist and my brother thinks he's Pope John Paul II. Check it out.

Search, Dammit!

Just noticed that I've been getting lots of hits from dot-mil domains from several times zones. Aren't y'all supposed to be busy protecting the country? Geesh! But seriously, welcome to Cowboy Blob's Saloon, Humidor, and Shooting Parlor! Who knows, some of you might even recognize me. "Hey, isn't that the old guy who put the ferret calendar in the break room?" "Isn't that the world's greatest MIMI? At least, according to him?" Or "that title sounds familiar...." Drop me a comment or Email and say "Hi!" And thanks for hanging in there and fighting the good fight.

Migrant Soldiers Front!

Our porous border to the south presents a security hazard that just might fix itself. Relocate the Army units in Germany to the American Southwest, near cities with a decent standard of living. Rotate small units to patrol the border with Mexico. Detain all illegal border-crossers and keep them in a Joe Arpaio-type tent city. Give everyone a physical and background check. If they aren't Mexican, ship them to Guantanamo and let them sit there until they rot. Send the rest to Camp Tillman (that's what I'd name the first one), another tent city, and conscript them into the US Army. Those not meeting the physical standards can run the laundry, mess hall, etc., for minimum wage. Initial training could be performed on the spot, or at one of the training centers the newly redeployed European units would have created.

The training schedule consists of marksmanship, small unit infantry action, perimeter defense, civic affairs, English, and survival Arabic lessons. They'll already be aclimated to a desert environment. There's no shortage of Spanish speakers in the US Army who can act as training cadre. Once trained, the soldiers are added to the annual Iraq rotation (or whevever we're liberating by then). I'll leave it to the Ground Heads to determine how to fit them in with deploying infantry units, but they probably can't operate as squads themselves unless some of the motivated brighter ones are promoted to NCO during training. Keeping them together might be good for their morale. Special skill recruits could be transferred to other branches, but these ought to be rare among migrant agricultural workers.

When their unit redeploys to the States, they can stay with that unit on active duty and bring their dependents to the USA. Returnees may chose to pick vegetables (or whatever) as a Reservist, coming back for paid drill one weekend a month, but these folks won't have the benefit of Army housing. Reserve drill can be performed at any Army Reserve facility. At the end of a three-year term, they can go back to Mexico or stay in the US as a legal alien. Those who faced combat may be eligible for immediate US citizenship. Heck, some might reenlist. VA education benefits would apply as normal (for those who didn't send every last spare dollar back to Mexico).

The minimum wage non-conscripts would have the same term of service, during which they'll acquire the habit of filing taxes. Since there will probably be more of these folks than the camps need, excess personnel can be released into the economy (or back to Mexico) after a term to be determined by the President.

Before all this happens, we flood the Mexican media with a warning outlining the consequences of risking our border illegally. Before long, they might realize that it would be easier to just contact the Army Recruiter at the Embassy than stomp across the desert carrying a jug of water. And who knows, perhaps the Mexican government grow some and field a contingent alongside their own countrymen?

Note: This started out as a joke post, but it started to take on a life of its own--so I excised all the funny bits. Discuss.

He Links Me!

He really links me!
[/Sally Fields impersonation]
James at Hell in a Handbasket can write rings around Cowboy Blob, but links me anyways. Thanks! Today, he's rebutting another essay on what Superhero best embodies being an American, The original author, Shannon Love, claimed Superman best represented American values (hey, he's an immigrant fighting for Truth, Justice, and the American Way). James argues that Spiderman best fits the bill. While Spiderman is one of my favorite superheroes ever, right behind Alvin York and Audie Murphy, I can't picture the Webslinger as the anthropomorphication of America. After all, J. Jonah Jamison seems to be the only non-villain who openly hates Spiderman.

I think to truly capture America in a Superhero, you need more than one, so I pick the Fantasic Four!
Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic): intellectual, a leader, superhumanely elastic, everything John Kerry wishes he could be...imagine the flip-flops possible!

Susan Storm, the Invisible Woman: Yes, there are strong women in the world and America has raised some of the best. Her defensive powers of invisibility and force field projection represent the good that America does (and what little visibility and credit we get out it).

Johnny Storm (Human Torch): A hothead literally/figuratively with the power of flight is a good analogy of the entrepreneurial power of Americans. They can feel the heat from across both oceans.

and Ben Grimm (the Thing) represents America's military/industrial strength...and it's Clobbering Time!

Presidential Debatseball Blogging

I hope the debate was more entertaining than this baseball game. Yankees up 3-1 in the 8th. I tried to jump between the debate and the game, but my ferretlike attention span kicked in and I ended up browsing through the bottom half of my favorites list...not my blogroll, mind you. I add two or three blogs a day; it's ballooned to more than three screens long. I pruned it back a bit today. It's tough being a professional blogger :) For all the browsing I did, I didn't find much to link to; in fact, there's lots of mildly amusing stuff out there, but not juicy enough to make a guy who hasn't even checked his snailmail today go through the trouble of commenting.

DaGoddess was looking for a few good pundits or punditzes to guestblog during her impending absence, but she apparently has enough support. I'd hate to alienate her substantial readership with my usual marginal content. Worse, California Fish and Game might raid her home looking for illegal ferrets.

Strike Three! Game over! Yankees suck! I need a drink.

Euroweenie, You're a Weenie

Sorry for wasting your time reading "Happy Eurocentric Imperialism Day." To make up for it, read Varifrank, whose "The Secret Weapon" illustrates why Europeans who snear at "ignorant Americans" are hypocrites. Well, Varifrank is much more nice about it than I am, but he (?) has to live and work among them. A taste:

I recently had someone get "red faced furious" at President Bush and his not igning the Kyoto Treaty. When I explained that President Bush could sign on tommorrow and nothing would change, as the Senate is unlikely to ratify the treaty in any form, no matter how its presented. The Senate had already voted down the treaty 98-0 once before. This person simply didn't believe me, I then asked them why then didn't President Clinton sign on to Kyoto if it were so easy? He of course, didnt have an answer. He has always been told it was Only Bush that was stopping it. When I told him that it was actually American voters who had largely stopped Kyoto, he simply could not understand how it was so, and yet, it clearly was.

It seems that lots of Euros are "redfaced furious" with our President specifically or us in general. I wonder if any are redfaced in embarassment over their governments' support for a dictator who slaughtered innocent men, women, and children.
h/t to Trying to Grok

Zombie Whackin'!

James at Hell in a Handbasket tipped me off to Moral Flexibility's treasury of Zombie Survival lore. The site's author, Mugwug, links to another site, www.zombiesquad.org, a resource site with a very entertaining forum. One topic that didn't get a lot of play was Zombie Physiology. It's universally agreed upon that shooting a zombie in the head is the cure-all remedy for a zombie attack. This reminds me of a discussion on Usenet's rec.guns a few years ago, but the subject was defense against an attacker armed with a melee weapon (knife, crowbar, ax, etc.). Similarly, shooting the scimitar-wielding goblin in the noggin should end the fight, but that could be a pretty difficult shoot. How about anywhere else? A center-of-mass shot might not stop the attack, even if the wound is ultimately mortal. After all, the object is to avoid getting skewered with the sword, not ensuring the attacker dies for his sins.

The answer to both the zombie dilemma and the ax-wielder is the pelvic girdle. Bust up that ring of bones (.45 ACP and shotguns work best) and the attacker falls down, even if they're supernaturally animated. Once the attacker falls short of you, running away or busting a cap into his head is much easier. Uh, for zombies anyway. For the non-undead, you're legally obligated to check whether they wish to continue attacking before dispatching them. That's easy enough...if they haven't curled into the fetal position by then, shoot away. In the Usenet forum, one police officer noted that one marauding thug threw down his weapon and surrendered after the officer drew down on him. "You were gonna shoot me in the nuts!" Indeed.

Flash Update! The Kerry/Edwards campaign is endorsing Zombie Proliferation!
h/t Is Full of Crap

Sign Ze Papers, Old Man!

"I can't...I vant to be President!"

SlagleRock has a scoop from the director of AuthentiSEAL, an organization that has debunked scores of posers and frauds claiming to be members of elite forces. A.L. "Steve" Nash speculates why John Kerry's Honorable Discharge is dated March, 2001. It certainly explains why Waffles won't sign the SF 180 to release all of his records...it's because he can't and remain a viable candidate.

Not that he's really viable anymore.

Happy Eurocentric Imperialism Day!

Iron Age, meet Stone Age. I cannot lament Europe's rolling over the New World's speedbump indigenous peoples as might some apologetic, bleeding-heart liberal. Fuelled by lust for land, riches, and trade, European kings and queens sent their fleets across the Atlantic to stake out their place on the New World Gravy Train. Their best and bravest conquistadors slaughtered and enslaved entire civilizations who could not imagine such a thing as the wheel. They raked untold riches from the peoples of both American continents and bloated the treasuries of Europe, mostly to fuel wars among themselves. Conquering and developing the new lands required manpower. Besides the bravest men, people with nothing to lose embarked on the perilous westward one-way journey. Religious and political dissidents, criminals, and adventurous entrepreneurs packed the boats. Things might have worked out okay for Europe, except that they took women along with them; not whores to keep the workers placated, but wives to make homes in the New World. With the first generation of New Worlders born, settlers began to lose an iota of identity with the Old World. Dissents with an ax to grind with the Crown rolled these lost iotas together--it took centuries for them to reach critical mass(achusetts) south of the St. Lawrence. Finally, the bravest and brightest of the New World schemed to create a government free of the wrongs of Europe and wrested it from the hands of King George.

They took America out of the Empire, but couldn't take the Empire out of America. The fecund 13 States busted out of their seams with explorers and settlers. Heading west and south, they put the squeeze on Spanish and French and later Mexican colonials, and exterminated those aborigines who wouldn't assimilate. They bought off the French and Russians, repelled the English/Canadians, and chased the Spanish out of their colonies. Now America has the luxury to have compassion for the Native Americans and the power to earn the fear, if not respect/friendship of Europe. But they should not hate us, because they made us what we are. If they look too hard, they might see the genes of their own bravest and brightest, long bred out their own anemic pool of socialism.

Tried to Grok

After I quit my job, I had to reassemble my favorite blogs list from memory (I quit because work was interfering with my blog reading). One I just rediscovered today is Trying to Grok, a Munuvian blog by a lady whose hubby is deployed to the sharp end, I think. She's another faithful reader of the Mudville Gazette and her posting about a comment had me laughing out loud:

Oh, crap. I'm still not used to the Gazette's new format with ten billion authors. My deepest apologies to John of Argghhh! for misatributing his work. In fact, I agree with John, since he was the one who wrote this post. I also loved Grim's anecdote in the comments section:

So I showed my wife this picture you lead off with tonight, hoping to teach her about the injustice you cite.
Pointing at the three guys sweeping the area with their rifles, I said, "Dear, do these look like infantry or cavalry to you?"
"Cavalry," she said.
"Really?" I asked. "What makes you say that?"
"Well, look how short they are!" she answered.

I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Sunday Ferret Blogging

Lenny and Squiggy are much different from my first batch of ferrets. Their concept of water dish means "playpool" rather than "water supply." First-Batcher Coco would bite, but only after much licking around for a nice soft spot. These two have resisted training so far...in their agitated war weasel state, they launch themselves at the offered hand, leg, side of beef. Squiggy has hung from my pantsleg with his teeth as I tried to retreat over the plexiglas wall. I know it's not just because they're males (my friend Jon has two males who are a lot more mellow).
Even their naptime arrangements are different. Although they've got several ferret beds around their room (washed since the first batch), the place they like to sleep best is under a shelf unit with no bedding. That's even where Lenny runs (no matter where he is in the room) when something spooks him. Squiggy is afraid of nothing. Thankfully, there are times when they are even cuddly, when Squiggy forgets to bite. But during their morning frenzy, when they're bouncing around so hard you can hear them gasping for air, that's not a good time to squeeze the weasels.

Yeah, Right, I'm Starch

You are starch. You are rigid, opinionated,
hard-willed and not too friendly about it. You
keep people out of places, or you keep them in,
and without you a lot of things would collapse.
hopefully you'll never have the authority to
burn people at the stake. Sir. Ma'am.

h/t to Pamibe

Prolific Paratrooper of Prose Posts

Russ Vaughn has graced another Milblog, Blackfive this time, with his timely poetry. He's responding to an essay by Lt. Col. (Ret) Grossman comparing the military to sheepdogs. Read both posts!

Japanese Aircraft Pr0n

At a Korean site, no less. It's an F-15J with a Sekura paint job to commemorate the JASDF's 50th anniversary. At least, that's what the site says. Prove me wrong.

h/t to Marmot's Hole

What? It's Election Day Already?

Sure it is...in our most faithful ally, Australia! Tim Blair is collecting impressions of a day which may see our friends become wallflowers in the Global War on Terrorism. My favorite:

The sun was warm on my bra straps as I jumped the gate into Bellyrigg Public School to cast my vote for truth and hope. The party faithful rallied to my cause and gave me a bandaid wgen I landed badly and scraped my elbow. But blood and democracy are twin sisters of a greater future, so I didn't mind. Old women were there, gracefully smoking Vicounts and handing out Housie forms, so I pinched one and said that sisterhoos embraced the bi-cause more than in the white picket 50s. A small dog yapped.

Update: John Howard, the incumbent, wins!

It says "Team America" right?

Damn! If it pissed off Sean Penn so much, I HAVE to see it!

h/t Drudge

A Fan...or a Stalker?

Someone at the ANDREA domain (green, Mountain Time zone) spends more time reading my blog than I (blue) spend writing and checking it. Maybe they made my blog their startup page. Yoohoo! Andrea! Drop me a comment or an Email. I can get you help!

Blogging the Debate...Not!

Got my blogger jammies on, opened a bottle of Aussie merlot, and settled down in front of the TV. The Red Sox just finished off the Angels, protein wisdom's guest bloggers uploaded a cornucopia of comic bunnyness, and now the Yankees are trying to beat the Twins. Yup, baseball season began this week! After watching my favorite minor league team, the D-backs, flounder during the pre-season, I'm raring to see some good baseball. Not having a dog in the fight, I'm rooting for whoever beats the Yankees (a practice I inherited from my grandfather). Now there was a man who could hate; he watched Phillies games with the sound off because Harry Callas' voice got on his nerves. All in all, I'm a National League fan. DHs are for pussies. My favorite pitchers of all time, Steve Carlton and Randy Johnson were/are never automatic outs.

Update: Yankees are up 5-1. I was lulled to inattention by the sound of Joe Morgan's voice. Man, he sure loves to hear himself talk. Wizbang is blogging the debate with the sound turned off! I wonder if he knew my grandfather!

Update: Yankees 7-1. The Twins deserve to lose after getting two hits, but going a Base Too Far each time.

Update: Ouch! Crunched into the wall! Maybe some little red pills would help? Beck is hallucinating...Cthulhu is not debating. Dick Cheney is the Tenacled One! Ia Ia Cthulhu Fthagn!

Update! Yankees 8-1. Spoons has a great live blog of the debate. Hasn't called the contest yet, though.

Update: Yankees 8-2, Mariano Rivera comes in to close. Whack! Whack! It's 8-4 now, two out. Ground out to first! Game over, man!

Wiiiiiiilmaaaaaaaaa!

JohnL at TexasBestGrok has only two entrants in this week's SF Babe poll, from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Princess Ardala and my favorite, Col. Wilma Deering. I've been hot for Erin Gray since she used to model underwear in the Sears catalog...uh, did I really have to say that? Anyway, the commenters so far seem to have the hots for that other space bimbo. Drop by and show Erin some love.

I Got the Check, Mr. Rove

I'm not much of a joiner, but the bennies were just too good to pass up. Joanie at DaGoddess taught me the secret handshake (which doesn't involve hands at all) and pulled my new membership card from her lacy bodice. I'm really enjoying the text messaging with Karl Rove, but my KerryCam keeps crashing (damned Micro$oft!)...hehe, that man does the silliest things! My night in the Lincoln bedroom is timed nicely with my roadtrip back East in a couple of months. Laura Bush sure bakes a mean chocolate chip cookie! One of John McCain's staffers is washing my truck right now. We're teaming up to play horseshoes at the NRA-Masonic-Elks-Illuminati picnic tomorrow. I'll be sure to wear my platinum wire-lined Stetson (those fools...aluminum just makes the mind-control rays worse!).

"Darth Vader in the White House"

"Tom Paine" at Silent Running has an excellent post echoing the fears of many Security Moms and Dads in the Anglosphere. A taste:

I want Darth Vader in the White House. I guess Cheney would do in a pinch, but I want a Dark Lord sitting on his Throne of Blood in the situation room, commanding vast carrier battlegroups, legion after legion of grim-faced troops and waves of aircraft so thick they darken the skies over enemy countries. I want a President who will say things like "I find your lack of faith disturbing, Mr Spanish prime minister" and "You have failed me for the last time Mr Bremer". I want the President to go on "The Daily Show" so he can toss a drinking cup made from Saddam's skull into Jon Stewart's lap, just to laugh at how green Stewart would go. I want the heads of terrorists impaled on stakes at the entrance to Congress. I want the mere prospect of having the President pissed off at them to make Chirac and Schroeder soil their silk underwear.

After reading that, head over to the Jawa Report for Rusty Shackleford's treatise on the Case for Nuking Mecca. Good links there to Bill Whittle and Ace of Spades!

Looking Any Better?

Today, I played around with my Blogger settings, nuked my manual blog roll and added Blogrolling code and Ecosystem ranking (now that I have one). It should be easier to add comments now. Now, if I could only add some content--like watching the Yankees game is going to give me any ideas!

Last night's ballgame was much more entertaining than the VP debate; it's never fun when you know who's going to win. I couldn't bear to see the Rottweiler disembowel the Preschooler. On the other hand, I surfed between the Prez debate and the AF/Navy game last week and saw a more even match on either sides. Not that I think Kerry has a kleagle's chance in Compton of winning; I'll take substance over style any day. That's enough from me on the subject; head on over to Bill Whittles place. He says it better than I ever could.

The "F" Stands for Ephialtes

Jen Martinez at A Collection of Thoughts has an essay from Ray Calafell, Special Forces vet of Vietnam and Florida attorney.

The ancient Greeks were fond of democracy, loved to speak of it, debate it,
theorize about it. When it came time to defend it, however, it seems that the
Athenians were something less than enthusiastic about strapping on a short
sword, hefting a shield and marching off to the ramparts. In fact, one of the
great lessons in military history deals with not only the few saving the many,
but also of betrayal of the few by one.

Go there and read the rest.

Ann Coulter, First Lady of the VRWC

John Hawkins at Right Wing News has collected a year's worth of quotes from one of my favorite columnists, Ann Coulter. Have a taste here, then read the rest:

"After all the speculation about the sniper terrorizing Maryland and Virginia, at last we have some cold hard facts. He is a Muslim. He converted to Islam 17 years ago. He changed his name to John Muhammad. He belonged to Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam. He cheered the terrorist attack of Sept. 11. He registered his getaway vehicle with the DMV on the anniversary of Sept. 11 – writing down the time of registration as 8:52 a.m. Naturally, therefore, the mainstream media have decided the crucial, salient fact about sniper John Muhammad is that he is a Gulf War veteran." -- Ann Coulter

I've Found A Nursery Buddy!

Benjamin at reasonablenut has started a blog around the same time I did. It seems to be purely a gun blog. Drop by and say "Welcome!"

h/t to The Smallest Minority

Link Etiquette and Stuff

Ace of Spades HQ has a good primer for newbie bloggers like myself (I might hit 1,000 visits this week!). I've had to learn of lot of this on-the-job and I think I've done okay. I justify hoarking the beautiful F-86 pic (which didn't have much of an article to link) knowing that the pic itself would make me want to see what else Blogs of War has to offer.

As you might have noticed, my blog is not a hard news site. I assume you're up on the news, or just don't care. I run through my blogroll the first thing in the morning...my favorites list is actually four or five times longer. If one of the more obscure blogs has something I haven't seen elsewhere, that's news I'll link. Other than that, it's guns, cool military stuff, shiny things that distract me, and camouflaged things that distract me.

The Eyes Still Have It

Paul at Frozen in Montreal is recovering from laser eye surgery, but the healing process hasn't messed with his aim. Not surprisingly, Paul's choice of handgun is that great slab o' Canadian cannonry, the Para-Ordnance P14-45. This gun has EVERYTHING! Twice the firepower of the original Colt 1911 shooting the same .45 ACP cartridge. They make great IPSC guns...I hope their full-cap magazine prices come down soon. Darn, it might be time to lay off the Glock for a match or two. Weekend match update: I still suck.

h/t to Baldilocks

Stuck in the CD Player

If you had to drive across your state and could play only one commercially produced CD the whole time (perhaps because your ejector was broken), which would it be? My choice is 10,000 Maniacs MTV Unplugged. On long trips, I've been known to let it play through a couple of times before selecting another. Natalie Merchant's voice just holds me and I find myself looking forward to even its imperfections, like the break in "Because the Night." The rest of the ensemble gets its props in "Stockton Gala Days," the most stirring track on the album. Unfortunately, the CD lacks a couple of great tracks that were included in the video. Yes, I have the video (on laserdisc!) and enjoy Natalie's cover of "Jolene" and her duet with David Byrne doing "Dallas." How about you?

They Did It!

Argghhh! My Poor Orao Cookie!

Sorry CW...the kid with all the toys slickied the aircraft ID contest...and I didn't even know it! They'd be burning my effigy in the Friedman Auditorium if they even remembered who I was. Sir John at Castle Argghhh slamdunked the answer, but left it in such a cryptic manner that I must return my NSA decoder ring to same safe holding my old brown passport for the past 20 years!

John, give me a day or so to come up with the appropriate tribute (or Email me specifics). Thanks for the traffic you sent my way. Thanks to everybody who saw the post and bent a couple of brain cells to try to solve it. Feel the burn!

CW Wins the Aircraft ID Contest!

Right after I'd posted the update to "Gauntlets, Gauntlets Everywhere," honorable postor "cw" nailed the contest, IDing the bird as a J-22 Orao. CW didn't leave any details (I don't even know if blogspot asks for them) but if CW could leave me some details at cowboyblob-at-yahoo.com, I'd like to make good on his/her contest triumph.

Beware the Voices, Frank J

Click Refresh to view GIF.

Gun Pr0n Smorgasborg

Head at Head's Bunker is, er, heading to the "biggest shoot in Texas." Everything's big in Texas, so I'm looking forward to his photos next week. He left us a sample of the delicacies from last year's event. Scroll down the rest of his blog for some really nice photos, complete with thoughtful, appropriate backgrounds. That'll teach me not to use the ferret room floor!

Cactus Matches have a "keep it bagged/holstered" policy, so I'll have to wait for one of the real 3-gun matches to snap a similar panaorama of wonderful gunliness.

Gun Pr0n (c) Castle Argghhh 2004

Must Read Iowahawk!

I could sit on Iowahawk's URL all day and click Refresh if my Favorites List wasn't two screens long. Even though he doesn't post every day, gems like this are worth the wait.

Gauntlets! Gauntlets Everywhere!

James at Hell in a Handbasket has thrown down a weapons ID gauntlet that I barely squeaked into before the Kid on the Block with All the Toys piped in with something probably canonical (Heh...cannonical?). Here's my own ID gauntlet that might be a little harder, except for those that can figure out fin flashes and roundels.

Now to find an entry for John's Ugliest Aircraft contest. I'll try to do this without going down the road and snapping a pic of something in the Boneyard.

UPDATE: In case you're unsure how this works, click the Comments link and type your guess to the aircraft's identity in the blank. The first correct answer will get blogrolled, if you have a blog. If you don't, I'll post a vanity article on the person/subject of your choice, complete with original haiku and/or limerick.

These are Two of my Favorite Things...

The Third Annual Blogger Boobiethon for Breast Cancer is all over the sphere. My loved ones have been lucky enough to have been spared this illness <KOW> , but I have a take on the issue anyway. This year, I was juror to a medical malpractice lawsuit filed by a breast cancer sufferer, Monica Ochoa. In the end, we awarded Ms. Ochoa enough to retire upon for the rest of her probably shortened life, but shorted her $200K to send her and others a message. We found her 20 percent at fault for her head-in-the-sand approach to her own medical care. Please, ladies, keep your head in the game. And folks, go to the site and give generously.

Oh, yeah, at the site, you can get a glimpse of what they're fighting for!

To paraphrase Cary Elwes, "There's a shortage of perfect breasts in this world; it would be a shame to neglect yours."