Looking out my Front Door

The kids were all excited the other day.  We had visitors in the front yard and I managed to get some photos.

In all we had four very young bucks.  The oldest might have been a two year old, the rest were from last years fawn crop.  My daughter wanted to know where the horns were and I got to explain about the velvet nobs on top of the deers head.  She didn't believe me.

Potato Pun

One night, the Potato family sat down to dinner - Mother Potato and her three daughters. Midway through the meal, the eldest daughter spoke up. "Mother Potato?" she said. "I have an announcement to make."

"And what might that be?" asked Mother, seeing the obvious excitement in her eldest daughter's eyes.

"Well," replied the daughter, with a proud but sheepish grin, "I'm getting married!"

The other daughters squealed with surprise as Mother Potato exclaimed, "Married! That's wonderful! And who are you marrying, eldest daughter?"

 "I'm marrying a Russet!"

"A Russet!" replied Mother Potato with pride. "Oh, a Russet is a fine tater, a fine tater indeed!"

As the family shared in the eldest daughter's joy, the middle daughter spoke up. "Mother? I, too, have an announcement."

"And what might that be?" encouraged Mother Potato.

Not knowing quite how to begin, the middle daughter paused, then said with conviction, "I, too, am getting married!"

"You, too!" Mother Potato said with joy. "That's wonderful!

Twice the good news in one evening! And who are you marrying, middle daughter?"

"I'm marrying an Idaho!" beamed the middle daughter.

"An Idaho!" said Mother Potato with joy. "Oh, an Idaho is a fine tater, a fine tater indeed!"

Once again, the room came alive with laughter and excited plan for the future, when the youngest Potato daughter interrupted. "Mother? Mother Potato? Um, I, too, have an announcement to make."

"Yes?" said Mother Potato with great anticipation.

"Well," began the youngest Potato daughter with the same sheepish grin as her eldest sister before her, "I hope this doesn't come as a shock to you, but I am getting married, as well!"

"Really?" said Mother Potato with sincere excitement. "All of my lovely daughters married! What wonderful news! And who, pray tell, are you marrying, youngest daughter?"

"I'm marrying Piers Morgan!"

 

"PIERS MORGAN?" Mother Potato scowled suddenly. "But he's just a common tater!"

75% Not Guilty

It's hard to keep track of all the scandals in our nation.  America is facing a loss of liberty and freedom on a scale never before seen in this nation.  Tyranny is rampant from the oval office all the down to the local donut muncher. 

I've blogged on the topic of decriminalizing drinking milk before.  It's time for an update on one of the cases.  It seems that a jury in Wisconsin mostly did the right thing last week.  I say "mostly" because they didn't go far enough:

Jurors in Sauk County Circuit Court deliberated about four hours, until nearly 1 a.m. Saturday, before returning a verdict of guilty on one charge of violating a holding order placed on products on the Hershberger farm following a raid there in the summer of 2010.

The good news is that Vernon Hershberger isn't going to jail on 3 out of 4 charges.  What happens on the 4th charge is still up in the air.  He still may have to do a year in jail and pay $10,000.  The reason?  He violated a "hold order".

Earlier in the day, the farmer testified that he felt betrayed by state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection officials who raided his farm in June 2010 and intentionally destroyed 2,000 pounds of milk.

He was afraid that DATCP would destroy other food as well. Hershberger said that is why he violated the hold order, taking some food for his family and allowing members of the buying club to remove items for their use.

"I prayed and meditated a lot," he said about the decision, which he described as an act of civil disobedience.

Good for Mr. Hershberger!  He should have violated that order.  It was his property and the property of those who had paid for the food.  The order was an illegal taking of property, even if they technically left it in his possession.

Lets hope the judge can see his way clear to let Mr. Hershberger off on the last charge.  Vernon has suffered enough.

On the Right Track

It looks like Waterboy is being proven right:

Joe’s experiment brings that idea of a universally-available gun with uncensorable online blueprints one step closer to reality. “I’m trying to do the same thing Cody wants to do. I’m not an anarchist, but I don’t like the idea that the government is telling us ‘You can’t have that,’” he says. “I agree with Cody’s idea that this is a perfect fusion of the first and second amendments.”

Of course, there’s a certain thrill of pioneering a new gun design, too, Joe admits. “I may be the first person in the history of mankind to fire a bullet through a plastic rifled barrel. It’s an interesting feeling,” he says. “I feel like Samuel Colt.”

They still have a long way to go, but they will get there.

Do Not

I got a call last night from a friend of my wife.  This friend is part of a group of medical professionals that go to help local hospitals when there is a disaster event.  She was calling to ask me to tell my wife that she was heading to OKC to help with the tornado recovery effort.

I had just been on the phone to a co-worker in OKC Sunday who told me that it was bad but they expected to get more storms.  I wanted to see how bad the tornado damage was so I started checking on line.  That's when I go hit with all the content driven ads begging help for the American Red Cross.

I have one word for you if your considering giving money to either the Red Cross or the Salvation Army, DON'T!

These philanthropic organizations do very little to actually help people.  Most of the money is wasted on paying big salaries to people who spend their time FUND RAISING.  When they do bother to head out to a disaster location its only to get photo ops and spend some time qualifying people for aid so they can justify the grant money they get from the federal government.

There are better groups to give money to, don't waste your cash on the American Red Cross.

Dinner Time

Q. What did the cannibal’s wife give her husband when he came home late for dinner?

A. The cold shoulder.

Washington DC (Dumb Cunts)

D.C. man won’t face gun charges for shooting pit bull attacking boy

How freaking generous of them.

Authorities last week made an agreement not to prosecute a Northwest D.C. man who used his unregistered handgun to kill a pit bull in order to stop it from mauling a child in his neighborhood.

As part of the agreement, Benjamin Srigley, 39, was required to pay a $1,000 fine but will not have criminal charges filed against him for the three unregistered firearms and the ammunition that investigators found in his possession, said Ted Gest

Whoo Hoo! he wont go to jail.  He still is out $1,000 and lost his guns.  Washington DC is the nations capital and has no right to enforce draconian gun laws on Americans.  I know "its the law".  The law is wrong.  This man did the right thing, he had a gun when it was needed and saved a life because he was ready willing and shooting when it counted.  Good for you Mr. Srigley.  Keep your powder dry and out of the hands of the feds!

Potty Humor

I though it was high time we enjoyed some potty humor.

Scientists study violent winds of Uranus

According to the article they are recommending a decrease in bean consumption.

If petroleum hydrocarbons are produced by dead dinosaurs why do we have so many gaseous planets?

Blog Observations

I've been experimenting with some blog related changes over the last six months.  My first change was spending some extra time working with bloggers spam filter.  Initially this took significant time.  I went through the old comments and tagged the spam as spam for the filter.  It seems that this strategy is working out.  Blogger now catches 99% of the spam before it ever hits the comments.

My most spammed post seems to be one from 2006, Electing Dinner Guests.  I have no idea why this is.  For some reason this post gets hit with a ton of spam attempts.  In fact most of my spammed posts are older ones.  I don't know what possible good this does for a spammer since I doubt any of my readers have visited that post in the last 7 years.  I've been marking ALL spam as spam regardless of how old the post is and it seems to be helping.

The filter catches most of the spam before I ever see it and that's a good thing.  Now I spend less than 5 mins a week dealing with the spam filter.  I can't be sure but I think that the filter "learns" as it goes and is doing a better job stopping the spam.  If you're running a blog of your own, it seems to be worth the time to use the filter and to tag the spam from the old posts.

For Q1 2013 I started a experiment of posting on average at least once per day.  This has boosted my daily hits by about 500%.  Which is a good thing.  Comments are still pretty rare so while viewer ship is up, participation still lags behind.  I assume this is due in part to the fact that: 1. I seldom comment on other peoples blogs, at least not as much as I used to, and 2.  Most of you dropping by are friends and share similar views and are basically dropping by to see whats going on and waste 5 min of time between meetings at work.

Thanks for all the new traffic.  I will be returning to my increased posting routine this week.  I had wanted to leave the Game Case Study post near the top of the blog to see how much attention and advice it would get.  I think everybody that wanted to sound off on that has.  I may update information on the post from time to time as the situation develops.

Worked Out Well

I confess, I got a kick out of this story.

Houston Texas

Intruder Shot After Locking Resident in Closet… Where He Keeps His Guns

Gaddis said the neighborhood has had a number of break-ins recently. He said that the residents in the area believe that they have all been connected. In reference to the shooting he says, “What happened today is exactly what guns are supposed to do — to protect your home and defend your life and your family.”

Note to crooks, always lock your victim in his gun closet.  ALWAYS its the best thing you can do.

Puns: The Tates

Do you know how many members of the TATE family belong to our organization?

 There is old man DICK TATE who wants to run everything, while Uncle RO TATE tries to change everything.

Their sister, AGI TATE, stirs up plenty of trouble with help from her husband, IRRI TATE.

Whenever new projects are suggested, HESI TATE and his wife, VEGI TATE, want to wait until next year.

Brother FACILI TATE is quite helpful in group matters.

And a happy member is Ms. FELICI TATE.

Cousins COGI TATE and MEDI TATE always think things over and lend a helpful steady hand.

And, of course, there is the bad seed in the family, AMPU TATE, who has cut himself off completely from the rest of the organization.

Game Case Study

I don't know if this is of interest to anyone but I'd like your input into the situation.  Because of a social connection, I've made the acquaintance of a young female who has just turned 20.  She recognizes her need to make significant changes in her life and on my advice she has made some changes and is working on others.

For purposes of the case study I will name her Ms. Black. 

THE FACTS

Ms. Black is a white 20 year old female.  She has tried smoking pot but does not enjoy illegal drug use and is anti recreational drugs. She does smoke tobacco and drink alcohol.  She is about 5ft tall and weighs well over 200lbs.  Although well rounded her facial features are of average to slightly under average attractiveness.  She has long hair and a sizable bust, perhaps a size H.  I believe this helps account for her N=23.

Ms Black grew up in a rural town, population 5,000.  Her mother exemplifies hypergamony.  Her father abandoned her mother early in pregnancy.  Given the mothers hypergamous sexual history he may not have even known she was pregnant at the time.  By all accounts the father paid child support but never saw his child before her 16th birthday.  He is not involved in any meaningful way in her life.  The only source of a stable family life was the maternal grandfather.  The mother spent most of Ms. Blacks formative years pursuing her own interests at the expense of raising her daughter.

Until recently Ms Black had a sizable herd of beta/gamma orbiters as well was a heram of casual booty calls.   Some of these males lived with her on and off or would stick around for "sleep overs" lasting a few days at a time.  Several weeks ago she complained to me about her unhappiness with her life and the "lack of good men".  She has stated that what she wants out of life is a husband and family and that her desire is to be a stay at home mother.

About 3 weeks ago she started following my advice on several topics.  First, she eliminated the gamma orbiters and her harem. Second, her mother is no longer living in her apartment with her.  The last of her male "roommates" is set to move out on the 15th.  She has since gotten a female roommate.   In general she is removing the negative influences from her life.  She is being successful in losing weight.

Ms Black is aware of "game" concepts as they relate to female behavior.  I doubt that she has any concept of "game" as psychosexual manipulation.  She acknowledges that her past behavior makes future failure in her relationships likely and that her "statistic" (high N value) as she calls it, is a major life problem for her.

Since she began making changes in her lifestyle she has met a young man, Mr. Plaid.  Mr. Plaid may be Mr. Right and she is interested in finding out if he is, and more importantly making it work and not sabotaging the relationship with her hypergamony.  Mr. Plaid is aware that she has a past and has stated he does not want to know her N.  His N = 2.  Mr. Plaid was raised by the state.  He works as a roughneck.   Recently he has began attending a "cowboy" church on his days off.  Ms. Black attended church when she was a child but has no interest in the subject as an adult, and appears basically opposed to the idea of church.

One of her gamma orbiters sent her a text stating he did not want to "lose her".  Mr Plaid was working and not available, so she unwisely restarted an emotional relationship with the orbiter.  She told me about the situation.  Because of my response, she is more aware that her hypergamous pattern of behavior is repeating itself.

Thus far Mr. Plaid and Ms Black have not had sex with each other.  I advised Ms Black to wait for marriage, regardless of who the man may be and so far she agrees with that advice.

QUESTIONS

What would your advice be, in general terms, of how Ms Black can over come her hypergamony and have a successful monogamous marriage?

What steps should she take to get to that goal?

After marriage what steps should she take to build a solid relationship with her husband and guard against unfaithfulness?

What are any other side issues that I may not have addressed but should?

Kid Smarter than Teachers

Date Line Indiana

As a child, doctors told Jacob Barnett’s parents that their autistic son would probably never know how to tie his shoes.

Diagnosed with moderate to severe autism at the age of 2, Jacob spent years in the clutches of a special education system that didn’t understand what he needed. His teachers at school would try to dissuade Kristine from hoping to teach Jacob any more than the most basic skills.

Jacob was struggling with that sort of instruction — withdrawing deeper into himself and refusing to speak with anyone.

But Kristine noticed that when he was not in therapy, Jacob was doing “spectacular things” on his own.

One day, his mom took him stargazing. A few months later, they visited a planetarium where a professor was giving a lecture. Whenever the teacher asked questions, Jacob’s little hand shot up and he began to answer questions — easily understanding complicated theories about physics and the movement of planets.

Jacob was just 3-1/2 years old.

His mom realized that Jacob might need something that the standard special education curriculum just wasn’t giving him.

So Kristine decided to take on the job herself.

By the time he was 11 years old, Jacob was ready for college. He’s now studying condensed matter physics at the Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis.

His IQ rounds out to 170 — higher than that of Albert Einstein. He’s been working on his own theory of relativity. Professors at Princeton’s Institute for Advance Study were impressed.

“The theory that he's working on involves several of the toughest problems in astrophysics and theoretical physics,” astrophysics Professor Scott Tremaine wrote to the family in an email.

"Anyone who solves these will be in line for a Nobel Prize."

Your kid doesn't have to be the next Einstein to benefit from getting out of public school.  I wonder how many other kids might be just as gifted but they never learned because they were surrounded by professional bureaucrats.

*If They Had a Doting Mother*

MONA LISA'S MOTHER: "After all that money your father and I spent on braces, that's the biggest smile you can give us?"

COLUMBUS' MOTHER: "I don't care what you've discovered, you still could have written!"

MICHELANGELO'S MOTHER: "Can't you paint on walls like other children? Do you have any idea how hard it is to get that stuff off the ceiling?"

NAPOLEON'S MOTHER: "All right, if you aren't hiding your report card inside your jacket, take your hand out of there and show me."

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S MOTHER: "Again with the stovepipe hat? Can't you just wear a baseball cap like the other kids?"

MARY'S MOTHER: "I'm not upset that your lamb followed you to school, but I would like to know how he got a better grade than you."

ALBERT EINSTEIN'S MOTHER: "But it's your senior picture. Can't you do something about your hair? Styling gel, mousse, something...?"

GEORGE WASHINGTON'S MOTHER: "The next time I catch you throwing money across the Potomac, you can kiss your allowance good-bye!"

JONAH'S MOTHER: "That's a nice story. Now tell me where you've really been for the last forty years."

THOMAS EDISON'S MOTHER: "Of course I'm proud that you invented the electric light bulb. Now turn it off and get to bed!"

PAUL REVERE'S MOTHER: "I don't care where you think you have to go, young man, midnight is past your curfew."

I Want it

OK, I don't know if I want it, but I might.  What I know I want is a chance to test drive one.

The first flying cars are set to go on sale to the public as early as 2015.

Terrafugia has announced its Transition design, which is part sedan, part private jet with two seats, four wheels and wings that fold up so it can be driven like a car, will be on sale in less than two years.The Massachusetts-based firm has also unveiled plans for a TF-X model that will be small enough to fit in a garage, and won't need a runway to take off.

What I'd love to try is a car that can fly right into space, now that would be cool. 

A Good Man

It is said that all that evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing.  Perhaps all that is needed for good to win is for men to grow a pair and use them.

CLEVELAND - After going missing more than 10 years ago, Amanda Berry shouted to a man from a Seymour Avenue house on Monday.

Charles Ramsey and Angel Cordero broke down the door and freed Berry, who was 16 when she disappeared in 2003. Cordero told NewsChannel5's Stephanie Ramirez that he recognized Berry from posters and that she was with a 4 or 5-year-old child.

He heard her call for help and broke the door in.  Now breaking down a door isn't all that hard for a man to do.  Men are strong and doors, well doors can be taken out.  Its not hard for a man to walk over to where a women is calling for help and listen to her story either, but sometimes we just don't want to bother, or get involved. 

Charles Ramsey listened to a young women's call for help, he listened to her story and he broke down a door.  None of those things are hard for a man to do.  None of these things are particularly heroic or brave.  Unfortunately none of these things; looking out for ones neighbors, intelligence, solid decision making or risk taking are common either. 

They are calling Mr. Ramsey a hero.  I don't begrudge him this honor, or his 15 minutes of fame.  I hope more men hear about what he has done and emulate him in his concern and action for others.  Mr. Charles Ramsey of Cleveland Ohio is a good man.  We could use more like him.

Primitive Self-Expression

In Africa, some of the native tribes have a custom of beating the ground with clubs and uttering spine-chilling cries. Anthropologists call this a form of primitive self-expression.

 

In America, they call it golf.

Interesting History

History is interesting.  I've always enjoyed it as a subject in school and as something I've read up on as an adult.  I enjoy museums and even roadside plaques about something that happened on this site in eighteen hundred and whatever. 

You see people spelling HIStory and implying that the truth is something other than the official version in the school books.  I have found this to be true in some cases.  For instance the first black slave owner in the United States was black.  You never hear about that during black history month.  Sure you'll get the off the cuff mention about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, as if liking a bit of brown sugar now and then was some sort of stain on America's founding. 

History is filled with little stories that don't fit the narrative.  Some historians go after these stories.  I always find these little side trips interesting:

The newly unearthed diaries of a colourful assassin for the wartime Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the CIA, reveal that American spy chiefs wanted Patton dead because he was threatening to expose allied collusion with the Russians that cost American lives.

The death of General Patton in December 1945, is one of the enduring mysteries of the war era. Although he had suffered serious injuries in a car crash in Manheim, he was thought to be recovering and was on the verge of flying home.

But after a decade-long investigation, military historian Robert Wilcox claims that OSS head General "Wild Bill" Donovan ordered a highly decorated marksman called Douglas Bazata to silence Patton, who gloried in the nickname "Old Blood and Guts".

His book, "Target Patton", contains interviews with Mr Bazata, who died in 1999, and extracts from his diaries, detailing how he staged the car crash by getting a troop truck to plough into Patton's Cadillac and then shot the general with a low-velocity projectile, which broke his neck while his fellow passengers escaped without a scratch.
 

Can I see this being true, yes.  It will be interesting to see how this work holds up.  There is much from the WWII days that is now coming into the public domain and the story I was told in school about "America's greatest generation" is something less than the whole truth.  Finding out the whole truth is going to be a long uphill battle.  I've been wanting to get my hands on this book, for some time.  Talk about a difficult task.  Then again, getting the truth is seldom easy.

From the Blotter

I hope she got the extra value meal.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KOAT/CNN) - Friday afternoon on the corner of Virginia Street and Central Avenue, a neighborhood known for prostitution, an undercover cop says 58-year-old Donald Jones hooked up with Keli Gilbert in a very peculiar way.

MOREPolice say Jones was observed picking up Gilbert at the corner. Police followed him to a local McDonald's, into the drive-thru where they picked up a snack.

The criminal complaint says the two then drove to U.S.S. Bullhead Memorial Park, where the cop approached the car and "observed Keli through the passenger window quickly pulling up her pants."

After being confronted, police say the woman admitted Jones bought her food in exchange for sex.

Police say both Gilbert and Jones were arrested.
 

Some say that prostitution is a victimless crime.  I don't see how that could be true in this case.  Who knows? He could have got the clap and she could have got high cholesterol. 

On a more serious note, either this chick is supper ugly, or the economy is doing much worse than anyone thought.  I haven't been trough drive thru in a while.  Last I remember it, a extra value meal was what six bucks?

UPDATE

I did a little search for a mug shot.  I'm not sure if this is her or not, but the profile info and allies fits.

Thou Shalt Not...

This was a little amusing.

Fleming was arrested Friday afternoon at the Barnes & Noble near Cumberland Mall and charged with misdemeanor shoplifting, Cobb County jail records show.

“Said accused did exit the store with the merchandise, passing all pay counters,” Fleming’s arrest warrant states.

Fleming has been charged with theft by shoplifting, and her bond has been set at $1,000.

The book she was stealing? A Bible.

Here's my offer to Barnes & Noble and Ms Fleming: I will pay for the bible if Ms. Fleming agrees to read it and if after doing so, Barnes & Noble agrees to let the matter drop.

When I Was a Kid...

I did crazy stuff when I was a kid.  Some of that stuff happened in school.  Like the time in 5th grade I made volcano for my science project.  I had lava made out of baking powder and vinegar it was colored red with food dye and it oozed out the top.  I had read how volcanoes sometimes "blew their top" and gave off lots of smoke, so I rigged a couple of smoke bombs into the deal and a fire cracker or two into the dried mud on top of the cone.  I lit the whole thing off and the smoke blew, the fire crackers were loud then the lava came out.  It was freaking cool!

The class room got kinda smokey and we all had to go outside for about 45 mins for early recess while the teacher and the janitor got some big fans to air the room out.

Compare that to today:

A 16-year-old Bartow High School student was arrested Monday on allegations she detonated a bottle of explosive materials on the school grounds.

The girl told authorities she was conducting a science experiment, according to Bartow police, but science teachers at the school said they knew nothing about it. She also said she thought the materials would produce only smoke, not an explosion, police said.

Pritchard said he was standing nearby when the student left the drink bottle behind the cafeteria, near the lake on the school's east side.

"It was next to the gazebo by the lake," he said. "I wasn't standing too far away when it happened. I just heard the pop, and I turned around. I thought it was a firecracker at first."
 

When I was 18 I bought my first shot gun.  I also had a couple of months of school left.  I really liked shooting trap and was good at it.  So I'd have my shotgun in the car and go shooting after school. 

Again compare that to today:

Most members of the Johnston County community, just southeast of Raleigh believe the 18-year-old is paying far too big a price for an honest mistake. Withrow had been skeet shooting with friends a day before, and only noticed he had left his shotgun in his truck on Monday morning as he reached to grab his book bag, said family friend Kimberly Boykin. When he realized his mistake, rather than leave school grounds, he went to the front office to call his mother for help.
 

Did ya catch that?  He forgot his gun was in the truck.  He called his mom to come get it.  They threw his ass in jail.   He can't graduate and he is banded from the campus for 365 days.  His crime? Realizing he made a mistake and trying to do the right thing.

All I know is that its a good thing I got out of school more than 20 years ago.  If I hadn't I'd be writing this blog post from inside the big house.

 

News Flash

NEWS FLASH: Friday evening. A notorious murderer has just escaped from Texas State Prison. Police advise members of the public that they should not approach him at any costs, but report any sightings to their nearest police station.

NEWS FLASH: Saturday afternoon. The convict who escaped from Texas State Prison late Friday evening is safely back in custody after surrendering himself to police early this morning.

 

When asked why he gave himself up after his first taste of freedom for twelve years, the con replied, "When I finally got home, the first thing my wife asked me was, 'Where have you been? You escaped eight hours ago.'"