Spud is currently on his annual sojourn to the West Coast to hang with the fam. Just a spectacular part of the world, even if the weather typically sucks. Adler hasn’t found a dead sea lion to roll in yet.
Links?
“Okay, we’ll stop lobbing missiles at each other. Sorry, dad.”
Maybe they’ll learn at some point?
Wow. Not one “Orange Man Bad” comment, or “Newark was a great airport four months ago!”.
“The Science is settled.” Honestly, I have no idea if this is a pipe dream or not, but it’s worth looking into.
This is actually a baller move.
Okay, that’s it for me. The balcony calls. Peace out, Glibbies.
186,000 Palestinian deaths as a direct result of the unprovoked horrors visted on Israel by Hamas. Israel condemned, Hamas celebrated.
Typical lefty evil bullshit.
Keep celebrating and supporting the very vilest of human beings and their behavior. I am sure you will sweep the next election.
Just the shithead quislings in this country supporting illegals and other non-citizen shit stirrers.
https://www.opb.org/article/2025/05/09/federal-judge-ruling-oregon-students-visas/
Fucking federal clown. Fifteen days notice? Fuck em, they’re guests on a permission slip. The correct answer is zero notice. File a lawsuit once you get back to your home country.
Buddy got fucked over in a DUI. State was dragging out the case, asking for continuances because they weren’t ready, and running up lawyer costs. Was looking at another year and half to resolve plus $10k in legal bill. Buddy was tired of it hanging over so changed to no contest and took a diversion. No federal clown was getting his panties in a bunch over that.
Or steal from an individual client’s trust account, get disbarred and referred for prosecution. State stealing collectively from trust accounts (interest on trust accounts) gets blessed by scotus. Fucking criminals.
The left prefers aliens over citizens. That much should be obvious by now to anyone paying attention.
Citizens that are not them are the wrong kind of people.
Funny, IRL I know donkeys that look down on other Democrats for… reasons I don’t understand.
I’m just glad they’re not my friends.
The left prefers aliens over citizens.
They come with built-in oppression!
“No matter how much information you give them they cannot draw a sensible conclusion.”
No, they wont learn. How fucked in the head or just outright evil does one have to be to support men beating women?
They are completely morally bankrupt.
If the women were trans they could be treated like men.
Second Class Citizens could be an all girl band.
4×20 from the top rope!
Old guy music
Thanks, Spud
First album I ever bought. I was in second grade, and we had a flea market at the school. I bought it because of the cover art.
Playing for Change version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es3Vsfzdr14
Nice cover.
My first was a Kingston Trio, I think I have that on CD now.
Hey, Spud, if you are coming this way (Albany) on your way back to Idaho, drop me a line. We can have food.
Thanks for the invite! I don’t stay on the coast that far, unfortunately. I cut over to 97 through Grants Pass and Crater Lake. Then I hang a right at Bend.
Gotcha. But the invite stands next time you are out this way.
While the precise details of Cofa agreements – which have only ever been extended to the small island nations of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau – vary depending on the signatory, the US government typically provides many essential services, from mail delivery to emergency management to military protection. In exchange, the US military operates freely in Cofa countries and trade with the US is largely duty-free.
The population of Greenland is half that of Micronesia. Does that count as a “small island”?
Well, we know Trump didn’t come up with this idea, he would have spelled it Kofeva.
“A Cofa agreement would stop short of Trump’s ambition to make the island of 57,000 people a part of the US. It is not the only Greenland plan on the table, the sources said, and it would face many practical hurdles.”
Good. (I doubt this happens and I’m not certain it’s being floated seriously. I don’t even *want* it taken seriously, but spitballing.) Giving the 51st state two Senators would be dreadful for the (sane) US, but adding some of the responsibilities of a small city in exchange for access to all that land?
I don’t want the US adding responsibilities to its plate. Terrible idea and I’m not in favor. However, it is true I’m unaware of the full nature of Greenland’s apparently incredibly valuable real-estate, both in the natural resources realm and of Greenland’s supposed key military value in the Arctic Circle, the next ‘big thing,’ I’ve heard.
We need to be up there if only to throw a monkey wrench in China’s plans to add Canada to its “belt and road” empire.
I’m thinking Obama and his 57 states plan was just a little premature. He could have just started dividing those that would like to split, first 7 gets priority.
The CoFa was flagged as a likely outcome on the day Trump starting Trumping about Greenland. I suspect it’s always been the endgame.
Art of the Deal – let Greenland think they suggested the solution and everyone is happy.
Excellent song for tonight.
On Thursday, the US Department of Transportation announced a three-year-plan to build a “brand-new air traffic control system” by 2028.
It’s a government project, so things will be up to 2015 standards sometime around 2055 — and cost twelve times as much to implement.
I figure the issues at Newark are OBE’s fault.
/just kidding
Searching for that last-minute gift for Mom? Gotcha covered.
HA!!
If I dropped that on Mom tomorrow .. uh.. I would be instigating a family crisis. No chance they could laugh at the silliness. (Honestly, often just being reminded that Trump *is* president is a sore, nasty barb into how they badly they lost, particularly after backing a walking corpse before only realizing in Debate 1 how fucked their chances of keeping DC theirs really was.
Whoopsie-doodle.
Heading west?
Say hi to STEVE SMITH, prominant forest lawyer.
beep boop does not compute
Oregon coast – notoriously cloudy/foggy/rainy. The exceptions being when the crap weather moves inland over the coastal range, then you get some beautiful weather on the coast.
Perfect.
Just got back from my first match of Action Pistol.
I failed.
I did not consistantly seat magazine properly, at least once per stage, sometimes twice, I did not seat the magazine enough to feed.
Twice I got too close to the unsafe line 90° off forward. I did not cross that line, and both times it happened after clearing the chamber and when trying to show clear to the RO. Just DQ me now.
I rushed aiming and didn’t get my sight picture properly set up before firing too often. That sucked, I missed because of that.
Half the stages were designed around ten round magazines, so having 8 made it a bit… interesting.
Things not my fault:
People kept trying to talk me into drawing with a round in the chamber for faster times. Dudes, I literally have zero practice drawing, I am not comfortable doing it with a live round in the pipe, safety or no safety. Respect that decision.
The people who design stages are Absolutely insane. Two of them were Not Adahn’s so… I’m not changing that opinion.
Congrats! Just the first time, which is always the hardest, naturally.
Sucks to take a ‘loss’ in your first game, but ya still went out and played. Failure teaches more than success, and I imagine it further drives, incentivizes you to do better next time. (Even if it’s a bad first lay, or first kiss, first-ever interview or whatever, having *done* it is the focal key.)
Part of the learning process, UCS. You can practice (dry fire) in front of the hallway mirror, until you can beat the other guy.
It didn’t help that my real holster is on order and is still a few weeks away. I was using a shitty WalMart holster that liked to snag. All the more reaosn Not to have a round chambered, if I’m fighting my temporary holster.
“Are you talkin’ to me? Are you talkin to me?”
You didn’t shoot anything you shouldn’t have shot, right? For a first match, I’d call that a success.
This
Well, I hit several “no shoot” targets in between the actual targets, I hit one barrel (plastic), but no people, and nothing over the berm.
No negligent discharge while holstering? Better than DEA agents.
No negligent discharge period. I shot only when I intentionally pulled the trigger.
“Well, I hit several “no shoot” targets in between the actual targets, I hit one barrel (plastic), but no people, and nothing over the berm.”
Well, you got home safe, and that is what is really important.
(seriously, just going and doing is what is important. So, winning.)
The gun is good.
This one had zero malfunctions that were not user error. (All of those were from failure to seat the magazine properly)
I did get a brick of .45 practice ammo – 200rds for $90, it was the best rate I could find on short notice. I’m sure if I could get ammo delivered, online would be even better. Unfortunately, I shot through a lot of that brick today.
https://ammoseek.com/ammo/45acp
You should be looking at about $0.28 a round. But it is NY.
Finished listening to the “When We Were Wizards” podcast, about the TSR years of D&D.
It is, as they say in the podcast, a “rags-to-riches-to-rags” story.
Gygax basically got hoisted by his own petard. Actions he took to screw other people out of royalties swung back and hit him, hard.
Also, after the coup that ousted him, he had an offer to retain the rights to the D&D brand, plus get paid millions of dollars just to go away, but he turned it down because he still thought he could win in court.
He didn’t win in court.
Still, he is not presented as a wholly unsympathetic guy. They used clips of his first wife and two of his kids, and none of them seemed resentful.
He was a guy who loved the limelight and wanted to be in charge, but didn’t have the skills or abilities or temperament to be in charge. He was a creative person, not a manager.
He spent his last years sort of making amends for the mistakes he made in those early years.
The white, geeky version of We Wuz Kangz.
I’ve mentioned I was highly into *reading* about GURPS and, especially, Werewolf: The Apocolypse. Just reading the histories in the books describing the tribes, their powers, etc. A more literary X-Men, which I fucking ate up in the 90s. The animated series? A? Fucking awesome. B? Rogue highly enticed me, in ways I couldn’t yet understand, and looking back? Jean-Grey rocks the hottest side-boob slipped into kids’ programming.
https://gizmodo.com/app/uploads/2021/05/54bd2b7cb743927360d03b3a08a69c2d.jpg
She’s also so damn useless. She has lessor Prof Xavier mental abilities, along with substantial telekinetic abilities. Yet, she’s largely useless. Dammit, girl. You’re sitting on so much potential. Rogue and I will coax out your power.
Steve Jackson is only in his early 70’s! But the Secret Service raid was 35 years ago…. fuck…
NO SPOILERS!
I still have it queued up.
I got the impression from the Witwer book that he was a poor kid who made it big, was quite the family man, and had many faults. One thing that stuck out to me from the book that I wonder if the podcast touches on is his dad introduced him to fantasy, I think with Conan. His dad died when Gygax was a teen. Gygax withdrew from his dad and resented his dad for dying. Older Gygax regretted doing that, which colored how he acted towards his wife and kids.
Yes, the podcast touches on that.
Thanks!
He was a guy who loved the limelight and wanted to be in charge, but didn’t have…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG2cux_6Rcw
One of the interesting choices, in my opinion, is to not mention either Moldvay or Mentzer.
Or Larry Elmore.
Errol Otus gets mentioned, once.
The basic set, and its popularity, is discussed, but it’s the Holmes version that is referred to.
There were a lot of missteps, and not just by Gygax. The Bloom Brothers—who were co-owners—also made some suboptimal decisions.
A magazine of sorts was published by former employees, who spread gossipy stories about what was going on in the company, supposedly sourced to current employees. The podcast relies on this magazine for some of its information.
I liked Errol Otus’ art.
No mention of Moldvay, Mentzer, or Elmore? Seriously?
An Errol Otis is one of the few t-shirts I still wear as I get older.
Errol Otus did some of the covers for “Old School Essentials”, published by Necrotic Gnome.
Speaking of, I went to the gun range in Carmel a few years back with Dad. First time shooting in a long-while, for me. Kinda tempted to go again. This obviously doesn’t apply to them, but I’ve been thinking of Cool Uncle activities, no OMWC-material…, I can take the Boys on. Wanna have my own time with ’em, which I’ve only rarely had, and show ’em something they don’t normally get to see or do. Bro may not be keen on that, frankly, but ‘rents are.
One primary uncle ‘focus’ is to demonstrate how different brothers can be. Colin and I have the ~exact same intellectual and physical abilities, but with *completely* different personalities and interests. Seems important to impart, particularly as the middle is remarkably different than the others, borderline select mutism. Astonishingly timid.
Even if the kids could watch, IIRC how that works, no way in fuck-shit would Colin let them. Dangerous animistic spirits froth forth!
That’s the beauty of having siblings.
My childhood friend, an only child, married an only child. They have 3 now grown up kids. Kids never had a cousin or aunt or uncle. My friend said he envied me ’cause I had two brothers, even though he had all the toys, etc. It was great to have a best friend with a full size pool table in the basement.
My mother was one of seven, my father one of seven living to adulthood (five others died in infancy. This was West Virginia). As a result I ended up with 20 first cousins on my mother’s side and a half-dozen or more on my father’s (didn’t keep track of them as well). My siblings and I of course thought that that was normal to have that many first cousins, as we saw my mother’s side frequently during family reunions and often at other times. We have one photo someplace where we were all running as part of some game at a reunion and I always think of it as a ‘river of cousins’. My sister married an only child. It was culture shock when he attended his first family reunion with us.
My family is all broken apart, mixed up, and lots of blank spaces.
I have two (half?) cousins I haven’t seen in decades. Same with their father. No aunts that I know of. I don’t even remember how many times my grandma was married.
Everything on my father’s side (the Idaho branch) is a complete blank except for his parents who died many decades ago.
@ 4×20: I’d love to read your experiences in cultural, kinda specifically technological, change in your life. Not old-personing you, but Dad is resentful he never asked his granddad about his experiences in WWI. You’re 2x+2(+) my age, and it is important to pass your info on. I also know you’re busy and have your own life and interests. A polite request, is all. (*smooch!*)
@ Saruman: Dad’s from Abingdon, VA, and Bro and I were born in Bluefield, WV. He went to school there, but six months after I was born and named, Dad got a job with the Evansville Courier, hence my handle.
I know *of* and have met a cousin on my Mom’s side. Dad’s side, I have one cousin, Adam, who was working pit crews for ‘minor league’ NASCAR. I know nothing about that side of the family, with my Dad’s bro purposefully living a block away from his boyhood home, never leaving the region, nor caring for his parents a quarter-mile away. That uncle’s wife shares my birthday (April 28!) and was the only one even vaguely curious about my experiences in Korea when I visited them in 2012. I took Poppee to a casino somewhere in VA, my last time seeing them. (Not a big loss.)
Humans, such strange creatures. *looks in mirror*
4×20 is an interesting fella.
Huge depth and width of knowledge.
I know he’ll hate it, but there is a Sundee school song about “Deep and Wide” which applies perfectly to him.
Am I allowed to start drinking yet? Oh wait, I started at 10am.
What are you enjoying this evening?
Having started at 10AM, he’d probably even enjoy malort.
A really weird orange wine from Six Eighty Cellars, a lovely little winery on Cayuga Lake. Prime and I were there last week checking out their lineup- a lot of very experimental stuff and this is one I brought home with me.
Started drinking this morning, going to Forge on Seneca Lake with WebDom to do a 2024 vintage preview barrel tasting and a few selections from their library to show the aging potential.
Beer Day tomorrow with Prime at a microbrewery in the hamlet of Arcade.
You never stopped..
Do you people even First?
We should be at a hundred Firsts in this thread by now. Do better, people.
@straff
moriah at moriahjovan dot com
This is the “what are we reading” thread, but I am working through West With the Night by Beryl Markham, aloud, to my wife.
She bought this book for me twenty-something years ago, and I have only just recently started reading it a few weeks ago.
Markham is a good writer, exhibiting a skill similar to PG Wodehouse (though she doesn’t write humor).
Markham, for the record, was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, East-to-West. She grew up in Africa, trained horses in her youth, and somehow learned to fly an airplane.
The book is topical rather than chronological. The copy we have contains photos from her life.
“(Beryl) Markham, for the record, was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, East-to-West. She grew up in Africa, trained horses in her youth, and somehow learned to fly an airplane.”
Pussy.
Just finished watching some BananaBall on ESPN2. In the crawl, they were posting scores for “M LAX”*, which got me wondering – would that be 100 times as powerful as X LAX? 🤔
*Yes, I know what it really stands for.
I had to look it up (assuming it has nothing to do with an airport in Los Angeles).
Fun fact: Way back when the Rev. GT was a residence hall adviser at a Quaker college (while he finished seminary,) the school had a “People’s Lacrosse” team. I don’t recall whether it was varsity or intramural.
Exciting day of racing. Two boats played bumper boats and cracked the hull of one and partially crushed the bow of the offender. Luckily there were no injuries. Then the other class of boats had two break during a race and spill the crews. The boats and crews then were slowly drifting downwind towards an island.*
The Race Committe then said fuck it and threw up the November flag over the Alpha flag and we were done racing for the day. It is too bad since we were in a decent position after the first three races.
*All were safely towed in.
Does the subplot to The Nice Guys, which is otherwise a terrific movie, make absolutely no sense? The premise (spoilers if you’ve not seen it) is that American automakers are attempting to suppress evidence that would lead to the adoption of a catalytic converter mandate in California. So the Big 3 automakers coopt Kim Basinger’s character, a Justice Department muckity-muck, to help kill off several people involved in disseminating pollution data and advocating for the catalytic converter.
But… why? This isn’t like tobacco, where the only real solution is less use and therefore less tobacco products sold. The device is something auto manufacturers would install and pass the costs on to consumers. It’d make their vehicles a little more expensive and the manufacturers would enjoy the markup. It’s not like the mandate targets any particular manufacturer; anyone who wants to sell cars in California would need to comply. And the Big 3 have their supply chain logistics nailed down flat, so they above anyone else would enjoy the added bonus of a mandate helping squelch any upstart.
So why bother with this convoluted, dumb conspiracy that could, at any moment, blow up and implicate them? None if it makes sense. Unless, of course, it’s just the product of Hollywood writers with their ideological priors contriving some dumb anti-capitalist plot point because they don’t know any better.
The automakers used to fight government mandates at every turn even if it would have mandated more money to them. They used to despise and fight regulation. The automakers used to be cool.
It’s just the product of Hollywood writers with their ideological priors contriving some dumb anti-capitalist plot point because they don’t know any better.
Happy Mother’s Day, lady Glibs.
🦄🤔🍰
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqldwoDXHKg
🎶🎶
https://6abc.com/post/police-investigating-fatal-shooting-12-year-old-boy/16378542/
I think “DF” stands for Dumb Fuck. 🙄
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/05/sitting-congressman-reveals-secret-underground-tunnel-beneath-u/
Fuck tunnels!
It’s a “secret” tunnel…lots of graffiti in there.
Indeed, happy Mother’s Day to ya! I think bdays should also be mother-celebration days. They did all the work!
Tapas with the family right after work. On Break 1, now. Hour and a half til lunch. Mmmm…
Trump. Trump. Trump.
You’d think he’s running for office in NJ for all the times I hear his name in NJ political ads.
If they can run against him in Canada then New Jersey is fair game too. He’s the orange boogeyman who’s under everyone’s bed.
Democrats literally have nothing else.
Keep plugging men beating up women in sports? More junkets to gangbangers in El Salvador? Yeah, go with that. 🙄
Morning Sean, Looks like you and me, buddy, carrying the load
…and Evan…
I’m here, enjoying a cup of coffee….
☀️☕️