Very Irritating

Google is irritating me again today. I use the crap outta their stuff, but wow, can they be any more leftist than they are?

Okay, fine. Caesar Chavez's 86th birthday is today. He is a labor hero, as well as a Hispanic hero. Seems like today is something else as well:

 

Oh, I dunno, maybe it's just Easter. You know, that holiday that is considered highly important to Christians world wide because we celebrate the rebirth of Christ. You know, the cornerstone of our religion. I guess farm workers belonging to labor unions and Hispanics who admire Chavez are ever so much more important than the freaking rest of the world. Dunno why I'm surprised, Google is behaving normally. Leave it to the outfit that claims to commit no evil to snub Christians on a regular basis. Because recognizing a Christian holiday would be evil, apparently.

Great. Just Great.

After all these years, we find that Alexander is a pedophile.

A glimpse of some Future Farmers of America? Not quite. More like future meth addicts of America. Chocolate was only a gateway to the "good stuff" for this bunch. Filthy, drooling, longing for their fix - not much of a future here.

Biiiiiig Ship

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Time lapse photo sequence of the building of Maersk Line's biggest ship. At one point, the ship is floated, pulled out, and several ships pass through. Then the dock is drained, refilled and the unfinished ship is brought back in. I suppose the ships that moved out were being built "behind" the biggun? Got no idea.

H/T Nukle Kim

So There!

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I was in North Dakota for the better part of two days earlier this week, and I saw this ad tailored for that area. The push was to get the citizens of ND to let Senator Heidi Heitkamp know that they were for comprehensive registration. Oh, and it's funded by NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. What a surprise.

Well, that was a failure.

Heitkamp tells Bloomberg to butt out on guns

GRAND FORKS — Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., responded sharply Tuesday to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s TV ad campaign targeting senators who may be reluctant to support pending gun control legislation.

Bloomberg is personally financing the campaign in 13 states, including North Dakota, where he believes senators, Republicans and Democrats, need pressure from constituents to vote for requiring background checks for all gun purchases.

Of the roughly $10 million aimed at boosting support for the legislation across the country, about $156,000 is to be spent in North Dakota.

“North Dakota continues to have one the highest rates of gun ownership and lowest incidences of gun crime in the country,” Heitkamp said in a statement released Tuesday by her Washington, D.C., office. “Yet New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg insists on taking gun-driven crime statistics in his city and from other major cities and trying to force those numbers into a narrative that just does not fit in North Dakota.

“Frankly, there are far better uses for Mayor Bloomberg’s $156,000 than buying ads attacking a way of life he clearly does not understand.”

Heitkamp campaigned for the Senate seat in 2012 as a strong defender of the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment guarantee of the right to keep and bear arms.

Heritage, rights

“Gun ownership in North Dakota comes down to growing up in a culture where those rights come with an ingrained responsibility taught at a young age,” she said in her statement Tuesday. “We are proud of our outdoor heritage and will continue to protect the rights of our hunters and sport shooters, the rights of our farmers and ranchers to protect their crops and livestock from wildlife, and the rights of responsible, law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and their homes.”

She said she supports keeping guns “out of the hands of criminals and the dangerously mentally ill,” and that is why she supports “each state fully reporting into the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System.”

As North Dakota’s former attorney general, “I do not need someone from New York City to tell me how to handle crime in our state,” Heitkamp said.

“I know that we can go after and prosecute criminals without the need to infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding North Dakotans,” she said. “I believe in using every tool available to find and prosecute criminals to the fullest extent of the law, and that includes criminals purchasing firearms or in the possession of firearms.

“I wouldn’t expect Mayor Bloomberg to follow my advice on how to run a major east coast city of over 8 million people, and I don’t plan to follow his advice on what is best for North Dakotans.”

Bloomberg’s ad campaign is not the first challenge Heitkamp has faced from gun control advocates since her election. In January, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence placed ads in Politico and Roll Call as well as in North Dakota newspapers.

Heitkamp said she prefers “a balanced approach,” including a focus on the mental health aspect of gun violence, “and we need to live in reality, what can you actually get passed.”

And she is a Democrat, too.

And, as an aside, I know I was highly convinced this guy was a farmer and a father. After all, he's in a plaid shirt jacket sitting on the tailgate of a pickup fingering a shotgun, all of which I own (sans kids, anyway). Plus he has a beard. I'd just bet he wants his children to fill out 4473s for the time when he wants to pass on that shotgun and his obligatory deer rifle to one of them. Since he's a bona fide hunter and all. I really don't care for his finger placement, either - not in the trigger guard, but it sure isn't completely clear, either.

Lordy am I ever tired of these statists trying to control my life.

DOMA

The case about the Defense of Marriage Act now before the Supreme Court has certainly attracted a lot of attention as well as the ire of liberals and conservatives. Gay rights supporters want the law declared to be unconstitutional and the decision written in such a way that gives them full marriage rights. Religious conservatives want it in place, because of certain Biblical laws and traditions - marriage is between a man and a woman.

My own opinion of the Bible argument is that there is no clear consensus that it is in total and complete favor of marriage being only between one man and one woman. There are too many other mentions of marriage being between one man and several women, as well as rules as to how a wife must completely obey her husband by submitting completely. We can pick and choose what we want, but you aren't going to convince me on this issue that the Bible is clear cut in this matter. I am no Bible scholar, but even I can find conflicting passages.

So, for me, the Bible is not the repository of legal decision making here - it's gotta be the Constitution. It certainly was written by Christians who believed in Christian morals and precepts. They definitely had it in mind that this was to be a Christian nation, but they were not going to force a particular religion on anyone (see Church of England, Henry VIII edition). So, while our Constitution was founded on Christian principals, it does not defer to the Bible for making decisions.

So, let us look at the pertinent Amendments in the Constitution and their relevance. First, the Tenth Amendment.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

There is nothing in the Constitution about marriage in any amendment, period. This issue is a states' rights problem, not one for the Feds if one interprets this amendment in this manner, period. This means the DOMA is usurping states' rights, end of story. The Supremes should be looking at this as unconstitutional.

However, not so fast, buddy. There is the matter of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause - both contained in this statement.

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

By denying gay couple living together civil marriages, we deny them things that heterosexual couples take for granted, such as property rights, life insurance coverage and many other issues. In order for a state to prevent this from happening, they must, according to the Due Process Clause, demonstrate that they did indeed give the parties concerned Due Process according to law. They must also prove that denying civil unions does not prevent equal protection under the law.

I'm sorry, but that is a pretty tall order. While one can argue that this is strictly a states' right issue, and that the Feds need to stay out of it, the two above mentioned clauses negates that thought. So, DOMA is unconstitutional on the basis of the Fourteenth Amendment, even while it seems to violate the Tenth.

I am as much a Constitutional scholar as I am a Biblical scholar. Which ain't much. If this makes me some sort of sexual bigot, so be it, but I am not in favor of gay marriage, nor of a gay lifestyle. I also think that allowing this sort of behavior and making it mainstream will erode our moral base. I think that is may all be a wedge issue, because outfits like NAMBLA are just itching to become legit. They want sex with boys to be considered acceptable, and outfits like GLAAD are more than willing to accept their support. This worries me.

Even bestiality supporters are pushing this. Why would these practitioners of (as far as I'm concerned) sexual aberrations support this issue? Because they want even more, that's why.

But, I also am a great supporter of Constitutional bases for our laws. And I see no way that there is a logical argument in favor of considering DOMA constitutional. Sorry, but I do not.

And on a personal note, I have a former classmate who is gay. She and her companion have been together for I have no idea how many years. They have been politically and personally active in trying to improve the world, in particular, they adopted an abused child and raised him. They gave him a loving home, and by all accounts, he is turning out to be a fine young man.

Whilst I cannot say anything even close. Never married, and unable to keep a relationship going. My parents divorced. How in the wide wide world of sports does this give me moral authority over these two? How can I judge these two?

Simple. I cannot.

I simply do not see how civil unions between same sex couple can be kept illegal. I am most definitely in favor of letting religions institutions choose which side to be on, but I do not see how our Constitutionally supported laws can pick and choose in this regard. I certainly hope the pendulum doesn't swing "the other way" and force churches to perform gay weddings, much the same as forcing religions to support abortions and other birth control practices a la The Affordable Care Act. There has to be differentiation there, period. If not, we'll see the Catholic church and certainly others embroiled in lawsuits for years until the Supremes get around to deciding if forcing religions to support something they most definitely do not is Constitutional or not, and only lawyers will prosper if that happens.

I know I'm gonna hear it from some of my more religious friends, and I'm probably going to hear Bible quotes. Keep in mind that this argument is defined by the Constitutionality of your position, not what the Bible says when you compose your defense. "Render unto Caesar" pretty well applies here.
 

This News Makes Me Feel All Kinds of Good

A Tucson gun store owner has decided to rescind the sale of a military-style rifle to Mark Kelly, the husband of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, after Kelly said he had intended the purchase to make a political point about how easy it is to obtain the kind of firearms he's lobbying Congress to ban.

snip

But Kelly couldn't immediately take possession of the rifle because the shop had bought it from a customer. As a result, the store is required by a Tucson ordinance to hold the gun for 20 days to give the city enough time to make sure the weapon wasn't used in a crime.

Store owner Doug MacKinlay said Monday in a Facebook post of his own that he "determined that was in my company's best interest to terminate this transaction prior to his returning to my store."

"While I support and respect Mark Kelly's 2nd Amendment rights to purchase, possess, and use firearms in a safe and responsible manner, his recent statements to the media made it clear that his intent in purchasing the Sig Sauer M400 5.56mm rifle from us was for reasons other then for his personal use," MacKinlay said in the statement.
He added that the store will return Kelly's money, donate the rifle to the Arizona Tactical Officers Association to be raffled as a fundraiser and make an additional contribution of $1,295 -- the value of the rifle -- to the Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program.

As they say, read the whole thing.

 

I can tell you this - I'd buy something from this guy if I could just to give him some business. It's about time we gun rights supporters started sticking together and refusing to take money from those who wish us ill - such as states with severe gun control laws and their law enforcement organizations, and individual actions such as this. Maybe they'll catch a clue. Probably not, but it sure feels good.

Tears In Rain

This cartoon made me larf right out loud when I saw it today. Of course it's a parody of this scene:


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If you are any kind of geek at all, you absolutely know this is Roy Batty's (played by Rutger Hauer) death scene in Blade Runner - also starring Harrison Ford. It's also known as The Tears In Rain Soliloquy.

In Blade Runner, the dying replicant Roy Batty introspectively makes the speech during a rain downpour, moments before his own death:

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. [laughs] Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like [coughs] tears in rain. Time to die.

In the Channel 4 documentary On the Edge of Blade Runner, Hauer, director Ridley Scott, and screenwriter David Peoples asserted that Hauer wrote the "Tears in Rain" speech. There were earlier versions of the speech in Peoples' draft screenplays; one included the sentence "I rode on the back decks of a blinker and watched c-beams glitter in the dark, near the Tanhauser Gate"^[5] In his autobiography, Hauer said he merely cut the original scripted speech by several lines, adding only "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain"^[6] although the original script, displayed during the documentary, before Hauer's rewrite, does not mention "Tanhauser Gate":

I've known adventures, seen places you people will never see, I've been Offworld and back... frontiers! I've stood on the back deck of a blinker bound for the Plutition Camps with sweat in my eyes watching the stars fight on the shoulder of Orion...I've felt wind in my hair, riding test boats off the black galaxies and seen an attack fleet burn like a match and disappear. I've seen it, felt it...!

Hauer described this as "opera talk" and "hi-tech speech" with no bearing on the rest of the film, so he "put a knife in it" the night before filming, without Scott's knowledge.^[7] In interview with Dan Jolin, Hauer said that these final lines showed that Batty wanted to "make his mark on existence ... the robot in the final scene, by dying, shows Deckard what a real man is made of."^[8]
When Hauer performed the scene, the film crew applauded and some even cried. This was due to the power of the dying speech coming at the end of an exhausting shoot.^[9]

Hauer as Roy Batty had been a ruthless killer, but he did have the capacity to feel some sort of love - for Pris (Darryl Hannah) and Zhora (Joanna Cassidy). Hauer really did do quite a job here, it's quite moving, particularly in the context of the movie. Which you should see, even if you aren't into science fiction.

Blade Runner is noirish in the dark and gloomy way it's presented.Always raining, always night, and you cannot trust anyone. It's in the future for sure, but it's not a happy one. Scott really set the tone for many future science fiction flicks with the mood he set here. The special effects aren't really central to the plot or the action - it's all character driven.  And, if you've ever read Philip K. Dick, you can understand where a lot of the tone comes from - Blade Runner is based on his book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Just a quick plot summary - Deckard (Ford) is called back from retirement to "retire" a group of rebelling replicants who have escaped their planet and made it back to Earth. Replicants are engineered humans who have a limited shelf life. These were a bunch of enhanced specimens looking for a way to live longer. While Deckard is a cop, he is essentially a government assassin. And as the movie moves along, the question of whether Deckard himself is a replicant becomes an issue that is never answered. In fact, the female replicant he falls for (Sean Young as Rachael) asks him if he's taken the screening test he gives to determine replicant status himself. Makes ya wonder.

There are a lot of quality actors in this - Brion James, Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh, William Sanderson (other brother Daryl) are among the cast, as well as those mentioned earlier. Vandelis handled the music.

In short, Blade Runner is truly a cult classic.

Creeps

Charlie Brown - you are officially creeping me out. First it's pencils, then it's gonna be her underwear. Stop the madness now. In other news, Lucy is still a mouthy bitch.

 

And Linus is an anal retentive pedantic little prick. But well meaning, of course.

March Dadness

My father was a big time college basketball fan. The sun rose and set upon the Kansas Jayhawk Empire for him, but he was always up for watching a good game on television.

He really came into his own during March Madness when I had a 4DTV C and Ku Band satellite system. You know, the huge dish that had a motor to move it across the sky to receive different satellites. He always claimed not to know "how to run the damn thing" and usually made me switch satellites to find whatever it was he wanted to watch. The 4DTV had one of the first interactive program guides on it, and it worked quite well.

But when I was off at work, he had no choice but to learn, and he did. At the time, one could purchase a package that showed all the games, but the kicker was that you had to pay. Or you could surf the "wild feeds" for the games. Wild feeds were usually dedicated to syndicated programming - they'd broadcast the Jerry Springer Show at a certain time each day on a certain channel for local stations to receive and record for their own broadcasts. However, the major networks also used them for programming like March Madness, where just a couple channels for east and west weren't enough. When they had several games going on at once, they had to find a way to send out the signal for each game so the local affiliates could broadcast the game they wanted to show. However, at the time, they weren't scrambled - they were "in the clear" meaning all you needed was a standard receiver to watch.

But the networks weren't completely altruistic. You would think you had the game tuned in and all of a sudden, the picture would go snowy. They'd switched to another channel, usually on a different satellite. Of course all the affiliates had a schedule of the proper channels and the times to switch, but us consumers were purposely left in the dark.

After a couple days, Dad had 'em figured out. If I happened to be at home watching a game with him, all at once he might reach for the remote and tune to a different channel. Sure enough, there would be the game we were watching. He never even wrote any of this down, like I'd surely had to do.

He passed away before the networks finally locked it all down and scrambled all their feeds, period. I was highly impressed with his memory and his ability to learn a new to him technology so well in so short a time. He wanted to know, so he learned. Before, he had me to mess with it. When I wasn't around to do it for him, he figured it out.

I cannot help but wryly note that this is the same man who "forgot" all his promises with regards to my transportation - like fixing up the old pickup he had purchased for me, or the promise that he'd buy something a little better. Yep, forgot all about it, and should I remind him, I got yelled at and my name was mud for the rest of the day and perhaps a week. It was ok for him to spend thousands on his hobby - model airplanes, but that largess didn't expand to me or any other members of the family.

And we're closing in on the fifteen anniversary of his death in April of 1998. I most definitely miss him, and I loved him dearly. But Lawdy, was he ever a pain in the ass, and he wasn't even trying.

Need A Little Help Here, Boss

drjim's wife is probably losing a grandson. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

I Can Hear My Father Speaking To Me

And if I should be so stupid as to try Dolly's lazy ass scheme to keep from going outside, he'd be saying:

Shut that window, son! Are you trying to heat the great outdoors?!? Use your head for something besides a hat rack! If you can't think of anything better to do, I'll put you to work on something useful!"

And he'd be right.

And just because I seem to pick on the hoary old computer generated legacy strips that should have died a long time ago, here's another one:

Finally, after all these years, Hi stands up to Lois's soft tyranny of the job jar on weekends. She doesn't have one, but Hi has been dutifully emptying the thing out every weekend for decades, and it always fills back up. But he has tired of playing Sisyphus, and just wants a nap. It'll cost him, though. That look on Lois's face says couch for you tonite, pal.

 

I'm sure that is Alice's view on how things work - she's just there to make sure Dennis has stuff to get dirty and tear up. Not only is Dennis a Menace, he's a thoughtless little bastard, too.

You Have No Idea

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How much I'd like to pull this off some days.

Dubbed "The Punisher," Alexei Volkov takes a zero-tolerance approach to being cut off while driving his bus on Russia's roads.

Day or night, rain, snow or shine, whenever an errant driver gets in his way, Volkov rams his bus into the offending vehicle without apology -- and records it all on his dashboard camera.

The bus driver then documents the collisions by posting the video footage on YouTube.
In a recent interview which appeared on the Red Hot Russia website, Volkov claimed he's had more than 100 accidents.

"The situation is gradually improving ... due to my educational work," he said.

Volkov says his passengers have nothing to complain about because none have been injured.

And what does the bus company he works for in Zelenograd, Russia, think about his vigilante antics?
"If there is no fault of mine, the management doesn’t care," he said. "The bus usually gets only minor damage. If the damage is more serious, they just wait for the insurance payments and then repair [it]."

If you only knew.

Where I Use Cartoons To Express My Position on an Issue

Of course I speak of Mayor Bloomberg's announcement that any sugary soft drinks over sixteen ounces would forever be verboten, and the subsequent setback by a NY State judge. So, how do we show our support Bloomberg? By showing fat, ignorant conservatives. A fat Oprah probably would be the wrong color, so making fun of a fat white guy is A-OK. Since nanny statist progressives are so tolerant and all.

Oliphant piles on with the fat asses carrying a dead guy, who obviously died from drinking way too many Big Gulps. Because it's all about the large sodas - nothing else out there will make ya fat. Mmmkay.

Yes, clearly this is all for our own good, as seen by those who know better that the rest of us who'd just like to be left alone. Because this is exactly what's happening - us tubbies are just pouring down the sugar in spite of ourselves, and the great advice we get from wonderful leaders like the Mayor.

Yep, it's all about the big sugar companies all banding together to stop this sort of thing. Huh? Big sugar? Learn something new every day. I expect their lobbyists are working overtime. Oh, wait, that's "Big Pharma."

Of course the idea that maybe, just maybe, the Mayor has overstepped his bounds and is meddling where he ain't wanted might just be the actual situation. I think we should take away his bodyguards since he's so against guns. Good for the goose, good for the gander, I say. Since sugar and guns are bad, what is he doing with all the guns surrounding him at all times? Killers, all of 'em. Best he stay away as well.


Of course the absurdity of the whole idea of banning just sodas never seems to occur to many. Probably don't want to give 'em any ideas, but doesn't anybody on the left side of the political divide see how futile this all is? Okay, just answered my own question. It's more important to LOOK like yer doin' something than to actually accomplish anything. Silly me.

It is to laugh. The lower state court justice who overturned this idiocy has my respect. Of course, when one wants to be a complete Richard Cranium, one keeps on fighting, as it were. Bloomberg will appeal.

Yep, this is your tax dollars at work. Not finding jobs, or keeping us secure in our own houses, but rather worried about how much pop y'all drink.

I drink diet, if I do. So there.

Test Drive

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Jeff Gordon pranks a car salesman. And burns off several thousand miles of rubber on that black Camaro. Yee Haw!

And yes, I'd ride along. In a freaking heartbeat.

Mr. Gabby

You may have heard that Mark E Kelley, Gabby Gifford's hubby, is in favor of gun control. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I'm not sure how their efforts would have eliminated the threat to his wife, but there you have it. He's free to feel how he feels, but he isn't free to infringe upon my rights; like it or not.

But that's neither here nor there. The other day he was caught out purchasing an AR-15, and the act hit the news. He did not announce that he was going to purchase one, nor did he announce his intentions to purchase a .45. After the news came out, he then posted on Facebook

I just had a background check a few days ago when I went to my local gun store to buy a 45. As I was leaving, I noticed a used AR-15. Bought that too. Even to buy an assault weapon, the background check only takes a matter of minutes. I don't have possession yet but I'll be turning it over to the Tucson PD when I do. Scary to think of people buying guns like these without a background check at a gun show or the Internet. We really need to close the gun show and private seller loop hole.

He has not, to this point, announced what his reason for purchasing the .45 is/was, or if he will turn it over to the police as well.

Mmmmmmkay. I know if I want to make a well publicized point, I always step right out and do something without letting anyone know about it to achieve maximum publicity. Oh, wait.....

Or, for instance, let's assume I want to show how ineffective drunk driving laws really are. I'm sure I'd get plastered and drive all over, and it I happened to get pulled over, why I'd be just protesting. If I didn't, well, I'm sure I'd turn myself in. Promotion coming later and all. Yeah, that would work.

Nope, I'm not buying it. Mr. Giffords was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and all this other crap is just playing CYA. Okay for me, but not for thee, until I'm shown as a flaming hypocrite.

Wonder what the odds are he's gonna keep that .45? Of course, he'll catch a break from any sort of investigative reporting from the mainstream media - if they didn't see it, it didn't happen, and they never see liberals being hypocrites.

H/T Breitbart

Random Sunday Thoughts

I'm a South of the Border kinda guy. Yep, I'm hooked on the crap Taco Bell shovels out at us all. I just do - it tastes good to me. Not that I don't like going to most Tex Mex restaurants - I do, and love the biggest share of all those places I've been. But when I need something quick to haul home because I just don't feel like taking the time to cook or to stop and eat, South of the Border is right up there with Wendy's, Sonic, et. al. I grew up with Taco Tico (and after non payment of taxes, eating there in the State of Kansas is Right Out), and frankly their offerings taste really, really musty and dank to me now. And to think I used to consider that crap some pretty fine hangover food. Honestly, the greasy sludge seemed to sop up queasy stomach crud immediately if not before. But, it's all Bell alla time these days.

I also like the "new" Doritos Locos Tacos in Nacho Cheese and have some with most orders. So, it was with great anticipation I awaited my opportunity to feast upon the all new Cool Ranch Doritos Tacos.

Surprise, surprise - I like 'em. Sour cream only improves things. I like them more than the Nacho Cheese variety. Something about that flavor blends more into their other seasonings better than the Nacho Cheese Dust. But, as in all things, YMMV!

And my other random thought for the day?

 

Marie Osmond. Sang the Star Spangled Banner at the NASCAR race in Vegas earlier this afternoon. Wind blowing rather unpleasantly and ruffling up her hair didn't bother her a bit - she's a trouper for sure. Sang great, and guess what? Still flippin' hawt!

I've parked my libido on the porch and let the big dawgs run, but I still have eyes that see. Just call me an art lover. Or a dirty old man. Both work.

My Head Aches

After looking at this car:

Be sure and click for larger. You wouldn't want to miss anything.

This is the FinnJet, built by a 71 year old former Finn Artie Rahko.

It’s made from two Mercedes station wagons and many, many other parts that Rahko has added continuously over twelve years.

At the Essen Motor Show in Essen, Germany, this huge model became one of the most controversial events attractions. Unprecedented way ship curb weight 3.4 tons scrolls to 8 rounds and will take up to 10 passengers. Although it passed two old estate Mercedes-Benz 300 TD but also includes parts of 40 other cars. These include for example. 86 projectors, 36 mirrors and 3 rechargeable batteries.  A vehicle approved to normal traffic had built for 10 years and considers it to be a work of art the value of $ 950,000.

Finnjet measures 8,839 mm, is controlled by the front and rear wheels, and the cabin features a microwave, 2 air conditioning systems, refrigerators, televisions, kitchen stove and even a complete sauna! For a relaxing ride along motorway reportedly consumes on average just 9.4 liters of diesel per 100 km.

It also comes equipped with a microwave, television, freezer and a couple of air conditioning units. What’s more, there’s even a functional sauna fitted in the passenger cabin. To keep the beautiful beast running, three batteries and three alternators have been installed.

You really should go to the link to see all the other pics. I always get a kick out of folk art - because that is what this is. At some point, excessive gaudiness turns into art, and this is about as arty as it gets!

Who Will?

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This is the theme music for an ad promoting adoption of children in Kansas. It's been tugging at the ol' heart strings - enough to finally look up who it was and just what was goin' on here!

At first I thought it might be someone like a Sarah Mclachlan of the abused children set or something, but it turns out to be JJ Heller, a Christian folk singer who says Damien Rice and Patty Griffin were influences to her style, and that All Music describes her sound has being comparable with Jewel, Alison Krauss, Sara Groves and Griffin.

The Kansas adoption commercial only uses the first little vignette in the song, so it was pretty neat to hear there was more. And this line struck me as powerful:

 And now that you'll listen, I'll tell you that I..."

Sheesh, that's it. Listen.

Like I Care

I just heard on the news (and have seen it online as well) all about Kate Middleton's possible slip that she is having a girl.

After the Duchess of Cambridge was given a teddy bear at the appearance by a bystander, a woman in the crowd says she heard the royal say, “I’ll give this to my d-,” before stopping herself. When the woman asked her to confirm what she’d just heard, the duchess gave a very, well, politically conscious reply. The exchange was caught on video!

As far as I'm concerned, this ranks right up there in significance with Justin Bieber's latest hairdo, or what Madonna does next, or for that matter what Lady Gaga is up to. Even less newsworthy might be what the Kardashians think about some issue or another, anything to do with Michael Jackson, Snooki, Alec Baldwin and, and, and.....

I think y'all get the idea.

I realize there are reams of people for whom the Royals' every move is like a drug they just cannot take enough of to be satisfied. Not so much for me.

However, it did remind me of a bad joke. And you know me, I'm more than willing to sacrifice any image of taste that I might have earned by telling these things. So, here goes:

Three pregnant women were at lunch, discussing their conditions. The first, a brunette, started the conversation by saying that she'd heard an old wives' tale that the sexual position used when the child was conceived determined the sex of the baby. Since her husband had been on top, she was going to have a boy.

So, the second woman, a redhead, spoke up and added that she would be having a girl, since she was on top. This prompted the third lady, a blonde, to burst into tears.

After several attempts to settle her down so she could speak coherently, she finally said:

Not Quite His Point

Of course Mike Luckovich's point here is hahaha isn't La Pierre a hypocrite because he'll go through all the TSA screenings just to fly, but he won't stand for background checks when it comes to guns. What a moron, etc, so on and so forth.....

I'm sorry - well - maybe not so much - but you've been missing the point entirely, Mikey Luckovich. We are not wild about the screenings because they are just as effective in combating terrorism as background checks are combating criminals from getting guns. People who value their liberty object to both types of screenings.

Which is probably why we'll never reach a compromise with useful idiots like Luckovich. In his world, the TSA screenings are A-OK because there is someone doing something that makes him feel better. No matter if it works, it makes him feel better. Same with gun control measures - someone in charge is doing something. Actual operational effectiveness is not a criteria for judgment. Feeling good about it is.

So "they" don't care how or what we think about personal liberties, as long as their collective feelings are massaged. Which is why we need to beat 'em at the ballot box, out organize them, and outmaneuver them in every way to preserve and regain our rights. Let 'em whine, they sure as hell think that way about us. Why do we think we owe them something?

I Hate To Do This

Turned on word verification, because I'm just tired of deleting spam. Blogger's interface is easy enough, and it doesn't take much time in the big scheme of things, but I'm weary of it.

Not Just A NBA Intro

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I'm sure there are lots out there that do not realize the song Sirius is not just a popular intro song for introductions at a NBA game. Well, it originally was an intro for Eye in the Sky by the Alan Parsons Project.

Heard it on the big trip - took my SiriusXM radio with us. Had not heard it in years. Dang.

Sis Done Good

We're in Michigan now to attend my uncle's funeral, and Sis decided to rent a car. Both of our vehicles are long in the tooth, and I have a difficult time fitting in her econobox. It can be done, but for four days of nothing but driving? I have no credit cards anymore and didn't have the cash - gonna have to pay her back for my share of this trip.

This is what she came up with.It's a 2013 Ford Edge Limited, AWD and a 3.5L V6. So far, it's been a blast to drive, and I actually fit in the little thang. Which is all a matter of perception - while Sis likes it, she feels it is just too large for her. Huh? But considering what she's been driving, one can understand it. I think she's a tad warped at me because she's only got to drive it when she came up from OKC to my place. I've hogged it ever since. I put the VIN info in on this page, and it only has three options - the ruby red paint, the 20" chrome clad wheels, and the daytime running lights. They are the fang like slashes in the "corners" of the bumper beneath the headlights. I think they look kewl. MSRP on this puppy is $39,050 - seems kinda pricey, but the F150s I've been perusing are easily over $40k and get into the $50k range in a hurry.

One of the standard items on the Platinum list are these mirrors - of course heated and powered, but I'm really digging the tiny spot mirrors. Been helping me out in heavy interstate traffic.

While it is AWD, and a SUV, it definitely tilts more towards the Sport side rather than the Utility side of things. When we were leaving our motel the other morning I chose to exit at a driveway that had not been cleared of snow - it had some ruts through there, and had refrozen. This little hot rod immediately let me know that the eight or ten inch depth was toooooo deep. I used my old small car trick of straddling the ruts to climb up on the snow and eased across. Apparently there was an extremely frozen chunk that the right front found, because I topped out the suspension with a WHAM. At about three or four mph. So, the ride is quite compliant on rough pavement yet firm - body roll or wallow is non existent. Just not much for any sort of off road excursions. There is no on center wandering, and just thinking about changing lanes has one headed off in that direction - the steering is quite quick off center.

That ruby red paint has been catching my eye - there is a high probability of a new F150 in my future, and if I have my way, it will be this color. It is an extra cost option, but I'm thinking I like it.

Pretty decent information center underneath the door ajar warning. Options include a tach with the speed displayed digitally, or an instant fuel monitor with miles remaining in the tank, and then some menu options for two trip meters and some other stuff. It runs off buttons on the left side of the steering wheel - fairly intuitive.

The entertainment and HVAC controls are all in the touch screen and have some redundant controls in the steering wheel to the right and some below the display - that big wheel is the only way you can tune the radio. All the other options just change presets. The HVAC is dual control - you can set the temp for each side separately. There is a reverse triggered camera with a built in proximity sensor - when in revers, the display shows what the rear facing camera is seeing with some virtual parallel lines that indicate where you'll end up - so you can see if anything is in your path. When I backed out of a motel parking space and started to close in on a snow bank, it let me know tout suite.

And you can see the cruise and the left dash menu buttons. One thing I do detest about Ford and their cruise control is that EVERY time you shut the vehicle off, you have to remember to toggle on the cruise control. You can hit the set button all you want, but it ain't turnin' on until you do. Which is a pain for me, because the ol Z71 and the Mighty Binder stay on until you turn it off, and I'm not used to turning on something that ought not be shut off, in my humble and irritated opinion.

We started the trip running about as far as we could with the fifty miles remaining in the tank warning coming up, but we ended up filling after we drove for about four hours and had some range left more often - about twelve gallons instead of seventeen or so. I've been driving 80 or 81 in the 75 zones, 75 or 76 in the 70 zones, 70/71 in the 65, and about 62 in the 55mph zones, and averaging just a hair under 21mpg on all but one stop, where the figure was more about 20.5. Not bad

The V6 is naturally aspirated and runs through a six speed auto. It drops a gear climbing about every hill, but it is really unobtrusive. When ya pull out to pass and ease into it, the auto will generally just drop one gear. However, if ya poke it in the butt (not flooring it), she'll drop two gears. I've never been a fan of the sound of a V6, and this one doesn't sound any better. When one pokes it in the butt, the washing machine gods become angry. She'll squirt right on down the road no problem, but the sound of an angry V6 just ain't the same as a V8. And I have resisted the urge to floor it, or to check out the top end. Back in the day, I would have this vital information filed away almost immediately, but drivers' license protection seems to be the order of the day now. RPMs are around 2100 or so in sixth, then up to 2500 or higher when it downshifts. It winds tighter than the V8s I'm used to.

And the cabin is tight. Crosswinds don't work their way through the door seals, nor does flexing over uneven surfaces cause any noise increases. Frankly, the structure does not seem to flex at all. I'm sure it does, but it's gonna require a more finely tuned butt than mine to detect. Stiff body, stiff suspension yet a fairly compliant ride. Potholes are a thump heard more than felt. I had to run on some slick roads, and the AWD gave me the feeling of security I get when the ol' Z71 is switched to auto on similar surfaces.

Those leather seats are pretty damn comfortable. Two days of long hours made me ready to get out, but it was more the confined space for too many hours than the seats - these are ten way power, and one thing I'm not used to is the up and down setting. The Z71 has eight way -that's the element that is missing in comparison. My leather is fairly slick, but this stuff is grippy. I'm liking the grippy.

The only thing other than the cruise that has harshed my mellow is the turn signals. They are supposed to be "smart" signals - just barely pushing them is supposed to make them run on their own for three cycles, then holding them down and releasing is supposed to make them stay on until you are finished turning. Not so much. If you don't hold these down, you have no turn signals. If you let off, the stalk returns to neutral and the signals quit. So, one has to manipulate the signals while turning the wheel in corners if one wants the signals to display and let everyone know your intentions. I suspect a new switch would fix that.

I don't think I'll be wanting to give up the ol' land yacht gas hog style of wheels any time real soon (which means I'll still be getting the F150), but if I had to, this would not register as a hardship to drive every day. I have no idea what the other cars in this segment are like - never been in 'em at all. But his little puppy has been a pleasant surprise and nails competency while being fairly fun to drive. It just does nearly everything well.