Thursday, October 31, 2013

Re-Reading True Grit

I'm re-reading Charles Portis' classic western novel True Grit. I found a gun error by Portis toward the end of the book. It's established early on that Rooster Cogburn carries a Colt revolver in .44-40, and that his Winchester rifle is also chambered in this caliber. That would make the revolver in question most likely a Colt Frontier, which is a single-action revolver loaded via a loading gate, just as the Colt .45 Peacemaker is. Yet, in the passage where Rooster, an Indian police officer and LaBoeuf engage in a bit of impromptu target practice shooting at corn dodgers, we find this:

Rooster was holding a bottle with a little whiskey in it. He said, "You keep on thinking that." He drained off the whiskey in about three swallows and tapped the cork back in and tossed the bottle up in the air. He pulled his revolver and fired at it twice and missed. The bottle fell and rolled and Rooster shot at it two or three more times and broke it on the ground. He got out his sack of cartridges and reloaded the pistol. He said, "The Chinaman is running them cheap shells in on me again."

LaBoeuf said, "I thought maybe the sun was in your eyes. That is to say, your eye."

Rooster swung the cylinder back in his revolver and said, "Eyes, is it? I'll show you eyes!"


There ya go. You can only swing the cylinder back in on a revolver that has that feature, which the Colt Frontier didn't. The first Colt revolver to feature a swing-out cylinder was the Model 1889, and that revolver wasn't chambered in .44-40.

Just Call Him El Pronto Mucho Fasto

Hell, if I'd done this, I'd go to court and petition for a name change:

TULSA, Oklahoma - Police are searching for a burglar who was shot multiple times. He was caught in the act by a homeowner, who showed no mercy.

The homeowner who shot Watts said it's a shame that Watts broke into his house looking for gold and left full of lead.

Charles Sweeny has lived in the same home in midtown Tulsa for nearly six decades, so you can only imagine what went through his mind when he noticed things inside weren't how he left them.

"Mother's dresser drawer was open, so I knew I had walked in to a burglary. I took care of that problem el pronto mucho fasto," Sweeny said.

Sweeny said he hopes this is a lesson for anyone else who comes inside his house uninvited.

"The next burglar gets the same treatment with a bigger gun," Sweeny said.


This news story is so full of win it should be framed.

h/t Bearing Arms.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

I'd Like One of Those Belts, Myself.

That would be a belt made from the hide of an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake.

The Eastern Diamondback is, in my opinion, the most beautiful of the US's rattlesnakes. It's also one of the few rattlesnakes in the US that gets long enough to provide leather to make a belt out of. The conservation status of the Eastern Diamondback is currently "least concern," but that is probably inaccurate, and putting them on the endangered species list as at least threatened would probably be wise. They've been wiped out in Louisiana, and here in NC they are on the state's endangered species list.

Still, if I happened across a fresh roadkilled specimen 5 feet long on a trip to the NC coast, I'd certainly stop and skin it out and save it to tan for a belt.

Found this hilarious bogus edit on Wikipedia:

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

I Don't Remember That From Matthew 25

[34] “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. [35] ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; [36] naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’

You notice there is nothing in that passage about coming to the prison with meth:

"Mom Accused Of Smuggling Meth in Bible Visiting Daughter in Jail."

Must be one of those newer translations.

OoooOooo That Smell...Can't Ya Smell That Smell...

...the smell of cock around you...

The maker of Sriracha hot sauce is under fire for allegedly fouling the air around its Southern California factory.

The city of Irwindale filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court Monday asking a judge to stop production at the Huy Fong Foods factory, claiming the chili odor emanating from the plant is a public nuisance.

City officials say residents have been complaining of burning eyes, irritated throats and headaches and that some people have had to leave their house to escape the smell.


They should try living next to a paper mill sometime.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Encountered During Walk

Worm Snake. Tiny little thing. It was on the asphalt of the road, I moved it over into the grass. About 8" or so.

He Missed His Wakeup Call

A Usual Suspect™ who died in a shootout with police during a robbery at a Pizza Hut restaurant was only out on the street because charges against him for a home invasion back in February had been dismissed.

Here we see two classic problems in our criminal justice system: the revolving door, and the failure to rehabilitate. The one is the fault of the governments involved, the other is the fault of the individual. Only the individual can resolve to clean up his/her act and behave like a civilized human being. In this particular case that resolution was not made, so he ended up in a morgue with a tag on his toe. He may be briefly mourned by the bitch that whelped him and his baby mama, but society is well rid of him and his violent behavior.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Mistaken Identification

Not identity, but indentification. That's what happened up in Canada where someone mistook bear paws for human hands. The paws were partially decomposed, which presumably made the mistake possible. Doing a search on Google brings back lots of stories of the same error.

I remember reading an eerie short story a long time ago about a boy lost in the woods who stumbles across a cabin, with a chopping block out back, and a pile of what the boy took to be human hands beside the block, which turn out to be bear paws. Do any of you recall that story, or who wrote it?

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Seen Wandering In the Cold Just Now

Wooly Bear:

How You Know You're In the 21st Century

"Finally, a police robot entered the home and told him to surrender."

How you know you're in the United States of America:

"Then the police robot shot and killed the family dog."*









*Just kidding.

Another WWII Veteran Murdered...

...by the Usual Suspects™:

Four teenagers are being charged with capital murder in the fatal mugging of 87-year-old Lawrence E. 'Shine' Thornton of Greenville, Mississippi.

‘Shine’ was a World War II veteran and a famous personality in the Delta region for his hot tamales. They were known as ‘Maria’s Famous Hot Tamales’, named after his wife Mary. He was crowned king of the 2012 Delta Hot Tamale Festival.

According to Greenville police, Thornton was killed after being accosted in his own driveway on Oct. 18. He was pushed down and his wallet stolen.

He passed away from his injuries two days later at the University Of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.


Gotta get paid. Fucking animals.

Here's a video of the old fellow talking about how he began cooking tamales:

Meanwhile, Down In Wilmington, NC...

...police engaged in a gunfight with three armed robbers outside a Pizza Hut restaurant.


Result: two dead robbers and one hospitalized with injuries (gunshot wounds, presumably).

I always like reading stories like this, because it means that two of these lowlifes are permanently out of the violent crime business, and won't ever be plaguing honest citizens ever again. Saves state and local government a lot of money, too.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Thomas Sowell Worries About a Race War

Of course, being a black conservative writer his warning will automatically be dismissed.

One of the reasons for being glad to be as old as I am is that I may be spared living to see a race war in America. Race wars are often wars in which nobody wins and everybody ends up much worse off than they were before.

Initial skirmishes in that race war have already begun, and have in fact been going on for some years. But public officials pretend that it is not happening, and the mainstream media seldom publish it at all, except in ways that conceal what is really taking place.

For American society, a dangerous polarization has set in. Signs of this polarization over the years include opposite reactions between blacks and whites to the verdict in the O. J. Simpson murder case, the “rape” charges against Duke University students, and the trials resulting from the beating of Rodney King and the death of Trayvon Martin.

More dangerous than these highly publicized episodes over the years are innumerable organized and unprovoked physical attacks on whites by young black gangs in shopping malls, on beaches, and in other public places all across the country today.


Read the whole thing. This is the real reason for the concealed carry movement, folks. You can talk about preparing for a "zombie apocalypse" all you want; you know damned well that the real menace is a race war, and that black thugs are often already armed in violation of all gun control laws. Look at any major city's robbery reporting - - by and large, violent robbery wears a black face - - if your local newspaper is even willing to mention the race of robbery suspects, that is. The Wilmington, NC Star-News, for example, is very good at providing detailed descriptions - - of the clothing worn by robbers. Descriptions of the robbers themselves are not so forthcoming. Charleston, SC's Post & Courier News is far more honest - - photographs of the offender is prominently displayed at the top of any crime story there.

What can you do? Start by reading John Derbyshire's The Talk: Nonblack Version. Derbyshire was fired from his writing gig at National Review Online for writing it, and thus falling foul of the PC police (it's ironic that Sowell is publishing his piece in National Review itself, proving again that a double standard exists). Start the process of getting your CCW license, if you haven't already (I need to do this myself). And, if you're the praying sort, pray that Sowell's worry doesn't become reality.

h/t Sipsey Street Irregulars

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

When Your Only Tools Are a Gun and a Can Of Pepper Spray...

...you know there's going to be an ugly scene at the Dollar General (imagine that*).

MOUNTAIN CITY, TN (WBIR) - A Tennessee police officer has been fired after displaying heavy force in an attempt to rid a Dollar General Store of a squirrel. The incident occurred last Thursday in Mountain City, when according to police documents, now-former Officer Jody Putnam found himself at the right place at the right time. Or the wrong place at the wrong time. Documents state that Putnam happened to be inside the Dollar General Store at the same time employees noticed a squirrel. That's when Putnam sprang into action, discharging his firearm at the squirrel inside the store. Unsuccessful, he moved on to option 2: pepper spray.

It weren't pretty, friends and neighbors.

Squirrels. *laughs*

*private joke.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

They Have the Right To Peaceably Assemble...*

...but not the inclination, and one would be tempted to say not the ability, either:

A young man was killed in a brawl involving about 250 people at a New Jersey bowling alley, police said.

Police responded to reports of fighting at the Stelton Lanes in Piscataway, in central New Jersey, at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported. The officers found hundreds of people "involved in a series of fistfights in the parking lot and inside the bowling alley," a police statement said.

Jamount Atkins, 23, of Newark was pronounced dead at a New Brunswick hospital.

Police said most of those involved in the brawl left quickly once officers were on the scene. Officers from neighboring Edison were called in for backup.


*I got the post title from this famous bit by Ron White:

Saturday, October 19, 2013

They Aren't Babies, They Aren't Fetuses...

...they're just targets in sick game.

Is this the most sickening image of the war in Syria so far? Snipers 'target unborn children in chilling competition to win cigarettes.'

Pic:



Jesus wept.


h/t Gateway Pundit.

Deer Populations In NC Rebound So Much...

...that many suburban towns are turning to additional bow and arrow-only seasons to handle the localized overpopulation problems.

This is less a reflection of successful conservation techniques than it is a reflection of urbanized populations. 100 years ago the number of people living in rural areas was proportionally higher than it is today, and hunting has always been a rural pastime. Percentage-wise there are far fewer hunters in the USA in 2013 than there were in 1913.

Friday, October 18, 2013

He Couldn't Bear To Live Without His...

...'nads.

A dog that became an Internet sensation after crashing an Indiana half marathon has died just a week after receiving a medal for completing the race.

The 100-pound chocolate Labrador retriever named Boogie ran most of the 13.1 miles in the Oct. 5 Evansville event after escaping his leash the night before. Owner Jerry Butts made an appointment for the dog to be neutered after the race to curb his wandering ways.

The Evansville Courier & Press reports that Boogie died Tuesday of an apparent heart attack. He was 10.


To be fair, the article doesn't make absolutely clear whether Boogie actually died after the loss of his 'nads, or whether he died over the prospect of losing them. Still, you have to sympathize with Boogie, at least if you're a man.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

A Noir Sort of Crime

Thieves broke into a Kentucky distillery and made off with 65 cases of rare bourbon and rye whiskey.

Stuff is valued at over $25,000, "Pappy Van Winkle" Bourbon and Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye. Any of my readers tipple that stuff? $130 a bottle for the bourbon.

Sounds like a good job for Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe.

Guess Whose Feast Day It Is?

St. John the Dwarf, one of the Desert Fathers.

When I was confirmed a Catholic I picked John as my confirmation name, but I didn't have John the Dwarf in mind, but John Boanerges, the Apostle, brother of James. Wish I'd known of John the Dwarf back then. The old saint names were a lot more amusing than the more common Francis, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Imagine picking St. Pambo for your confirmation name. Or St. Pishoy, or St. Pachomius.

John the Dwarf's attribute, according to Wikipedia: "Short Monk watering a stick." That comes from the most famous story of John:

John the Dwarf is best known for his obedience. The most famous story about his obedience is that one day Saint Pambo gave him a piece of dry wood and ordered him to plant and water it. John obeyed and went on watering it twice a day even though the water was about 12 miles from where they lived. After three years, the piece of wood sprouted and grew into a fruitful tree. Pambo took some of this tree's fruits and went around to all the elder monks, saying "take, eat from the fruit of obedience." The tree of Saint John the Dwarf, known as the Tree of Obedience, still exists today in the deserted Monastery of Saint John the Dwarf in the Nitrian Desert.

His old monastery is deserted, you might notice. Not a safe place though, given the hostility that the Muslim Brotherhood is currently displaying toward Christians in Egypt. Still - - going to the old monastery and perhaps living there as a hermit has a lot of appeal.


Update: Yale University conducted archaelogical digs at the site several years ago. The monastery is in ruins and is often covered by desert sands.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Treasure More Precious Than Gold Or Diamonds

An entire Jerry Clower Concert.

Part 1:



Part 2:




I discovered Jerry in the early 1970's when I was a young teenager in Melrose, Florida. I had an AM radio in my room, and at night I could catch the signal from WBT way up in Charlotte, North Carolina. The midnight-to-six a.m. disc jockey for WBT was Truckin' Tom Miller, and he'd play Jerry Clower records - - the first one I ever heard was "Coon Huntin' Monkey." In the Catholic school I was attending at the time I had a buddy named Rusty who was a Jerry Clower fan, and he loaned me some 8-track tapes. Later that year I heard that Jerry Clower was going to be in concert in Gainesville, so I made my father buy tickets for us to see him. The concert was general admission, I was first in line at the door with my dad. When the doors opened I dragged my father to the front row, and we had a good view of Jerry when he finally appeared (there were three opening bands before Jerry got there). My dad and I laughed ourselves sick that night, as did everyone else in the concert hall. It's one of my fondest memories.

Kumbaya Spiders Doomed Themselves To Extinction

Apparently "Can't we all just get along?" doesn't work in spider society when there is a genuine threat from outside.

Don't Be Dissin' Little Richard

"Husband 'stabbed his wife of 24 years to death after she taunted him about the size of his manhood.'"

Don't tell a girl she's fat, and don't tell a man he has a tiny dick. Such disclosures rarely end happily.

You'll recall that the the scenario that started Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winning film The Unforgiven was a prostitute laughing at a cowboy's small penis.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Milk. It Does a Body Good.

See for yourself.

Sample:




via Daily Caller.

Dayum. Just...Dayum.

Did y'all see Chris Muir's artistic rendering of Sarah Palin yesterday? If not, I include it below:

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Have YOU Pissed the ATF Off?

Expect to be targeted by the IRS, then, at least as long as ATF and IRS are controlled by the Obama adminstration.

Chicago smash-mouth politics at the highest levels of government. Liberals used to lose their fucking minds just contemplating Richard Nixon doing this to his enemies.

Return of a Favorite Blog

I used to read the Al Fin blog regularly. It was one of the blogs that wasn't afraid to discuss the difficult topics, such as racial disparities in IQ and global climate change, and did so in a way that was easy to understand. Now Peter over at Bayou Renaissance Man notes the return of the Al Fin blog. Al Fin is now on Wordpress. Apparently Google was pressured to block the old Al Fin blogs, probably at the behest of the Obama "justice" department.

Back onto the blogroll goes the new Al Fin.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Cal Smith, 1932-2013: R.I.P.

Country-western singer I used to listen to as a teen in Florida on WDVH-AM out of Gainesville:

Calvin Grand Shofner -- known professionally as Cal Smith, and famed for top-charting hits Country Bumpkin, The Lord Knows I'm Drinking and It's Time To Pay the Fiddler -- died Thursday in Branson, Mo., at age 81.

Born in Gans, Okla., Smith grew up in the San Jose, Calif., area, and became a popular disc jockey prior to joining Ernest Tubb's Texas Troubadours as a rhythm guitarist in 1962. Smith worked with Tubb until 1968, when he became a solo performer.

In 1972, he recorded Bill Anderson's The Lord Knows I'm Drinking , which became a No. 1 country hit for Decca Records. In 1974, Smith scored with Country Bumpkin, which became the Country Music Association's song and single of the year and the Academy of Country Music's song of the year.

Don Wayne wrote Country Bumpkin, after being critiqued by a publishing industry professional as being too country: Nobody wants to hear about that frost on the pumpkin, was the criticism. Wayne wrote of a man who met a woman who teased him, "Hello, country bumpkin/ How's the frost out on the pumpkin?"

"And then the story just unfolded," Wayne told author Philip Self in Guitar Pull: Conversations With Country's Legendary Songwriters. "I thought to myself, 'Man, I've stumbled on to a hit song here.' But after thinking about it further, I thought, 'This could be more than a hit song. This could be a great song, if I write what I'm seeing.'"

Wayne wrote what he was seeing, and Smith's vocal on the song was relaxed and authentic.


Here it is, the Contry Bumpkin:



Yeah, it's maudlin, cry-in-your-beer country. What a great voice, though.

"Now Boy, Are You Sure That You Can Skin Griz?"*

"Skin him, Pilgrim, and I'll get you another!"

A Russian man attacked by a brown bear in eastern Siberia said he escaped with only minor wounds after using his knife to kill the animal.

Sergei Rumyantsev, 55, said he was riding his horse near a paddock in the Siberian forests about 35 miles from his home in Eselyakh when he was "suddenly, unexpectedly" attacked by the bear, The Independent (Britain) reported Friday.

"I had a rifle in my saddle but I didn't have time to get it out. I only had a knife at hand," Rumyantsev said.

He said he was able to stab the bear while his hunting dog bit the wild animal and held it back.


Bears, although fearsome in the extreme, can be killed by men armed with a knife; Ben Lilly, for example, did it often.

*reference to a favorite scene from one of my favorite movies:

Well, If Ya Gotta Die...

...might as well do it in a blaze of glory:

A new study suggests that some species of marsupials mate with such vigour and intensity that it quite literally kills them.

The scientists say that male Antechinus die in large numbers after mating with as many partners as possible in sex sessions lasting up to 14 hours at a time.

The males attempt to mate with as many females as possible in long, laborious bouts, driven by high levels of hormones including testosterone.


Here's a pic of the little love rat:

Me So Hoooorny!

Active-Duty Military Forbidden To Buy the Knives In 3...2...1...

"Tucson Marine sells 'Infidel' knives."

With the Arabic word for "infidel" etched on the blade, and some of them tempered with pig's blood, just to make them as offensive as possible.

The purpose of the story in The Stars and Stripes, of course, is to paint a target on the knifemaker's back and drive him out of business. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the newspaper was tipped off by someone butthurt over the existence of the knives.

And the possibility of the knifemaker not even being a genuine military veteran can't be dismissed, given the prevalence of stolen valor phonies out there.

Meanwhile, In Raleigh...

...the North Carolina Highway Patrol is in a hurry to get to the doughnuts.

Now, I could see it if it were Krispy Kreme and the HOT DOUGHNUTS NOW sign was lit, but Dunkin doughnuts? Stinkin' yankee doughnuts? Come on. Risk killing motorists and pedestrians and little woodland creatures for yankee doughnuts?

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Oh, Lesus H. Chlist

No proofreaders at the Vatican Mint, apparently.

He Feared For His Life...

...so the 6-foot-tall, 300-pound probation officer shot a Jack Russell Terrier to death.

You know what? I'm starting to think that cops shoot dogs for the same reason that dogs lick their privates - - because they can. There's simply no other explanation for shooting a lap dog because you fear for your life.

Monday, October 07, 2013

Cautionary Tale For Gun Grabbers

When you advocate for the American public to be disarmed, and for the military and police to have a monopoly of force, remember this: the Left won't always be in charge of government, and you could find yourselves targeted as "anarchists" just as easily as Tea Party types can.

RALEIGH The first trial of a “Moral Monday” protester revealed far more than the guilty verdicts that have shaken attorneys and demonstrators still awaiting their court dates.

General Assembly Police Chief Jeff Weaver testified to a murmur of disbelief among the many lawyers attending the Wake County District Court hearing that his 18-officer department had people in this region they labeled “anarchists” and collected intelligence on them.

Weaver did not identify the so-called anarchists, nor did he reveal how many his department considered to fall in that category.

But the chief at the helm of the law enforcement agency that arrested more than 930 people this summer testified that his officers had scanned the many “Moral Monday” rallies with eyes trained for “anarchists.”

On Monday, Weaver declined to elaborate on what kind of intelligence his department collected on the people he and his officers considered to be “against government.”


Treasure Blog: 118-Carat Diamond, $30M.

A thing of beauty, the size of a hen's egg:

Pic:

Foreskin Envy

A.K.A. "The Triumph of the Anteater."

No further comment necessary, I think. Other than a poll of my readers to figure out numbers:

Which Is You?
  
pollcode.com free polls 

The Death Watch

Tikker. After answering a health questionnaire, you plug the numbers into the watch, and it begins a countdown to the calculated day and time of your death.

Sunday, October 06, 2013

Baebes In the Cathedral

That would be the Mediaeval Baebes:

US Civil War Photographs, Expertly Colorized

via Daily Mail.

For example, here is Matthew Brady's famous post-Appomattox photograph of Robert E. Lee colorized:



More at the link.

Feast Day of St. Bruno

St. Bruno, the founder of the Carthusians.

I've mentioned in this blog before my fundamental conflict between faith and reason. Even from my earliest days, I've never felt any genuine belief in God or an afterlife, even though I attended Catholic school for 5 years and was baptised and confirmed into the Catholic faith. Thus I never had a vocation - - a calling - - toward a life in the Catholic church as a priest or member of a religious community. Having said that, were I actually to have a vocation it would probably be to the Carthusians, the group of hermits-in-community that were founded by St. Bruno.

The Carthusians combine elements of the hermit (solitary) and monastic (community) vocations into a single existence. The Carthusian spends most of his life in his cell - - a small, two-story apartment - - only leaving a few times every day to gather with his brothers: the Night Office of Matins and Lauds, sung around midnight and lasting a couple of hours; daily Mass; and evening Vespers. The rest of the day and night, around 20 hours, the Carthusian is praying, working and existing in his cell, by himself. His cell comprises areas for work, prayer, dining and sleeping. Each cell also has an enclosed garden, so that the Carthusian can grow food, flowers or herbs, unseen by any of his brethren.

Each Carthusian Charterhouse (monastery) includes men or women in two broad categories: Fathers - - hermits in cell who are priests, and the main vocation of the Carthusians; and Brothers, men who fill the support role in the Charterhouse as cooks, barbers, tailors, etc. The brothers themselves take the same vows that the Fathers do but have no desire to be priests, so instead of reciting the Liturgy of the Hours in cell they do the necessary labor to support the Charterhouse and the Fathers, attend a daily mass, and say the Rosary - - often.

Anyone wanting to see what the Carthusian life is like is encouraged to view the documentary film Into Great Silence. It's a tough film to watch, because there is no conventional lighting, music, narration or any explanation whatsoever as to what you're seeing - - you simply watch the daily existence of the Fathers and Brothers insofar as the Carthusians were willing to grant it - - and the film was only made after the Carthusians pondered it for over a decade. Most people watching the film will be bored to tears within 20 minutes, I'm guessing; there's simply no relief in it from the stark reality of the Carthusian existence, which admittedly is only suitable for a small minority of men and women.

And yes, for those of you who are wondering: the green liqueur known as Chartreuse is made by the Carthusians from a secret recipe that started as a health tonic. The Fathers and Brothers themselves don't drink alcohol regularly, but receive small portions of Chartreuse a few times a year on certain feast days (they normally drink only water and tea).

You'll never hear much about the Carthusians, because they are averse in the extreme to publicity and adulation; indeed, when even the most holy exemplar of the life dies, (s)he, as all Carthusians are, is buried in a grave marked only by a cross, with no words or inscription written thereon. They view pride of achievement as a grievous sin, and quash it when it rears its head; they take their example from St. Bruno himself, who was never formally canonized, and who turned down a bishopric and all other such earthly honors himself. Because of this spirit of humility the order has never had to be reformed, as have most (if not all) other religious orders.

Anyone wishing to know more about the Carthusians is encouraged to see the above-mentioned film Into Great Silence, or read the book An Infinity of Little Hours: Five Young Men and Their Trial of Faith in the Western World's Most Austere Monastic Order by Nancy Klein Maguire. It tells the story of five men who tried to live the Carthusian life: in the end, only one persevered and remained in the order.

Saturday, October 05, 2013

Questions That Bothered Him So

"How do you snatch a burrowing armadillo?"

Apparently farting in the hole might work. Who knew? And, Leperdillo!

Thursday, October 03, 2013

He Brought a Knife To a Gunfight

Fortunately for him, he's a Gurkha.

And when a Gurkha has to draw his kukri, it's Military Cross time:

Acting L/Cpl Gurung, who serves with the Royal Gurkha Rifles, was on duty at Patrol Base Sparta, in Nahr-e Seraj, at 4am on March 22 when he spotted two Afghans running towards his sangar, or watchtower.

When he challenged them to stop, the insurgents opened fire with an AK47 assault rifle.

One of the rounds struck him on the helmet, knocking him to the ground. Groggily getting to his feet, he saw a grenade bounce into the tower.

Fearing it would explode, the married Gurkha picked it up and hurled it away a split-second before it detonated, the force of the blast throwing him to the floor.

But as the dust and debris settled, Acting L/Cpl Gurung came face-to-face with one of the Taliban who was climbing into the 3 metre high sangar.

Lacking room to aim his rifle, the soldier drew his 18inch kukri and tenaciously took on the insurgent in hand-to-hand combat.

> During the fight, the pair plunged to the ground outside the base. In a life-or-death struggle, Acting L/Cpl Gurung continued to lash out with the blade.

He said: ‘He was quite a bit bigger than me. I just hit him in the hand, body, I just started to hit him. ‘I just thought, “I don’t want to die. If I am alive I can save my colleagues”.
‘I thought, “Before he does something I have to do something”. I was like a madman.’

Faced with his ferocity, the Taliban turned and fled. Acting L/Cpl Gurung’s citation said he had displayed the ‘highest levels of gallantry and courage’.


He looks like one squared-away soldier, don't he?

Damn It, Geico, You're Interfering With the Indoctrination!

"Teachers in Vernon, Conn., say a Geico car insurance TV commercial featuring a camel yelling "Hump Day" is contributing to disruptive classroom behavior."

Boys at Vernon Center Middle School are constantly quoting the ad, WFSB-TV, Hartford, Conn., reported.

"Everybody's walking around in the hallways and saying its hump day in that weird voice," said Brooke Lewis, a student at the school. "Sometimes it's the counting down to when it is."

Other students say they have been called to the principal's office for quoting the commercial, as teachers find using the phrase to be disruptive.


Back To Work, Geezers!

The European model of social welfare from cradle-to-grave hits the wall:

The legislation is part of a radical shake-up in the Netherlands where Dutch policies to demand something in return for benefits have been cited as inspiration by David Cameron, the Prime Minister, for reform of the British welfare state.

The plans, drafted by Martin van Rijn, a Dutch health minister, would mean that recipients of social care would be "urgently requested" to carry out voluntary work to do something for society in payment for the benefits they receive.

"Loneliness could perhaps be overcome if the elderly helped pre-school children with language impairments improve their reading," his draft legislation, given to the Volkskrant newspaper proposed. "Or a retired accountant in a wheelchair could help out at the local councilï¾’s debt advice service."

Unlike the Dutch unemployed, who can be obliged to do community service, the elderly, disabled or chronically sick cannot be forced to volunteer but local councils, who provide care, will be entitled to ask in an "intrusive manner" to work.


Seen On Drudge



That's one-upmanship, certainly. In the Gospel of St. John, Peter only denied Jesus three times.

Indoctrination Chronicles #8

In Anaheim Hills, CA (where else) a high school kid was ordered to remove a t-shirt featuring art from the National Rifle Association because "the shirt has a gun on it," according to the principal.

Incidentally, the high school has a rifle-twirling team, and the high school mascot is a Comanche warrior. The Comanches were noted for their ferocity in battle and for torturing captives.

h/t bearingarms.com.

Call It "Lot's Lake."

Lake Natron in Tanzania. Because of volcanic activity that altered the chemistry of the lake's water, any creature falling into it quickly dies and, when dry, becomes stiff and statue-like. Photographer Nick Brandt has done a series of photographs of these dead creatures:



Click the link to see others of these striking images. H/T Rabid Librarian for the link.

Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Yet Another Veal-Eating* Teacher

Down in Forth Worth, Texas, another teacher with a sweet tooth:

FORT WORTH — A former Haltom High School computer technology teacher was sentenced Monday to four years of probation for having sex and doing “everything you could imagine” with students.

One of the students married the 40-year-old instructor, a prosecutor said Monday.


Pic:



Hot? Or not? Let's have a poll:

Are You Hot For Teacher?
  
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And you notice how the story is written in a sort of titillating, winking-at-it way?


*Veal-eating: likes meat young and tender

In the Good News Department, Redux...

...the trailer for the second of Peter Jackson's movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit has been released:

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug hits theaters Dec. 13th:

Indoctrination Chronicles #7

In Osceola County, Florida, if a schoolkid uses his/her fingers to make an imaginary gun, (s)he can be suspended.

In the Good News Department...

...gun hater Piers Morgan is about to get handed his walking papers.

Lookin' Better

Remember the pic of the .44 Magnum Ruger Super Blackhawk that I purchased recently?



Well, I said it would look better without the Hogue grips, and I was right:





Holster from El Paso Saddlery. Grips from the Ruger shop.

Well, We Know What Color the Bandanas Were, Anyway

The Wilmington, NC newspaper seems to have instituted a policy of no longer providing descriptions of criminals at large, just the details of their clothing.

Well, they will go so far as to specify the gender of the criminals. They won't go further than that. This is based on the modern MSM practice of selective non-reportage of details. These are always done in particular circumstances (OMG, he said "always" again!) Some of these practices include:

When a politician is arrested for malfeasance and/or misfeasance and his party isn't mentioned, it's a Democrat.

When a crime is committed and the race of the suspect isn't mentioned, it was committed by a black.


update: bad link, fixed.

Is a Random Number Generator Involved?

Maybe it should be?

How are yearly hurricane numbers predicted? It doesn't much seem like science.