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News Roundup

  •  From the “UXO” Department – Authorities in North Carolina are searching an area for World War II era bombs after a 500 pound concrete-filled bomb was found in some woods.  A local company made bombs for the government in the 1940’s, so that may be the source for the ordnance.  Lots of us are going to the woods this fall.  Remember, if you didn’t drop it, don’t pick it up.  Yeah, that blockbuster bomb might make a heck of a grill, but you might get a surprise when you try to open it up.  But if you do decide to utilize a surplus bomb as a grill, a crib, or a coffin, remember to cut the blue wire first.*
  • From the “Nothing Can Go Wrong Here” Department – A company in Silicon Valley has come out with a new twist on programmable home thermostats.  You can control it via a physical interface, and it will ‘learn’ the patterns of your desired temperatures and begin to automatically adjust the temperature of your home.  It also has a network interface, because, really, why the heck not?  Marketing materials assert that you can control it remotely via a smart phone.  Good side of this:  You can adjust the temperature at the house if you forgot to program the thermostat before leaving for a vacation, thus saving a bit of energy and money.  Not so good side of this:  It’ll take about 27 minutes for a script kiddy in South Korea to figure out how to get to these devices, turn your thermostats either way up or way down, and then demand a sizeable ‘donation’ before temporarily releasing control of the temperature of your home.  I’m a geek, but I’m not putting an IP address on anything my home depends on. 
  •  From the “No Kidding?” Department – The U.N. is expressing surprise that those who stand up for human rights in areas that have little to no respect for human rights continue to come under attack, as do their families.  Shocked, yes shocked, I am that such a thing happens!  Imagine that, despotic dictators who place no value on the lives of others would attack people who point out that they are oppressing their people.  Maybe if these human rights workers put a little more stock in a person’s right to self defense, especially their own, maybe they wouldn’t be such a soft target.
  • From the “Whodunit?” Department – Several Japanese defense contractors, including a company that makes Patriot missiles, have been compromised by a virus and have lost control of critical product data.  This includes data on missiles, airplanes, naval vessels, and nuclear reactors.  Apparently one of the vectors for the penetration was a trade group the companies belonged to, which had lax computer security standards.  No-one is saying who they believe was behind the breaches, but I have a few theories.  I mean, how many large, technologically advanced, wealthy, powerful countries that might be interested in how Japan might fight a war and what weapons they might use are there in that region?  I know, it’s a conundrum.

*After cutting the black wire and turning the detonator three times counter clockwise, using non-conducting snippers.

Thought for the Day

I consider myself a pretty indulgent father.  I’m doing my best to raise a good, strong, well-educated set of kids.  I especially want my daughter to break out of the molds that society and other parental influences try to shove her into.  But I draw the line at the co-ed wrestling team at her school.  Call me old fashioned, but a 13 year old girl has no business wearing a singlet and grappling with 13 year old boys.

News Roundup

  • From the “Moon Rocks – The New Scourge” Department – An elderly lady in California was arrested recently by investigators from NASA for the high crime of owning a speck of moon rock.  Her story is that an astronaut gave it to her family, while NASA maintains that no-one but NASA and those they deem worthy may own a piece of the moon.  As has sadly become the norm, the tactics used to retrieve the celestial pebble and arrest this dastardly criminal of a kindly old lady were pretty heavy handed.  I just hope that if NASA has a SWAT team, they’re armed with something more exciting than shotguns.  If I’m going to pay for space explorers to be armed, I want it to be something that Marvin the Martian would approve of.
  • From the “Fail!” Department – Four men in New York failed the victim selection process the other day when they tried to rob an off-duty police detective with a fake gun.  These geniuses continued their endeavor even after the officer identified himself as police.  Two of the miscreants were wounded after the good officer pulled his own real gun and showed them the difference between lead and airsoft.  I’m glad to hear that the officer is doing well and that all four were eventually arrested.    I would love to be a fly on the wall when these four bluntskulls explain to their fellow convicts why they’re in prison.
  • From the “Going a Bit Too Far” Department – The New York City educational system appears to be taking sex ed a little too seriously.  According to recent reporting, the new curriculum, while emphasizing that abstinence is the only way to be 100% certain of not getting pregnant or getting a disease, will also be teaching the little dears about safer ways to have sex.  OK, so far so good.   If the school system is going to teach kids about sex,* then teaching the kids how to keep from bringing unplanned children into the world and catching diseases is good information to give out.  However, it appears that some of their sources also teach about a bit more than the basics.  I run a PG blog here, so I won’t go into too much detail.  Suffice it to say that the textbook and website the school board is supposedly going to use sounds more like an instruction manual for the porn industry than an instrument of higher learning. 
  • From the “Doing a Good Thing” Department – The on-line hacktivist group Anonymous recently released a statement detailing how it tracked down and shut down 40 child pornography sites.  They also list the identities of 1500 individuals who logged into these sites, and invite law enforcement to investigate and prosecute them.  Bravo for them.  Apparently even nihilists and vandals have their limits.
*Personally, I would prefer that the school system leave sex ed up to the parents.  Unfortunately, a lot of parents aren’t going to do their jobs in this area, so the nanny-staters can use this as an opportunity to teach school kids how they think sex should be handled.  My approach is to have discussions with the kids, over several years, that are appropriate to their intellectual and social growth, about sex, morals, self-worth, and of course, safer sex.  I just go over the basics though.  If they want the advanced course, I will suggest they learn the way their father did: on the back of a captured Soviet T-34 tank that is parked in front of the Russian school at the Defense Language Institute.  

Excerpts from an Interview

The following is a partial transcript of an interview given by vice-presidential candidate DaddyBear on “Talking Heads, Inc.” this weekend.  Mr. DaddyBear was interviewed by Amanda McNicerack-Hugandkiss and Conner Goodhair.


Amanda – Mr. DaddyBear, you’ve seen the video of Qaddafi being shot after being captured, and you’ve heard the protests of Secretary Clinton and other world leaders over this apparent extra-judicial execution.  What would you say to the person who is perported to have shot Mr. Qaddafi?

DaddyBear – Amanda, first, I’d tell him to unload and show clear.  Safety first, after all.  Also, if the BBC footage is to be believed, I’d have a little talk with him about the 4 rules.  That goober had his finger inside the trigger guard all the time and is was pointing that pistol at a lot of people he probably didn’t want shot.

Amanda – You mean you don’t agree with world leaders in that it would be preferable for Qaddafi to have been tried at the Hague?

DaddyBear – Honestly, it’s none of my business.  The fact that the Libyan people decided to give him the Mussolini treatment is just fine with me.  Undisciplined militias with a metric ton of donated guns and ammo aren’t known for their regard for the Miranda rights of the dictators they catch. 

Conner – Mr. DaddyBear, what did you feel watching the digitally enhanced, slow-motion graphic footage of the shooting that we’ve been playing on a loop for the past 36 hours?

DaddyBear – You mean the first time I saw it or the 157 times I caught it while trying to get the score for the Minnesota game on your ticker?

Conner – The first time.  And you have my sympathies for the Vikings.

DaddyBear – Thanks Conner.  That means a lot to me.  Anyway, about the footage.  Well, vicariously, I felt recoil.  Other than that, I started wondering which software suite y’all use to get the gray matter to show up so vividly against a coyote brown background like that.


Amanda – Let’s move to economics.  What do you think about the refusal by Congressional Republicans to pass any part of the President’s jobs agenda?

DaddyBear – I’m all for it.  The government needs to remove itself from the economy as much as possible.  The government doing nothing is better than the alternative.

Conner – Are you saying that the wonderful plan put forth by President Obama shouldn’t be passed?  How can you say that?

DaddyBear – Well, Conner, since you obviously didn’t pay attention in biology class, I’ll explain.  First, I inhale, then I constrict my diaphragm to force air out over my larynx, causing the vocal cords to vibrate, making a sound, then I use the muscles in my throat, tongue, and lips to shape that sound into words that you should be able to understand.

Conner – ummmmm

DaddyBear – If you meant why do I feel that it’s a good thing that the President’s attempt to continue meddling with the economy is being held up in Congress, well, that’s another story.

Conner – Yes, that’s what I meant. 

DaddyBear – OK, then.  Well, as I see it, most people in government are OK, when taken as individuals.  But for some reason, when they all try to do something together, they couldn’t pour whiskey out of a bottle without the instructions being printed on the bottom.  So giving them even more money and power to try to ‘fix’ the economy is, in my opinion, a bad thing.  The government’s proper role is to stay out of our way and leave us alone as much as possible.  Spending another trillion or two is not going to induce private employers to hire people.

Amanda – So you’re OK with Congress stopping the President’s glorious plan?

DaddyBear – That’s kind of their purpose Amanda.  By the way, would you mind buttoning your blouse a couple more buttons?  It’s a distraction. Thanks.  Anyway, Congress is well within its power to vote against anything the President asks for.  That’s the point of having a legislature.  If the President wants to just be a strong man with nothing to stop him from following the policy du jour, then he needs to find another country to do it in.

Conner – But you’re no fan of Congress, are you?  Last week you called Senate Majority Leader Reid and Minority Leader McConnell, and I quote here, “Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum”.  Care to comment on that?

DaddyBear – No problem.  Yep, I said it, and stand by it.  If you’ve been in the Congress for more than a couple of terms, you’re either a megalomaniacal parasite with delusions of adequacy, or you’re a Kennedy.  But I repeat myself.

Conner – …….

DaddyBear – Look, these two simps are playing chicken with the future of our nation.  Both are so wedded to making sure the other loses that they’re not at all interested in doing what’s right for the country.  My point is that we need to replace these career politicians with temporary statesmen. You know, the kind of men and women who have spent most of their life in the real world, then go to Washington for a few years, then return to the real world.  Most of the fools we have now shouldn’t be trusted to go to the restroom without an escort, much less the pursestrings of the largest economy in the world.


Conner – Mr. DaddyBear, President Obama recently announced that all American forces in Iraq will be home by the end of the year.  Any comments?

DaddyBear – Well, Conner, all I can say is that I’m glad to see our troops coming home.  And I wish the leaders of Iraq luck as they transition to a new period in their countries future.  I look forward to my first state visit with the leaders of the new country of Kurdistan, and will certainly have more to say after the rest of Iraq becomes the western-most province of Iran.


Amanda – In closing, Mr. DaddyBear, do you have any thoughts on the “Occupy Wall Street” protests?

DaddyBear – Amanda, the right to peacefully assemble and express dissatisfaction is a bedrock of our republic.  If these people want to get together, make their speeches, and try to convince their fellow citizens to change their way of thinking, I have no problem with that.  However, the part of this movement that is advocating extra-constitutional confiscation of private property, forced re-education of our citizens, and elimination of entire swaths of our people for socio-economic reasons is beyond the pale.

Amanda – So you don’t feel that the protesters should be allowed to say things that are threatening to the status quo?

DaddyBear – That’s not what I said, Amanda.  And your buttons seem to have come undone again during the commercial break.  Can you tuck that in there a bit?  Thanks.  What I said was that calling for the illegal and violent disruption of the lives of other citizens is going over a line.  No-one is saying that citizens can’t protest the way things are.  I’m not happy with the way things are. I just object to people calling for heads to roll because no-one told them that the free stuff stops once you are old enough to shave.

Conner – So we can expect that you won’t be taking part in the protests.

DaddyBear – Quite the opposite.  I’ll be across the street from Occupy Wall Street tomorrow morning, drinking a hot beverage and enjoying a fine fall morning.  All of that while pointing and laughing at the hippies in the park.  I may even take the kids.  It’s rare these days to see such a large herd of free roaming hippies, and I want them to be able to tell their grandchildren about it.

Goodbye, good luck, and thanks for all the wounded

Taken from a speech given by Vice Presidential Candidate DaddyBear:

Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan for as long as he can count on American troops to keep him alive, has publicly stated that in the event that Pakistan and the United States get into a scrum, he would stand with Pakistan.

Hey, no problem.  He’s an adult and kind of the leader of a sovereign nation, provided that someone else’s sons and daughters do the bleeding.  If he wants to side with his neighbor in a war against us, that’s his call.  Far be it from us to force someone to be our friend and ally after we put him in power and kept his useless hide from being tacked to the city gates of Kabul for the past 10 years.

But just so he knows how much we appreciate his candor, if elected, Candidate X and I will bring home every swinging dogtag in Afghanistan the day after the inauguration.  We will make sure to destroy every building, road, fighting position, gun emplacement, and runway we constructed.  The term “no stone on top of another” would be included in the operations order.  The Air Force will get to re-live that whole “carpet bombing” thing they’ve been salivating for since the end of Vietnam so that the process won’t take too terribly long.  Just for good measure, any equipment we leave behind will be stacked up, doused in diesel fuel and have thermite grenades thrown on top to make sure that the best that Karzai and the rest of his kleptocrats can do with it is use the puddled remains for aluminum siding.

While we’re at it, any Afghani that has worked with us and been an actual help as opposed to a parasite or spy for either Karzai, the Pakistani’s, or the Taliban will be granted a green card and a one way ticket to the States.  That way, the go-getters of Afghanistan who have worked hard and risked their lives can come here and enrich our society rather than be killed or wasted in the civil war that I think will start about  9 minutes afte the last C-17 goes wheels up.

One other thing:  Once the Afghanistan withdrawal is complete, we can tell Karzai’s pals in Karachi to go piss up a rope, which Candidate X and I will do as part of the inaugural address.  That way Pakistan and Afghanistan can be buddies without us interfering.  We will, however, make both governments acutely aware that the next time we have to mess with that particularly God-forsaken part of the planet, we won’t be as gentle or restrained as we were this go-round.  Expect “Carthagio Delenda Est” to be the name of the operation for that one.

As for Karzai, we will freeze every account related to him, his family, his government, and anything to do with them.  Let him try to flee the country after the Taliban and the Pakistani’s put a price on his head without the billions of dollars that we’ve been pouring into his country for the past decade.

Ladies and gentlemen, we should be outraged by the lack of gratitude shown to us for the blood, sweat, and treasure we have poured into Third World crapholes for the past decade.  Thousands of American families have an empty chair at the table.  Thousands of American veterans have left part of their body and soul in the dust of jerkwaters with the goal of bringing freedom and a better life to the people who live there.  I won’t even talk about the trillions of dollars we have poured down these toilets for the past decade.  Now we are being told that we can’t count on those we’ve put in power to return the favor if it’s not politically or financially beneficial to them.  If you’re not mad as hell, you’re not paying attention.

Hamid, you’ve had a good run, and you’ve got some nifty cape and hat combinations to show for it.  Candidate X and I wish you luck.  Say hello to the Pakistani intelligence agents that will be in charge of your interrogation and execution for us.  Just tell them DaddyBear said hey!

News Roundup

  • From the “When I See It, I’ll Believe It” Department – The ‘transitional’ government in Libya has promised open and free elections within months.  Something tells me it’ll run along the lines of “one man, one vote, one time” or it’ll be put off indefinitely due to some long-term emergency condition.  
  • From the “Simpleton on a Statue” Department – A twit in New York thought he would express his dissatisfaction with the status quo by taking off his jacket, climbing up a piece of statuary, and shouting out a list of demands, which included the resignation of Mayor Bloomberg.  Apparently being a public nuisance is now considered political discourse.  I’m ashamed to say that the NYPD called out the hostage negotiation unit to get him down.  Guys, this is one of the best cases I can see for rubber bullets and beanbag rounds.  Either that or announce to him in front of witnesses that he’s on his own when it comes to liability for any injuries he incurs and then ignore him.
  • From the “Rule 4, Dumbass” Department – A Marine reservist who was hiking in Oregon was killed the other day by a hunter who thought he was a bear.  The hunter was clean and sober, but didn’t make sure that his target was indeed a bear.  The article mentions that the victim was wearing dark clothes, but that doesn’t matter.  I read about some grade-A idiot shooting at movement or noise every year, and it almost always ends in tragedy.  All hunters and gun owners are tarred with the same brush over it, and it makes me mad enough to spit.  And no it wasn’t an accident.  When it comes to firearms and hunting safety, there is almost nothing that is an accident.  This was at best negligence, and I hope the hunter who pulled the trigger without knowing what his target was spends the rest of his life in jail.
  • From the “Til Death Do Us Part” Department – Archaeologists in Italy have unearthed a pair of skeletons what are holding hands and appear to have been buried with their faces toward each other.  Most will see this as a testament to undying love.  My guess as to the circumstances?  She was cold, wanted some body heat, sucked the life force out of him, then perished herself.  If you look carefully, you can see her cold feet up against his backside.

Today’s Earworm

Queensryche meets Simon & Garfunkel

Thoughts on the Day

  • We took Boo to the Zoo for some Halloween fun tonight.  Now I know why scientists invented birth control.
  • Ladies, you looked great in the naughty Halloween costumes.  No, really, you did.  However, this was kind of a kid’s event, and even the 9 year old boys were distracted.  Maybe you could save those outfits for the bar and dress like moms next time, OK?
  • Dude, the zoo is a non-smoking place.  Flicking an ash onto the kid of a guy who easily has a foot of height and 100 pounds on you is not a good idea.  Also, doing it where the director of the zoo can see equals an early end to your evening and that of your kids.  Happy bloody Halloween to you too. Jerk.
  • Lady, I know it’s kind of dark and crowded, but make sure you grab the hand of the correct child.  I’m a gentleman, but I will lay a beating down to keep a fool from walking off with my kid. 
  • To the volunteers and staff who hand out candy, dress up in costumes, stand around for 4 hours, deal with thousands of people to put on the party, and do it all cheerfully, you have my utmost thanks and respect.
  • I realized I was doing something right as a parent tonight when while we were riding the haunted carousel they were playing “Dead Man’s Party” and Boo knew the lyrics and could sing along.
  • Contrary to popular belief, labrador retrievers will indeed eat candy corn out of a child’s hand.  I did not know that.
  • Finishing the day by popping a big bowl of popcorn  and letting Boo watch “The Wizard of Oz” for the first time just feels right.

Applesauce Spice Cake

It’s that time of year again, where a bear’s thoughts turn to things with nutmeg and cinnamon in them.

Girlie Bear’s going to a sleep over tonight, so we thought we’d whip up something for her to take, and this seemed appropriate.

Ingredients:

1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Nutmeg
Ginger
Cinnamon
Cloves

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 to 1 cup white sugar, depending on your tastes
1/4 cup honey
Vanilla, bourbon, or almond extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup applesauce

1 small apple, cored and peeled, and cut into small pieces
1/4 cup raisins

Sift flours, soda, baking powder, and spices (to taste) into a bowl.

In another bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and honey.  Add vanilla, bourbon, or extract and eggs.   Combine milk and applesauce in a bowl.  Add dry ingredients to sugar/butter mixture and mix thoroughly.  Add milk/applesauce mixture and mix thoroughly.  Mix in apple and raisins.

Place in a small, greased baking dish ( I use a 6×6), and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until a knife poked into the center comes out clean.

Number Day

Fred over at Guns and Coffee reminded me that today is October 22, 10/22.  To commemorate this auspicious day, here’s a pic of mine:

I’ve shown you mine, now you show me yours!