09:01 – It was 50F (10C) when I took Colin out at 0700 this morning, gray and drizzling again. The next few days are to be like this, which is fine with us. Barbara is off to the gym this morning, and will be working on kit stuff this afternoon.
When I took Colin out after his breakfast, I checked the gauge on our propane tank for the first time. It was showing right at 60%, which indicates about 195 gallons still in the tank. Given that they originally filled the 325-gallon tank with 200 gallons of propane (61.5%), that means we’ve used only about 5 gallons of propane since mid-December, or about 1.25 gallons/month. If that rate is accurate, which I doubt, a full tank would last us about 208 months or 17 years.
Rebecca Ann Parris has an interesting and useful article up on Pat Henry’s site: Prepper Must-Haves: Vices
Overall, Pat’s site gets my vote as the most useful prepping site out there. In particular, Ms. Parris’s articles are always worth reading. Unlike many authors, she doesn’t just talk the talk, she walks the walk. In fact, I may start re-posting her articles here.
* * * * *
10:33 – The propane guy just left. We now have a full tank. He said he doesn’t trust the gauges on the tank. He said the tank has a dip tube that extends down to the maximum fill level, so he just pumps propane until liquid propane starts squirting out the dip tube vent. That way, he’s sure it’s full. Sometimes, a tank fills up while the gauge still indicates 70% or less, and sometimes when it indicates 95%.
The tanker pumps about 1.5 gallons of propane per second, so it doesn’t take long to fill even a large tank. We expected our tank to take the original 60 gallon underfill plus however much we’d used since mid-December. The total was 62.6 gallons, so either we’re using hardly any propane or they originally actually filled the tank to more than 200 gallons. The total bill was $160.94, or about $2.57/gallon.
Bob,
As you know, the density of liquid propane drops significantly as the temperature rises. Also, I doubt the gauge is accurate to within 2 percent. You’d probably get much more accurate results if you measured by weight, and if you had a good measurement of what the tank weighted empty.
BTW – I’m tempted to post an essay about the issues faced by an Orthodox Jewish prepper, if your readers have any interest.
Hi, Charlie
Yes, that’s why I said I doubted the accuracy. As I said the other day, I’ll guess we’ve probably used 15 or 20 gallons, call it 4 or 5 gallons a month. Assuming the latter is true, a full tank would give us 4 or 5 years’ worth at current consumption. In a serious long-term emergency we’d be cooking for a lot more people, but we’d also be using wood, solar, and so on for cooking/baking. So I’m guessing we’ll always have sufficient propane for a couple years.
“BTW – I’m tempted to post an essay about the issues faced by an Orthodox Jewish prepper, if your readers have any interest.”
Please do. I’m always interested in reading about special prepping considerations, whether they’re religious, medical, vegetarian, environmental, or whatever. Reading things written from different viewpoints often makes me think about things I hadn’t considered.
Rather than post it as a comment, please just email me the text and I’ll post it as an article under your name, or however you want it credited.
Add my vote of interest.
Ok, so there is some interest, I’ll try to mail you the essay tomorrow.
Last week I mentioned my encounters with the sales reps of two solar panel scammers:
Household Rooftop Solar Energy Panel Scam
I had scammers from two companies at my house in the last few weeks. After some conversation, during which I was not negative, they both left without saying that they would talk to their superiors and get back to me. They were just done with me.
One mentioned saving money. My reply was yes, “A simple, hard and fast 20%. 10% was too little to be worth the effort and trouble and 30% was probably too ambitious.”
Rebates were mentioned and my response was: “You do the paperwork and keep the rebate. I want a simple, one page, three paragraph contract with my signature, once. No 40 page, 100 paragraph contract requiring my initials 5 times per page, my name printed and dated and also in cursive and dated on each page, no lawyer involvement required nor notary public witnessing signatures, and no CPA review.
I described to them my 0% uncertainty desires:
PARAGRAPH 1. Solar energy energy company retains ownership of everything that they bring to the home site including a new, additional electrical power meter.
PARAGRAPH 2. Solar energy energy company leaves the input terminals of the existing electrical meter connected to the local electrical utilities grid and assumes my former consumer status with them. Consequently, they buy and sell energy from the utility.
PARAGRAPH 3. Solar energy energy company replaces the existing electric meter output connection to the house with the outputs of the new meter to the house. They connect the output terminals of the old meter to the input terminals of the new meter and splice in at that point leads from all the other items that they have installed. Each month I will read the new meter, subtract from the prior months reading, and from the website of the utility, determine the cost of the energy into my home as if I were still buying it from them. I would then send the solar panel company a check for 80% of the money that I would otherwise be sending to the utility.
How simple is that? A 100% certainty of a 20% savings for me!
And they walked away as if I were the nuttiest screwball that they ever encountered!
Or, was I 100% effective in preventing myself from being scammed by them?
Cowboy Slim rocks.
I’m gonna try to hire him for any future energy needs and evaluations here. I hope he takes fiat currency.
51 today (“feels like 46”) with bright overcast and winds howling, gusts to 40-50 MPH and wave action on the bay like it’s the ocean. Rain showers expected later and a river flood watch in effect through tomorrow afternoon.
Mrs. OFD’s birthday today; once a great day in American history, now clouded by events in modern times on the same date. Which pisses her off. Plus she hates her birthday but makes a deal outta celebrating mine, which I don’t care about. When she gets back, we’ll be heading to the state park ranger station about ten miles north to purchase our old-folks state park lifetime access tix for ten bucks each. We’ll also be looking to do canoe and kayak access in those parts, hopefully away from the motorboats and any crowd activity; 6,000 acres square.
I’ve happily taught my Twins to ignore most holidays (other than a day off, who gives a shit). On the other hand, if I don’t worship MrsAtoz on the appropriate holdiays, I’m dead meat.
OFD’s favorite holidays:
Labor Day: when all the summer peeps disappear and go back to wherever.
Leif Erikkson Day: the true Euro discoverer of North Murka.
All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day: when spirits are abroad in the land and we pray for our deceased forebears, whom we ought to remember, for good or ill.
@OFD When she gets back, we’ll be heading to the state park ranger station about ten miles north to purchase our old-folks state park lifetime access tix for ten bucks each.
You only need one unless going places separately.
I did that last summer. Went to the local BLM office. One old guy working in the front. Tried to process my ATM card. Had to hand enter into a computer. Couldn’t get it. Had no change for a twenty, smallest I had. I finally told him I had to get gas anyway and drove three blocks. Got gas on my ATM as usual then went in and asked the clerk to make change. No problemo. I wonder what they were paying that guy at BLM to keep a seat warm. (he was large, overweight, maybe 60 and moved very slowly)
Ah, that may well be the case. So, ten bucks for all of the state parks here. Sounds pretty dahn good to me.
“I wonder what they were paying that guy at BLM to keep a seat warm. (he was large, overweight, maybe 60 and moved very slowly)”
Hmmmm…I seem to be qualified for that gig: I’m large, 20 pounds overweight, and some days I move pretty slowly. And I’m 63! And I’m really hip to the pixels!
Ah state parks – mines a US pass for national parks, forest and all lands and monuments.
Yeah I’m 66, overweight but at least computer savvy. I can move pretty fast too but only when I have to.
Thanks for the reminder on the national parks and forests; next time we’re near one, or more likely, wife is near one, she ought to grab one of those, too.
And let’s hear it for us old fatties who are pixel-savvy! We still have a lot to give!
(I’m not really a “fattie,” per se; I’m one of those tall buggers carrying around what the late Mel Tappan referred to as his cleverly designed “modular portable food storage unit.” i.e., about 20 pounds of hard fat around my gut and waist. But it pulls on my back muscles and spine, of course, so it’s gotta go.)
And I sure am glad I picked up all the loose stuff in the back yard yesterday; if I hadn’t, it woulda got blown into the trees and properties to the east. My neighbor hates the wind, and his house gets the full brunt of it from the south off the bay and shields us quite a bit from it. That’s not to say our shutters haven’t been blown off and the Murkan flag torn to shreds, with folding chairs and other stuff blown away.
What’s interesting to me is that I’m a pale shadow, physically and mentally, of what I once was. With one exception. My reaction time is still incredibly short, between a quarter and a third of the average, or about 0.07 s to visual events.
And that’s not just on computer or web-based tests. When I open a kitchen cupboard and something falls out, I normally catch it before it falls as much as an inch. I’m not sure why I haven’t slowed down, but I’m very happy I haven’t.
All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day: when spirits are abroad in the land and we pray for our deceased forebears, whom we ought to remember, for good or ill.
Halloween was fun in Portland. Most of the communities on both sides of the river had laws requiring the store clerks to “respect all life choices”, and I tested those every October 31.
What’s interesting to me is that I’m a pale shadow, physically and mentally, of what I once was. With one exception. My reaction time is still incredibly short, between a quarter and a third of the average, or about 0.07 s to visual events.
Like Johnny Fever in that “WKRP” episode where he got faster as he consumed more alcohol.
“Johnny’s from Mars, officer. Alcohol has no effect on alien beings.”
(If you can handle the poor video quality, the “WKRP” box set is worth the purchase. The humor is extremely clean/sharp, most of the stories hold up really well, and, once again, playing Ted Nugent on the radio upsets a lot of 70 year-olds.)
I seem to recall reading somewhere that the ”old folks national parks pass” cost is raising from $10/lifetime to a higher value ($85 comes to mind).
And getting one pass for each person might come to prevent issues if the person that has the pass passes.
And national park passes are free if you are disabled. My wife has one (full SS disability due to pulmonary hypertension).
Here in WA, state passes only cost $30/year. Can be shared between two licensed vehicles.
I saw “Logan” yesterday with my 78 year old Dad. It was … interesting. And strange. And weird. And an end. And a beginning.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/logan_2017/
Howard Taylor says it much better than me: “In 1935, at the rehearsals for his Symphony no. 4, composer Ralph Vaughn Williams said “I don’t know whether I like it, but it is what I meant.””
https://www.schlockmercenary.com/blog/logan/
James Patterson loved it: “Finally, a comic book movie with a beginning, middle, and ending. Kudos to director/writer James Mangold and our good friend, Hugh Jackman. A”
http://www.jamespatterson.com/movie-reviews/movies-17-0323#1
Highly recommended.
“BTW – I’m tempted to post an essay about the issues faced by an Orthodox Jewish prepper, if your readers have any interest.”
Add my vote too
US pass is a deal. California has shitty senior discounts, no pass needed. Passes cost $20 for a year, have peak use blackouts and income limits. OTH if you’re poor, you’re golden. Typical.
Dodged another bullet .. http://www.space.com/36524-big-peanut-shaped-asteroid-2014-jo25-radar-views.html
Just 5 moon orbits away.
If the “big peanut” hit DC, would we be better off?
Landed in San Juan PR, waiting for the turbo prop to get to the island. Beautiful weather. Looks like everything is 1 foot above sea level. Hurricanes must suck. Third world mix of poverty and money from the construction and land use. So far so good.
Nick
MrsAtoz and I hope to hit PR this year for work. A good friend born and raised there just went back for vacay. MrsAtoz taught ROTC back in the day for a tour in PR. Ex-husband douche at the time refused to buy a ocean front view condo for pennies back then. Would be a wonderful vacay prop today.
“My reaction time is still incredibly short…”
Ditto. Dunno why that is. Everything else is bolloxed. I also catch stuff falling but then other times I somehow drop whatever is in my hand, esp. my left hand. Which would suck badly during a rapid mag reload. Gotta work on that; got a Pro-Hands gizmo to play with, including the laser light for targets.
“…and I tested those every October 31.”
Things ain’t got dat bad around here in Retroville and doubt they ever will. If so, I have the means to test them, too. How ’bout MY life choices, you fuckin’ commie scum rat-fuckers??? (picture a guy who looks like a very tall and large Hells Angel glaring down at you with shades on at midnight and toting an OCW 10mm long-slide Glock.)
“…the “WKRP” box set is worth the purchase. The humor is extremely clean/sharp, most of the stories hold up really well…”
Oh well hell; damn, I dint know such a thing existed! Will check it out forthwith. I loved that show, genuinely funny. My fave episode was when Hoyt Axton did a cameo as Jennifer Marlowe’s cousin or something, as Johnny was making moves on her, failing as usual. Hoyt had his guitar and kept singing: “You got a knife, I got a gun; c’mon boy, let’s have some fun!”
Another tee-vee sitcom that I thought was really funny was Newsradio, but that got messed up when Phil Hartmann got murdered by his nutjob wife. That was also when Andy Dick was actually funny some of the time.
“And national park passes are free if you are disabled.”
I will mos def check into that, as apparently I am disabled.
“If the “big peanut” hit DC, would we be better off?”
Seriously?
With lagging debris hitting the NYT building in NYC and certain areas of Sodom-on-the-Bay and Hollyweird.
“Looks like everything is 1 foot above sea level. Hurricanes must suck.” Ditto Nor’easters here in New England on the coast; sitting in a rowboat or canoe or kayak really gives you that same impression or something close to it. Heavy wave action like out on the bay here right now is a tad nerve-wracking, too.
“…a tour in PR.”
Whose tour?
Reminds me of coming home from my last active-duty gig for Uncle and constantly running into Army and Marine draftees who’d done their whole tours in Hawaii or Germany, whereas I had enlisted voluntarily and got where I got. WTF, over?
You volunteered. You _wanted_ to go over there.
Draftees got dragged kicking & screaming.
Just a snarky observation. I don’t know how they made the decision back then. Before my time.
Oh well hell; damn, I dint know such a thing existed! Will check it out forthwith. I loved that show, genuinely funny. My fave episode was when Hoyt Axton did a cameo as Jennifer Marlowe’s cousin or something, as Johnny was making moves on her, failing as usual. Hoyt had his guitar and kept singing: “You got a knife, I got a gun; c’mon boy, let’s have some fun!”
The caveat of the box set is that you’ll have to be satisfied having 90% of the music licensed properly. “Queen of the Forest” is back where it belongs as the first song Johnny Fever plays in the series, but “Dogs” is not where it is supposed to be despite the howling dogs being referenced in the conversation between Mr. Carlson and Johnny.
“Turkeys Away” is still funny, arguably worth the cost of the set, and the “Bomb Threat” two parter has one of Howard Hesseman’s finest physical comedy bits ever put on tape/film. “Its the phone cops! They know what I did here today.”
If you are a hardcore fan, you will want to rent the first season discs from Netflix, featuring Hugh Wilson and Loni Anderson providing commentary for the first episode and “Turkeys Away”. The audio tracks are not in the box set episodes.
At one point in the commentary, Loni drops the truth about which actress was cast mostly based on fame from a magazine cover shot and which actress worked her way up in bit parts in early 70s TV shows. I’m sure you can guess from context how that breaks down, but I was still surprised.
We had strong winds blowing for like 20 hours. This afternoon they stopped.
Now temp is 1C (34F) and it’s snowing here (Sibiu). More rain and snow will come in the next two days, with temperature dropping to -5 C (23F) on Saturday night. Looks like fruits production will be compromised again, like it was last year.
I had such a crush on Jan Smithers.
Me too.
Ginger or MaryAnn ?
The girl next door. Arrr! Ye should check der Pirate Bay for WKRP, arrr.
Mary Ann
An email blast from Arthur Bradley at http://disasterpreparer.com/ . I’m not sure that I agree but this is certainly a dangerous game. I looked for the article on his website but could not find it.
“Now is the Time to Start Paying Attention”
“In case you’re not listening, the drums of war are being sounded. Whether it will ultimately lead to armed conflict is unclear, but something is coming. Even North Korea’s staunchest ally, China, is openly recognizing that a military altercation is all but inevitable. They are also revealing that they would not intervene unless their sovereignty or security was threatened.”
“While there is clearly reason to stop North Korea from further developing their nuclear weapons program, everyone should understand that such a conflict would not necessarily be an easy victory. Many people, perhaps hundreds of thousands, could die. Kim Jong-un is willing to do the unthinkable… including destroying Seoul, Tokyo, or any place that he feels would cause the greatest international impact.”
“Yes, the U.S. would defeat him–we would have no other choice but to do so. The greater risk would be that while U.S. and South Korean forces rush in from the south to secure the nuclear weapons, Chinese troops will likely rush in from the north to prevent a refugee crisis. Let us just hope that the two forces have enough battlefield awareness not to take the other as the enemy.”
“In my opinion, there are three obvious ways to avoid war. First, Kim Jong-un could do a tactical retreat, offering concessions and promises, perhaps even actions that demonstrate a willingness to negotiate. If history is our teacher, this would likely be nothing more than a stalling tactic that would only delay the start of the war. Second, the North Korean army could overthrow Kim Jong-un. Or third, the Chinese could have him removed, either through military force or assassination. Short of one of those three, I think we’re headed for a military conflict. And once that war starts, I don’t believe it will stop until North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat.”
“North Korea’s Arsenal”
“While the specifics of North Korea’s military are not precisely known, below are some statistics that seem to be taken as reasonable estimates:”
” 940 aircraft, mostly Soviet and Chinese made
Up to 10,000 artillery pieces (many may be inoperable), 700 long-range
5,000 rocket launchers
11,000 air defense guns
700k active military, 4.5M reserve
4,000 tanks
967 naval vessels, with approx. 70 submarines
Assortment of banned weapons, including chemical, biological, and even blinding antipersonnel laser weapons
14-48 nuclear weapon equivalents (uranium and plutonium)
6-10 plutonium warheads; Largest demonstration was 10 kton (For comparison, the bombs we dropped on Japan were 16kT and 21 kT).
2,500-5,000 metric tons of chemical weapons, including mustard gas, sarin, nerve/blister/blood agent
Biological weapons, including anthrax and the plague”
“However, I would argue that the numbers above largely miss the point. Kim Jong-un is not going to fight a conventional war with the U.S. Instead, he will fight a nasty war with forbidden weapons and tactics, all with the goal of destabilizing the region and perhaps the world. He wants world powers to recognize his ability to do harm, and he will do everything he can to inflict pain.”
“An Ugly Roadmap to World Suffering”
“With only 30 minutes of consideration, I came up the the following possible attack scenarios. With decades to plan, what do you think the military strategists in North Korea have in mind for an unconventional war with the U.S.?”
“Conduct a massive conventional, nuclear, chemical, and biological attack on Seoul and Tokyo with the goal of creating panic and forcing ally nations to pressure the U.S. to back down.
Have NK agents sneak into Seoul and deploy dirty bombs, or rocket over raw nuclear materials, contaminating parts of the city and causing widespread fear.
Conduct missile strikes on Hawaii and Guam. These would probably not be nuclear because NK’s payloads are not yet believed to be small enough to fit into their medium-range missiles.
Attack the U.S. mainland using submarines. Likely targets would be Washington, D.C. (government) and New York City (financial).
Equip terrorist groups with nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons to facilitate a multi-pronged disruptive attack on U.S. interests.
Conduct a widespread cyber-attack on U.S. infrastructures, such as the electrical grid, water filtration plants, nuclear plants, government services, banking infrastructure, military complexes, etc.
Infect a number of North Korean nationals (or visitors) with a bio agent and have them distribute it around the world.
Attempt a high-altitude EMP attack on the U.S.? This would have tremendous impact, but fortunately, is probably not possible (yet). It would require a nuclear bomb of sufficient magnitude (say 1-2Mton) and a missile capable of reaching high enough altitude over the U.S. with that payload.”
The NORKs could cause all kinds of deadly mischief; I’d be in favor of whatever sort of strike would take out the top echelon and then let the Chicoms and SORKs work the rest of it out. That guy is not gonna change and is very likely to get much worse. That’s a regime change even I can get behind, but not by any stretch the one the neocons are trying to pull off in Syria (like they did in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, assholes).
Jan Smithers.
Oh man! What a goddess GND. And a nice rack too…
The strength and extent of a HEMP does not directly depend on the yield of the nuke.
On the balcony, 100 yards from ocean. Vertical and horizontal. St Thomas. Weird mix of 3rd world and first. Looks like every impoverished place I’ve been, but it’s nominally us. Drive on wrong side. Nice hotel, but def has the “built in a resource scarce area”vibe. Lotta concrete and local stone.
Can’t wait to try the shortwave tonight. There’s a whole part of the band for the Caribbean.
Nick
Fah out, Mr. Nick; let us know how the sw works out down there. Man, you’re WAY down there now!
And quit starin’ at the bikini goddesses.
We don’t have that sorta thang up here. They’re practically in burkhas.
Poor you.
I think this NSFW image was shot here in Sparta.
http://www.nickscipio.com/pod/2017/04/15/tax-day-foursome/
“I think this NSFW image was shot here in Sparta.”
You wish.
More likely Floriduh or Kalifornia.
Sorta like a golf foursome, I guess, where it can be hell to retrieve your balls.
We don’t have that sorta thang up here. They’re practically in burkhas.
The down parka brand seemed to be the female status symbol in Seattle, analogous to handbag designer everywhere else in the Continental US.
I was just up the shore road about three miles north of here; just a 1/4 mile from the house the lake surf is crashing across the road and the marsh on the other side has water coming over and onto the road, too. Orange “HIGH WATER” signs out. It’s friggin’ wild out there! Pretty much the same as an ocean harbor during a storm. If it keeps up like this all night and tomorrow the road will be underwater and closed. It may well be closed also at the end of this street. And the pier is totally submerged now.
So, just like Mr. Nick, I’m at the shore and enjoying the breeze. No bikini hotties, though. No women at all, in fact.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruAQpDnaeqE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acmfOiXr8IE
Which one ya like bettah?
lol! Headlines you can’t make up:
California again leads list with 6 of the top 10 most polluted U.S. cities
Of all the things I thought I might do tonight looking at Jupiter through a 16 inch dobsonian was not on my list. however it was way cool. Stripes, red spot, and 4 moons.
Nick
See Mr. Nick, all is good on your VI trip.
We’re number one!
That report has soooooooo many problems. Yes, the air could be better. No it’s not that bad. You think there might be certain people trying to justify their useless jobs?
“… Headlines you can’t make up…”
I remember being up in the San Gabriel Mountains in circa 1973 and being unable to actually see LA spread out down below because of the brown haze over it.
“…looking at Jupiter through a 16 inch dobsonian…”
Sweeeeeeeet! I was looking at a wall of wotta out my cah window on the shore road at 7 PM.
Wife called earlier and she and her teaching colleague are kinda suffering with the hot super-dry air and altitude out there in El Paso. They’re exhausted by the end of the day and crash by 8:30 PM. I told her she’s gonna come back and pass out immediately from the super-oxygenated and wet air here. Cold wet air, in fact.
I remember being up in the San Gabriel Mountains in circa 1973 and being unable to actually see LA spread out down below because of the brown haze over it.
Those days are gone. Air is far better than 40 years ago. The enforcers keep moving the goal posts.
http://dailysignal.com/2015/02/11/epa-fire-concealing-controversial-scientific-data-silencing-skeptics/
It’s amazing what the EPA has gotten away with, how does an agency do that without Congress or just saying “fuck you” when asked to reveal what our tax dollars have funded. I guess it’s for the chillin’ so tough shit.
Very glad to hear it. We all gotta breathe. And drink wotta. And eat.
“http://dailysignal.com/2015/02/11/epa-fire-concealing-controversial-scientific-data-silencing-skeptics/”
We are, of course, ruled mostly by criminal scum, liars, thieves, grifters, perverts, rapists, murderers, and war criminals. Especially at the Fed level.
We are, of course, ruled mostly by criminal scum, liars, thieves, grifters, perverts, rapists, murderers, and war criminals. Especially at the Fed level.
Dude, harsh ! Oh wait, you are talking collectively, not individually, of all politicians in the USA. In that case, I withdraw my objection.
Those days are gone. Air is far better than 40 years ago. The enforcers keep moving the goal posts.
We engineers know this. In most cases, except coal and other solid fuel power plants, the air coming out of new combustion based engines is cleaner than the air coming in.
It is my personal belief that the air in today’s tight homes is the major cause of asthma in children rather than the outside air. The kids play games inside all day now instead of playing outside like we did when I was a kid. I do advocate the usage of high MERV air filters though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_efficiency_reporting_value
I am also seeing major problems with diesel particulate filters and Nox catalytic converters with urea injection. And, significantly decreased fuel mileage due to regeneration of the particulate filters.
That said, if Los Angeles wants to mandate electric or LNG motors for all local trucks operating in the basin, I am OK with that.
As could have been predicted, UC Berkeley imposed crazy-ass restrictions on Coulter and she tried to be reasonable and they canceled her anyway. Commie scum.
http://conservative-headlines.org/berkeley-tries-to-cancel-ann-coulter-event-lecture-will-go-on/#more-58222
Site editing needs more work, of course. How peeps can post this stuff and not see the problem immediately beggars the imagination.
So now the various outfits will probably finagle some other venue for her; righties have to jump through all kinds of hoops to exercise their 1A rights but commies get a free ride all the time at these places. Meanwhile several prominent comedians have long since refused to do their gigs on college campuses anymore. They’ve simply become Young Pioneers collectives financed by their clueless parents.
Encouraging: Even the articles in the California media have comments largely critical of UC Berkeley. See, for example, the comments here.
Around many corners, but generally on the topic of political correctness: I finally got around to watching Star Wars episode 7 last night. The story was fun, clearly a deliberate remake of the original Episode 4, but working to introduce new characters for this trilogy. Go in with limited expectations, and it is a thoroughly enjoyable film.
There was lots of criticism for the PC aspects of the film. A couple of observations:
The actress portraying Rey was actually pretty good. In terms of the universe, there’s no reason it shouldn’t be a woman with the force. My only PC complaint: a couple of the fight scenes were dumb. When she whacks a guy with a quarterstaff, it’s absolutely fair for the guy to stay down. When its brute strength against brute strength, girl against guy…um, no, she doesn’t win that contest. They could have easily staged those scenes differently, and should have. Other than that, good performance.
Her counterpart, Fin, on the other hand: The man cannot act. His face was expressionless, his performance flat. That certainly makes him look like the token black guy.
And the taxpayers, in many and varied ways. Be sure to say You’re Welcome when the brainwashed scum thank you for supporting them in their socialist causes.
Since we seem to be doing film reviews, here is my review for Beauty and The Beast. The film’s only redeeming quality is that it has Emma Watson. It’s also politically incorrect to anyone who has rudimentary knowledge of French. It seems they decided to make LeFou (Gaston’s sidekick) gay. Apparently done by someone who has not a clue of what LeFou means in French.
@Dave, thanks for dredging that word out of my deep memories of high school French class. The only thing that made French fun was finding all the derogatory and foul words we could use without others knowing. 😉
BTW, my French teacher “assigned” all of us French names, mine was Eugène. We had to use it on all written work and tests.
My pet peeve was having my first name pronounced in French. My favorite lasting memory is being able to swear in French and being able to say pardon my French afterwards. I would have learned much more if my Junior High School French teacher wasn’t a mean old lady. Well, that and in high school French I kept thinking about science every time I looked at my French teacher.
French was required when I was in elementary school, why I have no idea. When I got to junior high school, Latin was an option. I jumped on it. My teacher was Mrs. Lois Shreffler, who despised the mispronunciations common in Church and Scientific Latin.
The lady who taught French at my high school was an ex-Partisan. I didn’t take it, but she was also the sponsor for the drama club. She would occasionally reminisce about killing Germans; pretty cool for a lady who was shy of 5′ & 100#.
I remember reading that from the initial German invasion through April/May 1945 the French Resistance actually had about 2,000 active members. Starting in about June 1945, that number increased to something like 2,000,000, or was it 20,000,000. Amazing how much difference a month can make.
Truly amazing.
The 2,000 knew/know who was who but very few others do; over here it’s called “stolen valor.”
And now I can hear one of my middle skool French teachers barking at me…”En Francais, Dahveed, en Francais!”
Oui, madame:
Valeur volée
Yah. Seen it myself a few times.
And the flipside: the people who are all rarin’ to go to resist government oppression and gun registration and stolen elections or career criminals drifting into the neighborhood or an invasion from another country or tribe … but when push comes to shove, um, I have a dentist appointment that day. Or else they just stop talking at all about it.
I’ve seen this a bit overseas, but mostly in the US, what with me being in the US for most of my life.
This should be part of your planning if you think the government is tyrannical or is likely to become so, and that it should be resisted forcibly. If you think you’re part of a wave of the infuriated and that you’ll have a thousand others joining you in lynching politicians or shooting bureaucrats or whatever, and that causes you to act, you’re likely to find yourself out all by your lonesome. You might want to rethink your plans in terms of always being on your own. If a “movement” begins and others join you, great. Don’t count on it.
DH wrote:
The 2,000 knew/know who was who but very few others do; over here it’s called “stolen valor.”
Here in Oz guys would boast about their exploits in the Vietnam War. Real vets would pay them a visit, check out their stories, and if they didn’t ring true would beat the shit out of them.
The French? Most of them were on Hitler’s side, weren’t they?