Men are from Mars, Women are from Somewhere Else

Reminiscing over my morning bourbon, I recalled that at some point in the 1990s I found a copy of the infamous Cooperative Writing Assignment.  The story goes that an English teacher pairs two students and instructs to write a story together.  One student will write a paragraph, then pass the work to the other student, who will write the next paragraph, and so forth.  This is done through email, with the instructor CC'd on every email.

Snopes lists this as a legend, but there's a certain amount of proof that it actually happened.  Check Tandem Story Writing Assignment from Snopes as you like; I've copied the text and republished it without permission.

Christmas Card

One man who really know how to write the blues is Tom Waits. Here is, I hope, a song I don't spend a lot of time listening to, Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis.

Latest News and Reviews

A few of you may have noticed that Mad Jack's Shack may have been a mite slow to load recently. The site is now fixed, thanks to the kindness and generosity of JR, SysOp of ToledoTalk and programmer extraordinaire.

 Thanks JR.

While I'm at it, I'd also like to thank the elite QC team over at ToledoTalk for their lightning fast response and succinct missives.

Thanks guys 'n gals, ladies and gents, madams and monsieurs. I really appreciate the help.

What have I been up to? Well...

Thanksgiving Day 2017: Survival of the Bourbon Lover

I've been gone a while, but I'm back.  For those of you who hoped that I'd finally met my demise, or at the very least suffered enough brain damage to render me illiterate, I'm happy to inform you that I'm alive and my mental faculties are as sharp as ever.

You guys in the back row can stop laughing just about any time.

Worthy Cause

On Thursday, November 16^th 2017 at 2:00 AM, the Toledo Police executed a search warrant on the residence of a piece of human garbage, Jamaine Hill.  When he heard the SWAT team outside, Hill shot through the door and managed to hit Detective Jason Picking in the face.  Detective Picking is in the hospital in critical but stable condition, and is scheduled for a long list of surgeries to repair as much of the damage as possible.

When she heard about the shooting, Danielle Dressel, officer Keith Dressel's widow, went to the hospital to give aid and comfort to Jason's wife Kristen and their family.  Having been through this experience before, Danielle knew what the family would need by way of support.

Here is a message written by Danielle, and reprinted here without permission:

Asking for help for Detective Jason Picking, his wife Kristen and their 4 children. What happened to them is completely tragic and devastating. Thank God he will eventually recover, but it’s going to be a very long and painful process. He is out of state at a hospital undergoing the difficult surgeries that his injuries require. That means lots of traveling and time away from home and family. If you would like to help ease their difficulties, you can do so one of three ways.

1. Give a donation at the Toledo Police federal credit union. There is an account set up for the Picking family.

2. Send me a gift card from gas stations, to help with traveling or restaurants so they don’t have to worry about meals. Suggested restaurants; Panera Bread, Starbucks, subway, pizza places, jimmy johns, and Tropical Smoothie. (Jason won’t be able to eat solid foods for a long time!) Gift cards to Amazon are a suggestion as well so Kristen can do Christmas shopping from the hospital. And

3. Simply send a card or note. Trust me when I say, those small gestures are so uplifting, appreciated and needed!

You can mail notes and gift cards to me at:

Danielle Dressel, C/O, The Toledo Police Academy, 30439 Tracy Rd., Walbridge OH. 43465.

One last thing please, say a prayer for Jason and Kristen. Thank you everyone for taking the time to read this.

You can read about the story at these links, courtesy of WTOL:

Detective's wife comforted by widow whose husband was shot, killed in line of duty

TPD officer shot in west Toledo, in 'critical but stable' condition

I'm not a strong supporter of charities. I give financial support to my Church, the Salvation Army, and to a no-kill animal shelter.  I think this is a worthy cause.

Detective Jason Picking is facing an uphill struggle.  He has a wife and four kids, and being shot is going to leave him incapacitated for a long while.  Worse, some of the damage will be permanent.  If you can spare a sawbuck or two, please send it to the family via Danielle.  If not, take a few minutes and send a get well card with a few words of encouragement.  Your generosity and consideration will make a big difference to the Picking family.

Most importantly, if you're religious please pray for them.  Thank you.

Current Crises

This morning, right in the middle of the good old morning coffee, I detected the gentle strains of a jackhammer operating in the immediate vicinity.  Since there have been a few problems with the local water lines in our little enclave, I paid it no never-mind.

Big mistake.

Big, big, mistake.

In Support of the Right to Defend Yourself, Your Family, and Your Loved Ones

I think it's safe to say that everyone has seen or heard about this, the latest act of terrorism in the United States: At least 26 killed in mass shooting at Texas church. This is a truly terrible, cowardly act, and the first question everyone asks is, 'Why?'

I, personally, don't care why.  All I really care about is that the law abiding population - hell, even the gangsters - realize that it's going to happen again, and when it does there's only one real response: fight back.

Ignore the anti-freedom fascists who demand sensible gun control.  Pack your pistol with you, and when shit comes to sweat, pull out your gat and put some lead in the air.

This happened in a church building on Sunday during services.  There is no more unlikely time to encounter a terrorist intent on a mass murder than church on Sunday.  Yet there we have it, and I believe that it will happen again.

I have a CCW license for Ohio, but license or not, pack your pistol and make sure you can hit something with it.

I Support Intolerance

I support intolerance, and always have.  There are certain things in this world that I won't tolerate, won't accept, and won't make room for.  No, we can't just agree to disagree.  You're wrong, I'm right, and you can take your new social experiment and stuff it where the sun don't shine.  Use a bucket of sand to make it easier.

Death Penalty: Time is Everything

I found the straight skinny on the efficacy of various death penalty methods, although several methods are not covered. Being boiled in oil, for instance, is not even given honorable mention although there was a time when it was used often enough.  Here is a list of methods and the time it takes the prisoner to expire, courtesy of NBC.

Death Penalty: When it Should Be Permanently Removed

Enough verbiage about the death penalty has been written to fill a small building, assuming legal size paper and 12 point type, double spaced.  Maybe two small buildings.  I've read enough about appeals and new evidence to be convinced that our court system has absolutely no business sentencing anyone to death.  Too many exceptions exist, new evidence is discovered, and the courts often refuse to test DNA evidence.  Heaven help us all if one of these judges should assist in wrongfully convicting someone - which has happened so often that it's no real surprise anymore.  But I'm not going to write about that part, mainly because I have no good solution and I'm neither an attorney nor a doctor of philosophy.

Church Scandal in Toledo, Ohio

You just about need a program to keep the players straight in this holier-than-thou church scandal involving three Toledo area pastors and the Lucas County Administrator.  Keep reading at your own risk with the usual warnings about insensitive, politically incorrect vernacularisms, harsh criticisms and blatant insults (racial and otherwise).

Mark Your Calendar

Mark your calendar for November 4^th, 2017.  That's when the protest begins, if you believe Antifa anyway.  They've thoughtfully published a list of places to be.  Since Columbus, Ohio isn't on the list, I'm staying home and will watch the entire fiasco from the comfort of my living room.

A related group, the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement (RAM) have passed the word to Antifa groups nationwide to support them in a Deface Columbus Day event, where members and supporters plan to deface evidence of Christopher Columbus in their local neighborhoods.  By all accounts, RAM is a militant group that advocates for redistribution of property and for the abolition of gender (their words, not mine).  RAM members prefer to use violence to achieve these and other goals.

So I suppose this would be two days to be extra careful about where you go, and to remember to hold your pistol steady should it come to that.  Me, I'm staying inside.

Ethics Question: Answered

About a week ago I posed a question to everyone with abundant ennui and enough free time on their hands to read my blog.  For reference purposes you can read the original post here, at Ethics Question.

Not entirely my solution, I dropped a dime on her.

Las Vegas Shooter

As of this writing, Stephen Craig Paddock and the notorious Las Vegas shooting have been discussed and speculated upon until there is obviously nothing left to do but wait for factual results from law enforcement officials.  If we ever get any, that is.  I'm betting that some of the facts will never be released to the public for political reasons, and because law enforcement doesn't have to release everything.  They often play their cards close to the vest, and never show the hole cards unless they need to.

Ethics Question

Generally speaking, I'm a live and let live sort of fellow.  If my neighbors vote the straight moonbat ticket, that's their problem.  Ditto with the wingnuts.  Discounting violent crime and legislation designed to make my life more difficult than it already is, the one thing I have trouble with is copyright infringement.  Plagiarism.  Hot software.  Whatever it is, some poor schmuck (maybe figuratively speaking here) worked hard on this project, and if you can afford to buy it and pirate it instead, you're stealing from him and that bothers me.  Because, see, if you'll do it to him, you'll do it to me.

Which brings me to my current dilemma.  Keep reading or not as it amuses you to do so.

Rifle Question

In an attempt to make me start drinking earlier than usual, Glen Filthie (owner and operator of Filthie's Thunderbox, where great intelligence goes to be insulted) posted a picture of this antique rifle, then refused to identify it.  Glen claims he doesn't know what it is.  I think he's mangling the truth.  I think he does know, and is deliberately, and malicious aforethought, withholding the information because he knows it makes me nuts.

It seems to me that I saw this on some history show recently, but my memory isn't what it should be.

Mystery Rifle

If anyone reading this piece knows what this rifle is, will you please post the make and model?  Thanks in advance.

Morning at the Range

Big Mike called me last night at quarter to ten, identified himself (overreacting to the Experian data heist, I imagine), and informed me he was going shooting at 9:00 in the AM tomorrow, the implication being that if I could drag my fat, hungover, old ass out of bed that early then I could join him.

Caution and trigger warning: politically incorrect, insensitive, and profane language ahead.  Read at your own risk, and if you whine about anything I'll make fun of you.

Anthony Lamar Smith, Victim and Drug Dealer

There's a hot time in the old town tonight, and for the past three nights, if you live in St. Louis, MO that is.  Anthony Lamar Smith, street level heroin dealer and general all around criminal was shot to death by St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley after a high speed chase.  Hint: Anthony wasn't driving through St. Louis at 90 mph because he was late for choir practice.

All that being said, here are my objections to this particular circus.  Trigger warning: profanity and racial slurs ahead.  Proceed at your own risk.

Automobile Question

Mystery Car

I found this over at Filthie's Thunderbox - The Art Of Speed. Can anyone tell me what kind of car this is?

Unpopular Opinion

My Internet friend Got A Beating Over At WC's..., which, in my own arrogant opinion, he didn't deserve.  Over half of the guys that post over there are bullshit artists anyway, and one reader actually called 'em on it.  He was ignored.

Idiocy Online

During a moment of inebriated ennui, I subscribed to Quora.  People (presumably people, although after you read a few of the questions you begin to wonder) pose questions that they desperately want answered, and as fate would have it, I am often unassigned for the ten minutes or so that a fairly dry answer requires.

Councilwoman Yvonne Harper Behaving Badly

Toledo city Clowncil Yvonne Harper open her fat mouth to the wrong person, and now she's on the ropes.  Again.

Charitable Donations

As I remember it, I was 21 when I was first pressured into donating money I didn't have to the United Way.  Now that I think about it, it may have been MDA, but no matter.  My manager attempted to coerce me into making a sizeable donation, then attempted to shame me into making a donation.  His tactics didn't work.  The only charity I supported then is the same one I support now, the Salvation Army.  I also support Planned Pethood, which I consider a worthwhile charity.

Gun Question

I got this photo from Glen Filthie over at Filthie's Thunderbox. I think it's cool looking, but when I asked what kind of gun it was all I got was dead digital silence - not even crickets.  I suppose it's possible he's ignoring me, but it's equally likely he doesn't know, and rather than admit his ignorance and have everyone know for sure, he's elected to remain silent and leave some room for doubt.

As if there is any.

Mystery Gun

I have no idea what sort of pistol this is, but I'd like to know.  Would someone please enlighten me?

Why I Left Toledo - One Reason, anyway...

I'm living in Columbus these days, and the more I hear about my old home town, the better I feel about leaving.  Just look at the latest idea from Mayor MacCheese of Rossford (look it up on a map), who wants to build an aerial gondola from Rossford, a town no one has ever heard of, to Toledo, a gravel pit many people wish they'd never heard of.

Extended Election Casualties

Anyone not interested in the trivia of my daily existence can skip this one.  The rest of you, don't say you weren't warned.

Election Casualties Continue

On November 8th, 2016 Donald Trump won the popular vote election for our next president.  On December 15th, 2016, the Electoral College did what they were supposed to do (surprising me slightly) and elected Mr. Trump to the White House.  On Friday, January 20th, 2017, Donald Trump was ceremoniously sworn in as President of the United States.  Anyone with any sense at all poured themselves a stiff one, either in celebration or dismay, and listened to the dulcet voice of the fat lady as one era closed and the next act was ushered in.

Charlottesville, Peaceful Protesters, and Our Government

Two blogs that I read on a regular basis are Bayou Renaissance Man (Peter Grant) and Nobody Asked Me… (Old NFO).  Both wrote about the situation at Charlottesville, VA.  Peter wrote Racial and extremist violence in Charlottesville, VA, which I'm in disagreement with, and Old NFO posed a good question in Thoughts on Charlottesville…. Read them or not as it amuses you to do so.

Happy A-Bomb Day!

On December 7^th, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service attacked Pearl Harbor without warning. In plain old English, we got japped.

Wakey Wakey!

Wakey wakey! Hand off snakey!

CCW Reciprocity and The Crime that is Never Reported

A relatively short time ago, Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Representative Richard Hudson, R-North Carolina, introduced the S.446 - Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017.  The anti-freedom moonbats instantly had a severe mental breakdown, which was unfortunately cured by government funded mental health services, some involving primal scream therapy.

Film Review: Dunkirk (2017)

Film Review: Dunkirk (2017)

Trigger Warning: No spoilers ahead.  The safety is on, so it can't go off.  See?

The Murder of Justine Damond and Dealing With My Own Prejudice

On Saturday, July 15^th, 2017 around 11:30 PM, two Minneapolis MN police officers responded to a 911 call reporting a possible sexual assault.  The caller, Justine Damond, met the officers in an alley behind her home.  She approached the patrol car and started talking to the driver, officer Matthew Harrity.  While she was talking to the driver, officer Officer Mohamed Noor, who was riding in the passenger seat of the police car, shot her to death.  Noor fired at least one shot, possibly more, across officer Matthew Harrity's chest and out the open window.

Busted Chops in Columbus, or, Tooth Number Four Where Are You?

On Wednesday, the nineteenth day of the month of July in the Year of Our Lord two-thousand ten-and-seven during the day season, and in particular the hours of the mid-late-morning, I was passively gathering wool, slowly succumbing to the inanity of the talking heads on the idiot box, and idly wondering if anyone took any of their jejune notions with sobriety and a straight face, all while enjoying a leisurely breakfast consisting of a marinated portabella mushroom, onion, and cheese omelet, whole wheat toast with butter, black coffee, and a mildly strong bloody mary, when it happened.

An Interlude, or Reminessing about the Bad Old Days in 1957

I graduated in 1970 and a half, mainly because the school system was sick and tired of me and most of officialdom hoped that I'd get drafted and sent to Vietnam, where I'd get shot and killed, or blown up by an anti-personnel mine, or burned alive, or something.  Sadly for them, none of that happened.

R.I.P. Zeus

Mister Zeus, my little tuxedo cat, hasn't been doing well lately.  His digestive system wasn't working the way it should; he'd eat, but there would be no weight gain.  He'd be hungry all the time, but feeding him whenever he felt hungry was a bad idea, as he'd end up regurgitating the food.  He also had trouble getting around.  His joints were too stiff and sore to allow him to groom himself.  He negotiated the stairs on step at a time, pausing to rest about halfway up.  Although he hated being picked up and carried, he enjoyed it when I carried him up the stairs.  He'd lost so much weight that he was little more than fur and bones.  And he could no longer play with Danté, his buddy cat.  Danté would offer to play with him, and Zeus couldn't.

Gaming Night

I'm a gamer.  Board games, traditional games, FRP - I've played a lot of it.  When I moved to Columbus, Big Mike was kind enough to include me in the Bored Gamers, a group of men that meet on Monday nights to play games and have a good time.  Last night was no exception.

We congregated at Lash's house around 6:00 PM.  I was a bit late, coming in at 6:30.  Anyway, Big Mike, Lash, Marky-Mark, and yours truly ended up at a table playing Catan, while the rest of the players were at another table trying in vain to colonize Mars.  About an hour into the game, one of the players from the other room (followed by two others) comes in and asks Lash if he's got any beer.

"Yeah, in the fridge." Last replied.
Player One rummages in Lash's refrigerator and comes up with a bottle of Miller.
"Miller?  That's all you've got?"
"It's not mine." Lash starts to explain.  "Some guys left a six pack here last week."
"Miller?" Player One continues to complain.  "I can't believe it.  I drank this swill back in high school."
Big Mike looks up from sorting his commodities into promising groups, and addresses Player One.
"Let me get this straight," Mike begins. "You come into this man's home, you accept his hospitality, then you raid his refrigerator looking for beer, and then you have the audacity to complain about the brand of the free beer?  You, Sir, are a Dick."
Other players start to laugh.
"Yeah," I say, "Just put a six of Miller down on Short North and see how long it lasts."
More laughter.  I felt that Lash was vindicated.

I won Catan quite neatly, by the way.  Big Mike was counting on Lash to keep me in check, and he didn't.  So right out of the blue, surprise-surprise, I won one.  Driving home, I reflected that I don't win all that often.

A Brief Interlude

Main Lady had just announced that she was leaving for St. Louis just as soon as she could sell the familial palace in Sylvania, Ohio, and pack the six over-loaded moving vans full of crap that she'd accumulated over the past ten years, more than half of which she inherited from her dear old mother's estate.  So I'm not only single, I'm single and completely unattached.  Moreover, I have no baggage - I'm not going to let her rent space in my head.

Happy July 4th - 1776 to 2017

On Thursday, the 4^th Day of the Month of July in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred Seventy-and-Six, a group of erudite, audacious, white men assembled and with all due ceremony, signed the United States Declaration of Independence.  You can read about it at this link: The Declaration of Independence from US History.  I claim to be distantly related to one of these men -  Thomas Jefferson, who drafted the Declaration of Independence, became the third U.S. president, and was responsible for the Louisiana Purchase.

We can only imagine the thoughts that were running through the minds of the men who signed this document, which amounted to a strongly worded shout of defiance to King George III, coupled with a coarse gesture generally reserved for divorce lawyers, rude drivers, and I.R.S. agents.  They knew they were in for it, and they knew that a significant portion of the local populace was against them.  Being fairly intelligent, they likely also knew that the vast majority of people didn't give a tinker's damn one way or the other.  Looking back, that may be hard to believe, but that's the way it was.

The good guys won that one, and it wasn't easy, and it wasn't any fun.  Most times it was pure misery, and Lord help you if you stopped a rifle ball, because if the ball didn't kill you, the doctor would.  Those that the doctor missed or couldn't get to often died of infection.  You could also cash in your chips from exposure, meaning the environment killed you.  Some people froze to death, a few drowned.  Then there was good old fashioned, everyday illness.  The common cold could advance to pneumonia, which was often fatal.

Right in the middle of this hard life, people got together and started a revolutionary war with a larger country.  I can't help but think that they had to be pretty tough.

So today I'll raise my glass and toast those tough men and a few women who prized freedom from oppression so much that they were willing to suffer for it.  Any fool can die for it; but to get up every morning and get right back to working on the revolution took a rare type of individual, and that's what I admire most.

Here's a tip of the old fedora and a hoist of my afternoon bourbon glass - here's to freedom!

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time, a Prince once asked a beautiful Princess, "Will you marry me?"

Coffee

I've mentioned before that Big Mike doesn't just make a cup of coffee; he buys green coffee beans, roasts them himself, and proceeds from there.   Glen, the proprietor of Filthie's Thunderbox heard about this and was on it faster than a Jack Russel Terrier after a big, fat, rat.  What follows is a link and a second hand lecture about coffee beans, roasting, and brewing your own coffee.

Security and Shooting

Some time back, Big Mike attended a public event of some kind (maybe a hockey game, but who knows?) at a major stadium in Ohio (notice how vague I'm being - it's intentional).  The promoter of the event decided for reasons of sanity to shake everyone down with a metal detector prior to allowing them inside.  Any recreational substances or prohibited items found during said shakedown would become the property of the shakedown artist private security personnel.  Mike was carrying a nice, razor sharp Spyderco knife that he didn't feel like giving to some dumb rent-a-doughnut-muncher, so he cheated and smuggled it in.  I should note at this point that as a result of Mike's timely defeat of the so-called security system, nothing bad happened.  Well, who would have ever thunk it?

His LAST Round of Golf

While golfing, I took a quick turn to avoid hitting a chuck hole, and accidentally overturned my golf cart.

A very beautiful and attractive golfer, who lived right there on the edge of the golf course, heard the noise, came running out of her villa and shouted, "Are you okay?"

As I looked up I noticed she was wearing only a silky see-through bath robe which was partially open, revealing what appeared to be a VERY nice figure.

"I'm okay I think," I replied as I pulled myself out from under the twisted cart.

She said, "Please follow me to my villa so I can clean and bandage that nasty scrape on your head, then you can rest a while, and I'll help you upright the cart later."

"That's mighty nice of you," I answered, "but I don't think my wife will like me doing that!"

"Oh, come on now," she insisted. "We need to see if you have any more scrapes and treat them if so."

Well, after all, she was really pretty and very, very persuasive. Being sort of shaken and weak, I finally agreed, but repeated, "I'm sure my wife won't like this." We walked to her place just a 100 yards away, and after a couple of Scotch and waters and the bandaging, I thanked her and said, "I feel a lot better now, but I know my wife is going to be really upset, so I'd better go now."

"Don't be silly!" she said with a smile, letting her robe fall even more open. "Stay for a while. She won't know anything, and by the way, where is she?"

SJW / Moonbat Rant

I don't know how I managed this one, but somehow I wound up looking at Cosmopolitan, possibly because they featured an article entitled, Seven New Positions That Are Pure Hospital Bait - Illustrated!  Which is enough to interrupt my tenuous grasp on whatever I'm supposed to be doing.  This led me to an article written by a completely rabid bitch on a stick, which cried out for an inebriated fisking.  Continue reading at your own risk.

Origins Gaming Convention 2017 and the Pipesmoker's Parade

I went to the Origins Gaming Convention this year with Big Mike. Both of us are in Columbus, both of us are avid gamers, so why not? Besides, after the game at the convention there's drinks and dinner in Short North. I started out with breakfast at Big Mike's house. As usual, Mike's hospitality is truly beyond the pale.

Revenge on a IRS Phone Scamming Company - Call Flooder

Imagine that you're expecting an important call from, say, a client, your employer, a prospective employer, your MD calling with the results from your latest STD test... okay, whatever.  So the phone rings, you snatch it up, and it turns out to be some stupid towel head trying to run a Windoze support scam, a transfer funds out of Nairobi Bank scam, or the old I.R.S. scam.  If you're anything like me, you'd like to crawl through the wires and rip his tonsils out, then take an axe to his equipment.  But he's in India and I'm in the U.S.

The War on Drugs: Profit and Loss

Peter Grant wrote a post about drug abuse, addiction, and overdoses entitled Ohio ... will see 10,000 overdoses [resulting in death] by the end of 2017, which I think is worth reading. Some of the commentary is easily as good as the article.  Peter Grant is, among other things, a retired Pastor who used to work with a prison population, and has a lot of experience with the effects of drug abuse.  Borepatch, another blogger, read it and started to write an insightful comment which turned into a post on his own blog, which you may read at your leisure: The Stupid "War on Drugs".  This activity served to rattle Glen's cage, so he naturally volunteered his own take on the subject, Your Right To Destroy Yourself And Your Family Will Not Be Infringed.  Again, a decent piece and worth reading.

One of the few things all these erudite people can agree on is that the official United States War on Drugs isn't working, and we've been fighting a losing battle for years.

Well, no shit.

DUI in Ohio

Paging through the local bird cage liner, I came across this little gem:

Sandusky Man Loses Driver's License, Sent to Prison After 12th DUI

With his 12th drunken driving conviction, a Sandusky man today lost his driver's license for life and was sent to prison.
Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Gary Cook sentenced Johnnie Cross III, 59, to four years in prison and ordered him to pay a $2,500 fine, and participate in alcohol addiction treatment.

My question: Why does this confirmed drunk still have a license after 12 DUI convictions? 

How well do you suppose he drives when he's sober?

You know how completely hammered you have to be to actually get pulled over for drunk driving?  And then you have to do something incredibly stupid to get the cop's attention.

Okay, that's more than one question, but the first question is the one I'm actually interested in.  Any and all of you that have some knowledge of the system, feel free to sound off.

Kathy Gets Some Head

Stumbling around this morning until I could find my coffee and splash a shot of eye-opener into it, I fat fingered the keyboard and ended up at Filthie's Thunderbox, as written by your noble Canadian host, Glen Filthie.  I like reading Glen. He portrays himself as an average man (he isn't, and doesn't know it), and he generally gets it right, albeit sometimes by accident rather than on purpose.  Still, he gets there.

Some assembly required...

Inspired by Storing Your Emergency Supplies by Peter Grant, the Bayou Renaissance Man, and needing some shelving for my basement in the worst way imaginable, I ordered three sets from Amazon.  Here's a review of the good and the bad.

Whatever happened to...

For reasons that even I can't comprehend, I decided to start some 'way past due maintenance on the list of sites that I read.  I started by deleting sites that are no longer with us, or that have fallen into complete disuse.  Which led me to the topic of this post: Whatever happened to (name of the site)?

Here's an exhaustive list, along with the reasons that the site slid into the electronic junkyard:


A Tenderfoot in Tombstone
No real reason given, just no news.  Too bad, as I enjoyed the author's writing.

Beat and Release, Charleston Thuglife, and Garro's Games.
All these sites were blogs from the same man, whose name may or may not be Garro.  He seemed to be doing pretty well, then just dropped off the Internet without warning.  I never met him in person, but I liked him and I hope he's doing well.

Full Metal Patriot
No real reason given, the blog just died out.

HistoryMike
I happen to know History Mike, who really does teach college level history.  He tends to bite off more than he can comfortably masticate, which is what happened here.

Hooda Thunkit
Hooda just vanished one day.

Northwest
Nothing to see here, and I do mean nothing.

Stephanie M. Loree
I suspect that the blog was sacrificed due to work and family.  Stephanie is a professional writer / editor, and the last I knew she was doing well.

Graveyard Dog
I was sorry to see the Dog stop posting, as he was a very entertaining police read.

The P.O.P. Factor
Again, just faded away, although there may have been mitigating factors.

Thurber's Thoughts
The author, Maggie Thurber, is alive and well in Toledo, Ohio.  I suspect she got tired of writing a conservative blog and getting screamed at by SJWs and similar pests.

If anyone knows what happened to any of the bloggers or what they're doing now, please don't hesitate to comment.  Thanks!

News... from Columbus, Ohio

I finally managed to get an account opened at a local credit union, although I now wish I'd chosen some other facility.  Wright-Patt Credit Union has the lowest rates on services, which is easy to understand because the service you, the customer, are privileged to receive from Wright-Patt makes the DMV look good by comparison.  I sat in the lobby for half and hour listening to the paint on the walls dry before some mouth breathing idiot took me into the back and, 45 minutes later, I had a nice, new checking account and a savings account, and not a red cent in either one.  The oh-so-eager-to-please management put a ten-working-day hold on the checks I deposited, in spite of the fact that both were from a Columbus bank.

I went to lunch to try and cheer myself up a little, and when I get back to my car, what do I find?

Bastards!!!

The meter maid gave me a ticket for not having a license plate on the front of my car.  My car lacks a bracket for a front plate, and I haven't wanted to screw the thing up by putting a plate on the grill.  Plus, I now have an extra plate, so if mine ever gets stolen I'm not completely out of luck.
By the way, the meter still had 40 minutes left on it.

Fifty simolians it's going to cost me to pay this off.  That seems like a lot of scratch for such a minor violation.

Little prick.  I hope he tries to hump a woman who moves, and he humps a cactus instead.

So last night I hit the sack around 11:00 PM.  I've been working on the basement most of the day, my lower back and shoulders are killing me, and I'm tired.  At 11:05 I was really sawing the old wood, really copping the Zs, so at 2:00 in the AM, what happens?

Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! 

Likely there were six shots, but I missed the first.  The shots sounded like a .38, and they sounded close.  I looked out the window.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  Not even a light going on.

I went back to bed, and ten minutes later I was sawing the old wood again.

This afternoon I called the Columbus Police, trying to be civic minded and all, and reported shots fired.  The lady that answered the phone told me that they couldn't do anything about it now, too much time had passed, I should have called immediately, yada yada yada.  I apologized for bothering the police.  I thought someone would at least take a report, but not a chance.

And that's the latest.

Happy Mother's Day 2017

Happy Mother's Day to all those nice ladies out there who, against all odds, managed to raise us from infants into whatever we are now.  I remember one mother commenting, "You'd think by the time they hit 35 they wouldn't need you anymore, but..."

"But" indeed.  Every so often we, the great unwashed deplorable men of this world, encounter a problem that only another woman will understand, and only Mom is willing to explain.  Such is the penalty for having a mother who will raise a little boy to become a man, that is, a male.  It ain't easy, but it can be done.

Thanks Mom, and to all the other mothers out there, for all your patience and perseverance.

New Hate Mail

I got some unexpected hate mail today, or hate comment to be more precise.  I couldn't understand how this person tracked down a post written some five years ago.

The Publishing Game

With the advent of the Kindle and Amazon's advertising, the publishing world has been turned on its ear.  Traditional publishers are likened to dinosaurs uneasily watching the sheen of ice that forms on the swamp every morning and wondering if maybe they should consider relocation to a spot closer to the equator - about a one day lumbering walk south of home sweet home.

Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: The Departure

I took a few photos of the old homestead on my way out.  I spent a good portion of my life here, and although the place has changed a bit over time, it's still the old homestead.

The Old Homestead

Back in the bad old days we had ten acres between my paternal grandparents who lived next door and my family.  About an acre of that land had to be mowed once a week, and that included trimming around the trees.  The only job I despised more than mowing the lawn was shoveling the snow, which I had to do for both houses.  I think I should mention that I have exercise induced bronchial asthma, and the winter air felt like a handful of razor blades had gotten loose inside my lungs.

Quora Question: How did dancing start?

I subscribed to Quora some years back.  I can't remember why I did this, and I probably didn't know then.  I don't let things like this bother me.

Most questions on Quora are stupid beyond repair; about one in a hundred is worth reading, and that's on a good day.  I'm a little bored today, so when I got this question as asked by some nameless genius, I decided to knock out an answer.  Here we go:

How did dancing start?

Dancing started six million years ago, give or take a hundred thou, when Og broke a bicuspid on his evening meal (Ranga-Tanga Bird on a spit), and in a fit of rage started pounding the food substance with a rock.  Imitating his (we suppose) father for no particularly good reason, his son Foj picked up two sticks and pounded them together, simultaneously inventing the claves and providing a back beat.  Lacking a noisemaker and the wit to use it, Og’s wife Bog jumped to her feet and started hopping around in time to the racket, losing most of her saber tooth tiger skin in the process.  Then when Og’s neighbor Steg offered Bog a clam to lose the rest of the skin, dancing, the strip tease, and the jealous husband were all invented at the same time.

And that's how dancing started.

Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: The Shoot

As most of you know, I'm relocating to Columbus, Ohio from my home in Sylvania Township, Ohio.  My official sayonara, so long, farewell, goodbye and good riddance celebratory shoot was on Saturday, May 6th.  A few people from the local message board Toledo Talk showed up.  My thanks to Trilby, Solleks, and Solleks's Wife, Hot Stuff, all of whom made this a memorable occasion.

Inside the Mind of a Liberal

This is a bit long winded, but unless I set the stage and the characters nothing I write will make any sense.

Eats, Shoots, and Leaves

Cross posted at that august establishment of empirical, dialectic discussion, Toledo Talk, where the elite of the Toledo metropolitan area converge to discuss local issues (political, economic, and otherwise), and where the loons of another local message board (which name I won't mention) tread softly or not at all.

Having received a half-dozen offers on the old homestead in as many days, one individual met the asking price without batting an eye. There are a few conditions, but I expect to close in 30 days or so.

Saturday, May 6^th, 2017 is the farewell shoot and lunch.

My intention is to load a select portion of my personal arsenal into my trunk along with a hundred pounds of ammo and head out to Shooters of Maumee at 10:00 AM. I'll stay until noon or until I run out of ammunition.

After shooting comes a nice, leisurely lunch somewhere. I'm open to suggestions, although I'm thinking Swig Restaurant (219 Louisiana Ave, P-burg) is looking pretty good, and it opens at 11:00 on Saturday. We'll stay until lunch is over.

Any farewell angst or tearful good-byes can be offset by remembering my somewhat inflammatory ad hominem sociopolitical comments. Likewise, anyone who is happy to see me go needn't get their hopes up too high - I still have a few friends and family in the Toledo area, and I'll be back from time to time.

So if you intend to show up, please post or email me at Mad Jack's Shack (get the email address from this site). I'll make reservations at the range and the restaurant.

For all those attending the alternate party (I'm glad the SOB is gone!), I hope you break an axle on the AWT during rush hour love you anyway.

Mad Jack Take the Snowflake Test

Some readers and a few patrons down at the local watering hole have accused me of being a bit flakey.  I vehemently deny this.  I'm as solid as an iceberg waiting for a passenger liner.  But to provide a little proof, I have decided to take the original Snowflake Test.  This is, by the way, an actual test given to prospective employees and designed to weed out the whiny, self-pitying, professional victims, SJWs, feminazis, and other undesirables before they have a chance to infest your workforce and turn the office into a non-productive study in social interactions exemplifying why it's perfectly acceptable to hate a sub-class of people based on the screeds of a subculture that should have committed mass suicide three years ago.

Headline: Security beats the snot out of an uncooperative airline passenger. United Airlines is at fault!

While reading the local scandal sheet, I came across the brawl on Flight 3411. One way or another, I came across an interesting blog entry that inspired me to a fisking.

Want to Change the World?

You can begin by changing the language.

“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”
 - George Orwell, 1984

I should put that in large, bold text, but I won't.  People either understand it, for good or ill, or they don't.

Trigger Warning: Profanity and Politically Incorrect and Offensive Speech Ahead.

California Guitar Trio (CTG)

Sunday night I went out to Natalie's Coal Fired Pizza and Live Music to see the California Guitar Trio (CTG), and the company, the music, and the venue all came together like the smoothest bourbon you ever tasted. Yeah, it really was that good.

Vigilante Justice

Pursuing the headlines today brought this story to the top.


Trigger warning: Profanity and violence ahead.
Micro-aggression warning: Probably micro-aggression ahead.  If you can't find one, let me know in the comments section and I'll add it.

Walther Recall and Ramifications

My thanks to Old NFO at the The Gun Blog Black List for these two timely bits of information.  If you own a Walther, I'm envious.  However, there is a recall on CCP models.  You can read about it here: The Gun Blog Black List: Walther Recall.   Basically, if you chamber a round, put the safety on, then drop the pistol, there's a chance the damned thing will go off.

Trigger Warning: Bad language ahead.  Proceed at your own risk.

Final Exams Have Been Canceled

Imagine this: You're working on your master's degree, or maybe your doctorate.  You take the necessary classes, you do your research and under the guidance of some aged professor, you write your thesis.  You defend your thesis in front of a small group of erudite men and women, and at the end of it all you are awarded your degree.  Your professor invites you out for a drink or two to celebrate.  Everyone slaps you on the back, shakes your hand, and wishes you well.

One week later the Powers that Be announce that the writing of a thesis is no longer required.  In fact, all that is necessary is that the candidate prove that sha-he (or whatever the PC gender neutral pronoun is these days) prove that sha-he attended the required classes and passed them - 65% grade point average or better - and that would be good enough.

So where has all your hard work gone?  How, exactly, precisely, do you feel about that?

Trigger warning: Profanity and racial, sexual slurs to follow.  Read at your own risk.

Bad Service and Resentment

I went to Kroger today for the usual reasons, and because Kroger has a liquor store attached to it, and me being fond of my spirits, I paused briefly to pick up a bottle of gin.  Actually, I bought two, one of which is a brand I'm unfamiliar with and will taste test in about thirty minutes, which is when Happy Hour starts at feles domum.

Trigger Warning: Profanity and racial slurs follow.  Continue reading at your own risk.

Shameless Plug - Not All Deviant Minds Think Alike by Momma Fargo

My Internet friend Momma Fargo, AKA Kathryn Loving, has written a nice article on the psychological state of a typical police officer who is used to seeing such things as would send even a hardened SJW around the bend (permanently, we hope).  I found this missive to be a nice read, and you might find it so as well - Not All Deviant Minds Think Alike.

Having read the article, I really don't think I'd make a good cop.  My inclination to save the government the cost of a trial, or trials, and the subsequent jail time would eventually get the better of me, and I'd end up with a mess on some dark county two lane blacktop.

Surburbia Rising

Yesterday the Bayou Renaissance Man linked to a few articles and briefly pontificated on the end of civilization as we know it in The Death of Suburbia.

Counter Phish

I was out with two friends at BW3 the other night, and mentioned the phishing site that I posted about in Support Question (2017-02-21) .   My buddy Lash has the perfect solution.

Prayer Request

From Jeff Riddle over at Stylos, we've got a prayer request. You can read about it here: Update: Continue to Pray for Pastor Raymond Koh, Abducted in Malaysia.

The long and short of this is that Pastor Raymond Koh was professionally abducted about three weeks ago. You can read more about it here: Malaysia: More Questions Than Answers in Kidnapping of Pastor Raymond Koh

Since there haven't been any ransom demands, most people think that the Pastor is dead. That doesn't make much sense to me. Why kidnap him if you're going to kill him? But then, I'm not an Islamic terrorist, which is very likely the group that is holding the Pastor.  Given that the government in Malysia is Islamic and therefore intolerant of Christianity (and pretty much everyone else), I think it's likely the government has the Pastor and is busy extracting a confession from him.

In any event, your prayers will be appreciated.

General Headaches and Pains

I have a hard time believing that the moonbats are still in high dudgeon over the presidential election, but the proof is in the talking heads that pollute the airwaves (showing my August years here) and suck up perfectly good bandwidth with false news reports and empty headed screeds.

Support Question (2017-02-21)

In the normal course of things, I generally stay away from problem sites (wait for the laughter and clever comments to die down).  All that being the case, I got this screen a few minutes ago and don't quite know what I should be doing about it, if anything.

Could some kind soul please enlighten me as to what this is?  Firefox stopped responding and I had to shut it down via the task manager.  I'm running Windoze 7.

Thanks in advance.

A Few Worthy Read 2-11-17

I enjoy reading the Bayou Renaissance Man, who is not only a good writer but has a good intellect and a genuine sense of humility.  Here are a few stories and links I stumbled across on Peter's blog which I think are worth reading.

An interesting perspective on what may be a new American Revolution

Situational Assessment 2017: Trump Edition

This led me to another article from reddit, a site which I seldom read.  This article is a real keeper, and I recommend it to everyone.

Why Hollywood is really freaking out over Trump on reddit by NotJaffo.

And finally, an answer to that eternal question from reasonably intelligent people everywhere:

Why the left hates Trump so intensely

If I'm in the mood, I'll write a little more tomorrow.

White Walks, McCloskey Doesn't

Unrepentant ex-police officer Thomas White, who shot motorcyclist Mike McCloskey in the back, walked out of the courtroom a free man as the result of a plea bargain with Lucas County Ohio Common Pleas Court Judge Gary Cook.  Here's the story from The Toledo Blade: Ottawa Hills Police Shooting Case Ends in Plea Agreement

From his wheelchair in a Lucas County courtroom Thursday, Michael McCloskey didn’t mince words: He forgave the former police officer who shot and paralyzed him in 2009 and gave his blessing to a plea agreement that ended the case.
Mr. White, who was looking at a second trial on a more serious charge of felonious assault for shooting Mr. McCloskey in the back during a traffic stop, pleaded no contest to assault, a first-degree misdemeanor.

On May 23^rd, 2009, in an act of cowardice, Ottawa Hills police officer Thomas White shot motorcyclist Michael McCloskey in the back, paralyzing him from the waist down. Thomas White is completely unrepentant.  I wrote about the case here, Cop Shooting - (ex) Officer Thomas White is Still Free, and here, in Ottawa Hills Shooting.

On December 15^th, 2016, (7 years, 6 months, and 23 days later) the case was finally resolved.  White got a plea bargain, pleaded no contest, was found guilty by the judge and got a 90-day jail term, sentence suspended, and one year of probation.  White also had to surrender his peace officer certificate.

White has never done any jail time.  He remains a free man, completely unrepentant, likely congratulating himself on a job well done.

This no good SOB belongs in prison, doing 25 to life at hard time.  I always suspected something like this would happen, and my suspicions were well founded.