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.