Glibertarians.com 2018 Archive

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  • The Hat and The Hair: Episode 98

     

    The hat was cackling in another room and the hair sighed heavily. “What is it now?” he asked.

    The hat shouted back:

    a) “Rob Rosenstein resigned!”
    b) “Rob Rosenstein committed suicide!”
    c) “Brett pulled his dick out on TV!”
    d) “Brett sacrificed children to Baal while in law school!”
    e) “Jeff Sessions exploded!”

    “_____________________?!?” the hair asked, shocked. “Wow, I can’t believe it!”

    “I know,” the hat replied. “I can’t imagine what Donald is going to do.”

    “He’ll probably…

    a) Verbally abuse Sarah Huckabee Sanders
    b) Blame the New York Times
    c) Order a Diet Coke and a Sausage McGriddle
    d) Become elated and then paranoid
    e) All of the above

    “Yeah, I can see that,” the hat yelled back. “What do you want to eat for dinner?”

    “I want meat!” the hair asked.

    “Meat? What kind of meat?”

    “Beef. I want beef. Bloody red cow meat.”

    “I thought you only ate Rogaine and weaker toupees,” the hat asked. The toilet flushed loudly in the room he was in.

    “I need the protein sometimes. It’s the fall weather. I might begin to molt.”

    “Molt?” the hat asked. “Molt? What the fuck are you talking about?”

    “I need to get bigger. There’s not much of Donald’s natural hair left. I’m holding on to his ears half the time as it is.”

    “OK. As long as it doesn’t interfere with [satirical take on current new event], I guess that will be OK.”

    “If I need to molt, I’ll molt,” the hair said. “It’s not really up to you or Donald or [subject/event of current story].”

  • Wednesday Morning Post-Hack Links

    It’s been an eventful past 12 hours. A server crash brought the site down and Sloopy managed to get himself into… let’s say “an adventure.” We’ll have the GoFundMe site for his bail up shortly, complete with sad-eyed pictures of his kids. And puppies. OK, he doesn’t own puppies, but it helps sell it. Anyway, I was called in at the last moment, so my snarky comments will be a bit truncated in the interests of getting this post up timely.

    And a major THANK YOU to the Glibs’ all-female technology crew (SP and WebDom) who got us back up and running last night. At least one of you will be sexually harassed by me as a reward. Hint: WebDom is safe.

    The big birthday today is the pride of Texas, candidate Beto O’Rourke. And an appropriate song for the occasion. Also, it’s the birthday of my third-favorite poet, T.S. Eliot, brilliant illustrator Winsor McCay, and OG George Raft.

    In the news:

    The Kavanaugh circus continues. The latest twist: statements from four people corroborating her story… except they don’t, actually. But let’s not get in the way of a good headline.

    I made a key mistake last night. I spent ten minutes watching CNN. Very key mistake. This story was all they wanted to talk about, but at least they featured guests on both sides of the issue: is Donald Trump literally Hitler? Or is Donald Trump just a laughingstock? I turned off the TV and found something more interesting to do: trim my toenails.

    In sports, this season for the Vikings has been nuts. Literally.

    I’m not quite sure what to make of this. I guess it’s just another consequence of our societal glee about putting as many people in cages as possible. But really, the policy is altruistic. Really.

    “Offenders in Virginia have died of drug overdoses while inside our prisons. It’s our job to keep the offenders and staff as safe as we can,” Kinney said.

    This is one of the more novel #metoo stories this week.

    In comments to the Tribune, Araujo denied calling the prosecutor a “bitch” and said he “doubts” he’d ever made sexual advances toward her. “I just thought it was weird,” he told the paper. “I don’t know why she treats me like a stranger. I’ve been in this building five years and she always ignores me.”

    On first read, I honestly thought this was an Onion story.

    Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. Except escape from the People’s Republic of New York, apparently.

    And here’s some uptempo Old Guy Music, perfect for Hump Day.

    Now let’s get crackin’ on Sloopy’s bail!

     

    Fun Trivia Fact: the featured image is literally my childhood home. I’m checking my White Privilege.

  • D-Day, 1944 pt. 6/7 – A bunch of stuff – And Water!

    Catch up on all the Omaha Beach Diorama posts

     

    Part 6

    The Wife relates a tale. Recently I had drunken almost tears at my diorama accomplishments so far, and today she asked this question, “Why do you take such joy in all this death and destruction? Why the obsession with all the blood?”

    History is remembrance, it’s foolish to hide from it. History is to me a study of human nature, and I like to build stuff….

    I figured since I built a two tier bunker system I could do something interesting with ‘splosions,

    Like this:

     

    Closed

     

    Open

    Yes, there is a Flak 36/37 under there, burning…. I had to build a blast wall so the other 88s didn’t get wrecked. I have a pair for the other positions and still thinking naval gun…pricey.

     

    Man overboard! I finally got the men in the water, the White Glue dries clear and works with the water chemically, so don’t sweat that.

     

    I thought maybe this is too busy, but then I watched a few videos, and decided to make a bunch more water ‘splosions, the real deal was WAY worse than anything I can reproduce, at least in this lifetime, and the H beams in the surfline are a nice touch. 

     

    I’m finally getting a handle on the men (euphemism alert!). My German mortar team is done.

     

    And after a fiasco with a first group of Americans, I found some I can work with. Painting men is an ongoing process that never ends, whether you’re doing 7 colors or 4, it’s definitely the worst part of the entire project, but if you take it as a challenge, and work bit by bit, the results are worth the effort.

     

    How do I do stuff? Water ‘splosions need these ingredients. I see guys using a full blown caulking gun for this stuff, and to me it’s overkill, anyway. Take a stick of H beam that you have lying around, (you do have ¼” Styrene H beam , right?) cut it and slather clear silicone on generously, (Jesse may have some thoughts, but whatever) and then take the toothpick and drag the silicone ’til it looks jagged, then let it dry. Then dry brush white paint over the outside edges. Take a small brush full of paint and knock off 95% of the paint, then brush upwards, and you’re done.

     

     

    Smoke/Land ‘splosions. These are funny to me because it’s so damn easy. Here we take some steel wool and pull and puff it out, then spray it black. If you miss a spot it’s cool because it’s grey. Yippee! Then dry brush, in order: Chrome Yellow; Crimson Red; Mix for Orange; Black; Grey; Black; Mix Grey and Black. Ingredients above.

     

    Results

     

    We added a few 500 lb bomb craters, because, craters!

    Everything is in place for the water pour, so barring any bullcrap, our next installment will be WATER!

     

    Propaganda! I found the source of my previous posters and they do them in 1/72 scale, they are wonderful! Details, and great color. Bravo!

    Until next time, thanks for watching!

    Link to Gallery #6

     

    D-Day, 1944 pt. 7

    Water

    Drafted or volunteered, most of the men who were at Omaha were 18-20 year old kids, had never seen combat, and were told that 4/10 would die that day. The prevailing thought was, not me, the other guy, so gung ho they went to their deaths. There are entire squadrons of men who were flat out never heard from again, and no record of what happened to them. This is here, this is now, this is war.

     

    I work on several sub projects at once, it keeps me moving forward and breaks up the monotony, all moving towards the pour. like the new 500 lb bomb craters, and some new blast effects.

     

    And some finished Army Men! 5 German mortar teams.

     

    And a boatload of U.S. troops.

    I still need to flock the bases they stand on, but otherwise ready for the board. I decided on stands because they are so damn small they are hard to locate and stand with just glue.

    A few minutes later……

     

    The Pour

     I’m ready to go, no flecks of dirt, foam, cat hair, etc. I have my materials.  The syringe is to inject the food color/water mix. The tape and wax paper are to tent it from dust after the pour. 

    Realistic Water, probably need more. Toothpicks and plastic bits to move the water around. Light, lots of it. Cobra, but only one to calm myself. If I mess this up, the whole thing will be ruined.

    Let’s pour…

    Things worked out well, and with prep it turned out nice for the first pour. The stuff flowed like…water, and I’m glad I leveled the board or it would have been a disaster.

     

    And here’s good example of guys in water, and guys that are not yet in water, where I finished the first pour transition.

     

    And the tent FWIW. I’m told it’s a good idea.

     

    Now I wait at least 36-48 hours and then pour again What will I do to fill the  time?

    Gaaaahhhh! How about fix the leaks so you don’t lose 20% of your water? All it needed was some blue tape on the bottom seam. I didn’t catch that, derrr! Due to the contours most of the pour is intact and it won’t be affected at all.

     

    Two days later….

    After sealing leaks, I went for the second pour, and found two more leaks, which I promptly repaired and ended up with a pretty nice water base.

    Once I’m satisfied/broke, I’ll add the waves, ripples and surf effects with the water effects stuff from Woodland Scenics, then a dry coat of white caps and we should have some good water.

    This will dry clear, then, after some more waves and ripples, it dries clear, then dry brush (popular, ain’t it?) some white on top to create whitecaps, etc. I’m stopping here so I can at least post before I’m done, ’til next time.

    Gallery #7

     

  • Tuesday Afternoon Links, If, You Know, You Are Into That, Like, Whole Tuesday Thing, Man.

    “Open to me,” Pie whispered. “Open to me and I will show you such things that will make a penis waggled in your face will seem like dew settling on poisoned wildflowers.”

    In the closest thing she’s had to a press briefing in nearly a month, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders sat down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos to discuss the sexual assault allegations against President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. The White House, Sanders said, would be open to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing testimony from Deborah Ramirez, the second woman to come forward about Kavanaugh’s alleged sexual misconduct.

    “I remember when comic books were funny,” Donald groused, dropping the damp trade paperback on the floor next to the Presidential Hot Tub.

    “I’ll have the Secret Service pick you the new issue of Richie Rich the next time they go on a McDonald’s run,” the hair said, dangling from a faucet over the roiling stew of self-tanner, Diet Coke drool, greasy McNugget farts, back skin, moisturizer, prostatic fluid, sweet Sildenafil sweat, and the rainbow remains of a glitter bath bomb.

    “I like that kid. He’s got class,” Donald said. He groped around the side of the tub until he found the remote control and turned on E!.

    Drawn and written by Aminder Dhaliwal, the book asks the question of what happens when all men go extinct. Unlike Y: The Last Man and other similar works, Woman World doesn’t focus on wide conflict or the outbreak of violence; riots and panic did ensue, but readers join the story after all that and jump into a world where women just exist without prior constraints. Characters are shown in small, welcoming communities that are more focused on figuring out what this new version of the world looks like rather than trying to conquer anything or fight for resources. Very few of the characters remember a time when men existed, and as they’ve been going extinct for some time, none of them remember a world dominated by them. This lack of conflict allows the book to focus on humor and characterization instead of overplayed tropes about what happens when the world is made up entirely of women.

    This isn’t to say that the book is simple or even easy. Much of the humor is rooted in asking questions about the world as it is today within this new context of a women-only existence. By taking these sometimes deeply troubling things and robbing them of context, it makes them either extraordinarily existential or deeply comical, sometimes both. One character’s annoyance at being unable to find any historical texts that feature female artists, scientists, or great thinkers is funny not because it’s not upsetting, but because in Woman World there are no men to repeat that crime. It’s a perfect demonstration of the tragedy plus time equals comedy equation.

    “‘One character’s annoyance at being unable to find any historical texts that feature female artists, scientists, or great thinkers’” What is this shit?” the hat asked. “No books about chicks doing shit? Yeah, right. This is real thing. There’s not a one.”

    “Go find me something to tweet about!” Donald roared, clustering his rubber duckies around himself defensively.

    “No gang rape? Well, shit, I was finally warming up to little old Brettly Squeakyshoes,” the hat said.

    As Washington braces for Thursday’s media frenzy, an even more ominous prospect hangs over the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court: a sinister allegation teased by Michael Avenatti that could explode Kavanaugh’s confirmation—or be another dud. Avenatti, after all, has developed something of a dubious reputation in the six months since he first entered (and quickly dominated) the national scene. His bare-knuckle defense of adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, relentless takedown of Michael Cohen, and undeniable talent for media, social and otherwise, have transformed him into a formidable opponent of Donald Trump and an unlikely Democratic presidential hopeful. It was Avenatti who first predicted that Cohen would be indicted, and Avenatti who later dumped records of Cohen’s suspicious bank activity online. But the ubiquitous “porn lawyer,” as Republicans have dubbed him, has also struck out on occasion. A mysterious CD or DVD containing visual evidence related to Trump’s relationship with Daniels was never released. His “three additional female clients” who he said were “paid hush money prior to the 2016 election” have yet to come forward. So it is with some hesitancy that Democrats are tiptoeing around Avenatti’s latest would-be bombshell: that he is representing another woman with “credible information regarding Judge Kavanaugh” and what he described as “gang rape.”

    “Don’t worry. Once they are finally done decoding his yearbooks, I’m sure they’ll find something you can get off on,” the hair said soothingly.

    One of the 65 women who signed a letter in defense of Judge Brett Kavanaugh right after he was accused of sexual assault was the butt of a cruel joke on his 1983 yearbook page, where he used her name and implied she was promiscuous.

    The New York Times reports that the name of Renate Schroeder Dolphin, then a student at a Catholic girls’ school, appeared more than a dozen times in the yearbook, including a group photo of football players, including Kavanaugh, under the description “Renate Alumni.” Two classmates of Kavanaugh told the Times that the Renate mentions in the yearbook were part of the athletes’ “unsubstantiated boasting about their conquests.”

    Kavanaugh’s lawyer said he and Dolphin shared a kiss while in high school. Dolphin denies it happened, but said she was hurt by the insinuation that she was promiscuous in high school.

    “A generation of ugly girls getting their revenge on the boys that wouldn’t date them in high school,” the hat sniffed. “Group therapy thinly disguised as journalism. It would be hilarious if it just wasn’t so fucking pathetic.”

    For what it’s worth, and absent evidence or allegations to the contrary, I believe Brett Kavanaugh’s claim that he was a virgin through his teens. I believe it in part because it squares with some of the oddities I’ve had a hard time understanding about his alleged behavior: namely, that both allegations are strikingly different from other high-profile stories the past year, most of which feature a man and a woman alone. And yet both the Kavanaugh accusations share certain features: There is no penetrative sex, there are always male onlookers, and, most importantly, there’s laughter. In each case the other men—not the woman—seem to be Kavanaugh’s true intended audience. In each story, the cruel and bizarre act the woman describes—restraining Christine Blasey Ford and attempting to remove her clothes in her allegation, and in Deborah Ramirez’s, putting his penis in front of her face—seems to have been done in the clumsy and even manic pursuit of male approval. Even Kavanaugh’s now-notorious yearbook page, with its references to the “100 kegs or bust” and the like, seems less like an honest reflection of a fun guy than a representation of a try-hard willing to say or do anything as long as his bros think he’s cool. In other words: The awful things Kavanaugh allegedly did only imperfectly correlate to the familiar frame of sexual desire run amok; they appear to more easily fit into a different category—a toxic homosociality—that involves males wooing other males over the comedy of being cruel to women.

    “”Toxic homosociality?”” the hat asked. “This word salad needs better dressing.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU6ZQWnznfU

  • Civil War II: Antifa Boogaloo (The third edition)

    Image result for antifa civil war

    Occasionally, it’s good to see where we stand in regards to our political infighting in the good ol’ US of A turning into armed conflict. 13 months ago, I wrote an update that highlighted some of the dynamics that may spark Civil War II. Looking back, I mostly stand by what I said at the time, but some of the dynamics have cooled off since then. Specifically, I wrote:

    Overall, I’m still pessimistic on the chances of widespread fighting. I think the worst we will possibly see is an LA riots type situation. However, as shown in Charlottesville, all it takes is one body for the self-righteous leftist media to climb on top and start agitating. Like a high-stakes game of “Press Your Luck,” both sides keep smacking the button, hoping to hit the political jackpot, ignorant of the lurking Whammy.

    I still believe that to be true. I’m of the belief that the Left can only muster a LA riot as their maximum amount of agitation. They simply don’t have the fortitude nor the logistical ability to take the fight to the Right. The Right is, and for the foreseeable future will be, the key to any true armed conflict. The Right has the equipment, the tactical advantage, and the fortitude to wage war on the Left if ever pushed to do so. The Left has the motivation, but no ability. The Right has the ability, but no motivation.

    Except for the fact that conservative media is continuing to find its own voice by stoking outrage, driving a wedge between themselves and the leftist mainstream media, the Right has nothing to complain about. They have the reins of the federal government, as well as most state governments. They’re winning the charter school battle, and the traditional media is self-destructing. If things keep going the way they are, the leftist hegemony in the universal institutions of society will be broken within our lifetimes.

    Image result for images street fight antifa

    In my opinion, there are only four ways that a civil war breaks out: 1) There is a significant federal gun control act put in place; 2) the Left grows a pair of balls and takes the fight into the suburbs; 3) Trump is impeached and removed from office in a blatantly corrupt proceeding; or 4) Your average middle-class working man or woman has a substantial chance of losing their livelihood to SJW bullshit. Frankly, 1) and 2) seem highly unlikely.

    However, let’s take a trip into the Derplight Zone yet again, and see what’s gonna kick off Civil War II: Antifa Boogaloo.

    Image result for derplight zone
    Isn’t that the Outer Limits?

    Let’s imagine a world where this prog-leftist corporate circle jerk intensifies for a few more months. Dicks and Nike and Levi were the precursors, but now we’re seeing major companies daily announce their intentions to fund gun control groups and SJW shakedown groups, and every time a shitlord sneezes in front of an oppressed class, it’s a national case. The constant drumbeat of this shit starts to take a toll not on the A-listers, or even on journeyman race car drivers and local sports announcers. Now it’s senior regional managers and executive editors and anybody with any modicum of power in the workplace either getting #metoo’d or N-worded or pronouned into trouble with HR, no matter the veracity of the allegations. The incentives are there, ruin the life of your shitlord boss, and you’re not only a hero, but the perfect candidate to replace them.

    My wife is already concerned about such things. She wants me to do the Mike Pence thing and completely refuse to meet 1:1 with women. Unfortunately, I can’t do that 100% of the time, but I do it as often as possible. I’ve even talked with a couple of coworkers who are concerned about the same thing. They’re not comfortable being 1:1 with women because all it takes is one unprincipled woman with an axe to grind or a path up the corporate ladder, and you’re radioactive.

    Anyway, in a world where outrage firings go from one every few weeks to multiple per day across various industries, the primary mechanism for avoiding armed conflict begins to erode. The biggest thing that keeps the US from melting apart in a fiery battle is that most average, everyday people have more to lose by fighting than they have to gain by being rid of their political opponents. When one’s livelihood is legitimately targeted, such incentives flip, and armed conflict is inevitable. Once a critical mass of people feel substantially threatened, they will retaliate violently.

    Image result for fired sjw

    Another relief valve in American culture is slowly being eroded. The Internet, for all of the gasoline it dumped on the political and social fires burning in our culture, also gave a platform for people who agree with one another but not with the mainstream media to commiserate, vent, and discuss current events without feeling smothered by the MSM’s blatant agenda. Now that the push has started for deplatforming, the relief valve is gumming up. Folks on the right are running out of patience when it comes to abridging the 1st and 2nd amendments, and if there is a substantial leftist push to deplatform most conservative, alt-right, and libertarian voices on major social media, it’s like holding a flamethrower to a gas can. God forbid they start trying to get the DNS servicers and site hosting companies involved… overstepping into complete censorship on the Internet will end violently. The Alex Joneses of the world may get completely silenced before the right wakes up from its slumber, but if a mainstream conservative/republican were to be deplatformed or completely silenced, I think more than a few right wingers would see the writing on the wall regarding the 1st amendment.

    Image result for online censorship

    I think that the left is moving fairly slowly and methodically right now. They know they can bide their time until the midterms, and that after the election, they can go full nutzo on Trump and the alt-right for another year and a half before they need to cool off to look semi-sane for the 2020 election. However, I think there is a narrow path to a very bad place. I think that it starts with a legit blue wave, giving the Democrats a majority in the House and a neutral split of the Senate, if not a slight majority. From there, “all is right” in the world again except for Trump, who would quickly be brought up on charges for an impeachment hearing. The inevitable vitriol from a Trump impeachment, possibly leading to isolated violence would be all the impetus a prog-leftist Congress would need to regulate social media and begin deplatforming the right en masse. Also, once that “racist, sexist, bigot” is out of the way, the easiest virtue signal in the world is to dump a ton of money into a bureaucratic leviathan for helping colleges and companies deal with the #metoo crisis through strict enforcement and a liability shield for companies who shoot first and ask questions later. Maybe toss on a recession as the cherry on top? Repealing the tax cuts and passing a medicare expansion would probably trigger a recession.

    The right would very quickly go from having a ton to lose, to having nearly nothing to lose, and I think violence would be inevitable in such a situation. How likely is it that all of this falls into place? Infinitesimal. However, it is the one clear path I see to organized violence.

  • Tuesday Morning Links

    About freaking time, man.

    We’re up and running at full speed this week. I had to spend most of my day dealing with the Nissan situation yesterday, but I managed to resolve it if not amicably, then at least favorably.  Its was a typical trip for me to a car dealership where everyone at the end of the experience is exhausted but I drive away with a better deal than I should have.  So now I can put that clusterfuck to rest.  Thanks all for your prior advice on the matter.

    Hey look, the Steelers won a game.  They sure needed that.  And on the diamonds, the winners were: New York (AL), Washington, Boston, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Colorado, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Oakland San Diego and the world champion Houston Astros. Colorado is a half-game behind St Louis for the last wild card spot. Everything else is settled with 5-6 games left. So get your popcorn and watch the NL Central and West scores as we come down the stretch.

    Aside from “Corvette Summer,” his finest performance

    Let’s see who was born on September 25th: Genius writer William Faulkner, communist “spy” Ethel Rosenberg, baseball play and sportscaster Phil Rizzuto, jazz musician Sam Rivers, TV personality Babbawa Wawlters, writer of children books Shel Silverstein, bluesman Booba Barnes, Sec Def Robert Gates, actor Michael Douglas, guitarist Onnie McIntyre, supermodel Cheryl Tiegs, actor Mark Hamill, equestrian novice Christopher Reeve, bassist Steven Severin, actor Michael Madsen, another supermodel Heather Locklear,  actor and “rapper” Will Smith, and the ageless beauty Catherine Zeta-Jones.

    Its also the day on which the following occurred: there first printing press in North America went into use, Benedict Arnold turned, the US Congress proposed the Bill of Rights, Congress created the first all-black university (Howard), Columbia’s school of Journalism was founded…and has gone downhill ever since, Henry Ford announced an 8-hour a day-5 day work week…before there was a UAW, Germany firebombed Warsaw, “Doc” Duvalier won the Haitian presidency, Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” hit #1, “Evita” opened on Broadway, Nolan Ryan threw his fifth no-hitter, Antonin Scalia was appointed to the Supreme Court, Bruce Jenner changed his name, and Anthony Weiner was given 21 months in jail for being a pervert…but received nothing for having a shitload of classified information on the computer he was using to sext a kid pictures of his junk.

    And that’s it! Now to…the links!

    Nothing says “tolerant” like accosting a man and woman in a restaurant over politics.

    If the GOP needed an event to rouse up the base and make TV ads with about how intolerant the hard left can be, then yesterday was their lucky day.

    Gee, who couldn’t have seen this coming a mile away? I suppose someone refreshed her memory on what can happen when you lie under oath to a congressional committee.

    All those soft-commie rags in the EU that loved the Pope are starting to turn on him. Yeah, you can commie as hard as you want, but even (most of) those bastards will turn on you when you start ignoring and actively covering up child sexual abuse, as he has been accused of doing.

    I’ve seen some frivolous lawsuits, but this one takes the cake! But since it is filed in California, I assume she’ll win a fat judgment or at least get a hefty settlement. (Had to use this link since the one cited isn’t in English.)

    Punk-ass, piece-of-shit murderer (allegedly)

    When your defense is “well sure my client fired sixteen rounds into an unarmed person in his own yard doing nothing actionable, bit only one of them technically mattered”, you might be fucked in a sane and fair legal system. But let’s not forget that this is Chicago and the shooter was a cop. And let’s also take a moment to remember that this “expert” testimony is contradicted by the actual dash cam footage of the killing.

    Remember when those cops on the New Jersey shore were caught on video beating the shit out of a woman on the beach? Well after months there’s finally been an arrest in the case. You’d think that is a good thing, except…well you know.

    “Listen kid, there’s only one way to get an A in my class.”  And the Pythagorean theorem ain’t gonna help you get there.

    The Trump White House is staying mum on Rod Rosenstein. Meanwhile, the media are reporting the following:

    • Rosenstein has verbally quit
    • Rosenstein will quit on Thursday
    • Rosenstein has been fired
    • Rosenstein will be fired on Thursday

    All of those claims were floated throughout the day by “sources with knowledge about the situation.” So you can count on them all being true, I suppose.

    Enjoy a great song from a generation of great songs.

    Now go out and have a great Tuesday!

  • Not Vegan School: Green Chile Not Chicken Enchiladas

    Excuse typos, grammars, and ramblings. Awfully tired today, but didn’t want to leave my Glibbies hanging.

    As a New Mexican at heart (but not by birth) I craaaave New Mexican food. A couple weeks ago, I spent a day a roasting and processing green chile from New Mexico, and since then I’ve been adding green chile to everything.

    Last week I made green chile not chicken enchiladas, which, were not vegan #becausecheese, but really amazing and hit my New Mexico food craving.

    To make this recipe, you need first to make some green chile sauce. I modify the Rancho de Chimayo Green Chile recipe with a little soy sauce to flesh it out.

    I serve with refried beans, New Mexican rice, and garnish with iceberg lettuce and tomato.

    Vegetarian Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

    • 18 corn tortillas
    • 3 cups green chile sauce
    • 1 package tofu
    • 4 cups vegetarian "chicken" broth
    • 3 cups extra sharp cheddar cheese (or as much as you want)
    • 1 sweet onion (large, chopped)
    • chopped iceberg lettuce
    • chopped tomatoes

    1. Dry and chop the tofu into small squares. Pan fry dry over medium heat until golden brown.

    2. Add in 1.5 cups of the not chicken broth and cook until the tofu absorbs the broth. Remove from heat.

    3. Spray your 9×11 glass casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.

    4. Dip each corn tortilla in green chile sauce, and line the bottom of the glass casserole dish.

    5. Sprinkle with chopped onion, cheese, tofu, and green chile. You can add more or less cheese or chile based on personal preference/veganness.

    6. Repeat layering until dish is full. Top with an additional layer of cheese.

    7. Take remaining not chicken broth and pour over the top of the casserole dish. Wrap with foil and stick in the oven on 375 and bake until cooked through. Apx. 30 minutes.

    8. Let rest for 10 minutes before cutting and serving. Garnish with chopped iceberg lettuce and tomatoes when serving.

  • Links, Afternoon. Monday, 1 set , 4 each.

    “Youse got the -10 level manual?”

     

    Supply SGT says you want links, eh? OK, I think we can get something here for you. You have submitted your requisition…right? Oh. Well… I think we can take care of this, just once, out of what we have on hand here. Just don’t say anything about this, right.

     

    Yes sir, links are up!

    So, there you go. Uh, should you happen to come across any stray links, you know, in future…. Yes, we would be happy to restock with them. *nods, winks, walks off*

  • Comixology Unlimited – One Guy’s Opinion

    A few months ago a few other Glibs suggested I check out Comixology Unlimited when I incorrectly complained that there was no good comic books subscription service.  Turns out, there is a pretty ok comic books subscription service. After subscribing for a few months, here are my thoughts and a list of books I enjoyed reading.

    Comixology is, by their own account:

    ComiXology, an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary, is a revolutionary, cloud-based digital comics service. With content from over 125 publishers as well as thousands of independent creators from around the world, comiXology provides an unrivaled library of comic books, graphic novels, manga and bandes dessinées. The company’s first-in-class innovations include the exclusive Guided View technology which provides an immersive and cinematic reading experience and a monthly subscription service. ComiXology is based in New York City, with operations in Seattle and Los Angeles.

    Comixology Unlimited is a $5.99 a month service that allows you to read an unlimited number of comic books from a limited catalog of books.  And that’s the nut. If there’s stuff in there you want to read, it’s a good price that lets you drink from the fire hose. If it is $5.99 for access to crap you don’t want, it is a waste of time and money.

    The reading experience took a while to get used to, but that’s mostly my fault.  I’m reading on a Google Pixel 2, which has a 5 inch screen. Trying to fit a full page on this isn’t going to happen.  I’ve found that you can read in landscape mode with the page set to screen width and scroll down, and that works pretty well for most pages.  But if there is a big splash screen or something interesting in the lay out, it’s a bit of a hassle.

    The Comixology app tries to solve this with something called a Guided View, where you are transitioned from panel to panel.  Again, this is ok, but fails to give you an overview of the whole page. I found that this is really important for me, so I didn’t use Guided View for a long time.  But last week I decided to see if I could get it work. Under settings, there’s an option to show the whole page on enter (or exit if you want,) and I found that gives me the experience I like.  I can see the whole page and then it feels like I”m zooming in on the panels. Between that and aggressively rotating my phone between landscape and portrait orientation, I’ve got to say that the reading experience is pretty great.

    The Guided View with my preferred settings is “better than free,” that is, I’d pay for this even if I got PDF’s of the books for free.  The ability to whip out my phone and read a few pages while waiting at the bus, standing in line at the bank, or when my kids are trying to talk to me at dinner is nice and I’m glad to have it.

    The selection is really the life taker or heart breaker of this service.  So what did I find? Lots of good, and a little bad, as long as you have a reasonable expectation.  I knew that the publishers wouldn’t want to cannibalize new sales, so I expected to only find old stuff.  By and large, that’s been true, so I’m happy with that. Some publishers, and I’m looking at you Dynamite, only like to put the first trade of a series on Unlimited to entice you to pay the per-book price to buy the rest of the series.  More on that later.

    So you’ll have to look at the Unlimited catalog for yourself to see if it has enough to get you to shell out six bucks a month.  For me, there is more than enough to keep me entertained. Marvel and DC have taken all their goodwill with me and lit it on fire   Not the SJW stuff – that’s always been a part of the big 2 publishing houses. It’s the stories. I have no interest in reading books that are going to last two years, maybe, and that are going to get jerked around to fit the latest and greatest cash grab event.  But the backlog from the big 2 and indies is large enough to keep me going for a long, long time. Here’s some good stuff on Unlimited that I’ve been reading:

    Super Dinosaur!!! This book is a wonderful, earnest story about a kid-genius and his best pal that happens to be a dinosaur.  Lots of awesome stuff happens and it’s all innocent, crazy fun from a guy that we know can write serious, brooding stories like the Walking Dead and Invincible.  But this is a book for your inner seven year old. I didn’t even write those exclamation points, they just showed up on their own.

     

     

    Atomic Robo & The Fightin’ Scientists of Tesladyne The honest to God, true life documentary story of that one time Nicola Tesla invented a nuclear powered robot in 1932 that went on all sorts of zany pulp adventures.  HP Lovecraft shows up. An insane dinosaur mad-scientist shows up. Carl Sagan shows up. There are lightning guns. There are cowboys. More fun for your seven year old self.

     

     

    Rebels The honest to God, true life documentary story about Seth Abbot and the Green Mountain Boys.  Ok, this historical fiction is actually about real people. There are no lightning guns or dinosaurs.  This isn’t a story for my seven year old self. But I love the Revolution. Its fascinating, and I think every American should buy into the myth of America.  And oh look, its written by a guy who calls himself an almost-socialist (before it was cool to do so) who also thinks that the Revolution was fascinating and that a myth that every American should buy into.

     

    Lumberjanes Yeah yeah, it’s a book by SJWs for SJWs and it passes the Bechdel Test.  I don’t care. This is a good book. A bunch of girls at summer camp solve a bunch of Scooby-Doo level supernatural mysteries.  The characters are fun, the story telling is tight, the jokes are plentiful, and the politics are on the back burner if they are in there at all.

     

     

    Hellboy Man, what can I say about Hellboy if you don’t already know about him?  Ok, here’s the premise – Hellboy is a demon born on earth due to a WWII occultist’s summoning.  He is prophesied to bring about armageddon. And.. he’s got the personality of a blue-collar dude that just want to live a normal, humble life.  But he’s stuck working for the government as a paranormal investigator. He’s a wonderful, lovable character living in a world of geek-porn. There are Nazi’s, Rasputin, his best friend is a fish-man, his lady-friend keeps setting things on fire with her brain, etc.  And the story is long, but the author has balls and is actually telling the story of the end of days that Hellboy was prophesied to bring about.

     

    Valiant Everything (the new one) I came of age reading Jim Shooter era Marvel and Chris Claremont X-Men, were writers has years to weave dangling plot strands into a complete tapestry.  I watched Terra break Beast Boy’s heart and I watched Nathan Summers fly off into the future only to come back years later as Clint Eastwood. The new Valiant is telling those same kinds of stories with slow-burning arcs and identifiable, consistent personalities.  I’m in Act Four of the reading order, and so far everything has been on Unlimited.

     

     

    Magnus, Robot Fighter (the new one, no newer than that, the Dynamite one)  Magnus is cool – he punches robots. But now he’s infused with Super Dad Powers, which, as a Dad, I approve of.  I really, really enjoyed the first trade, but it is the only one on Unlimited. They want me to pay for the other trades… well, the problem is my BATANA is to just pick up another book I really like from Unlimited so that’s not going to happen.  Too bad. Maybe I’ll blow $5 on the next trade at some point, but I don’t think I will. Too many fish in the sea.

     

     

    Usagi Yojimbo Don’t let the fact that it’s a bunny fool you, this is a great samurai epic.  Usagi is one of the great comic book characters of all time. Love. Duty. Pain. Sacrifice.  Loss. Intrigue. It has everything you could ever want in a samurai story.

     

     

     

    Incredible Hulk Epic Collection: Man Or Monster? Some of the old Marvel titles are really hit or miss.  Pro Tip – don’t go reading old Iron Man stories. But early Hulk was a lot of fun. There are a fair number of silver age collections, and I enjoyed re-reading this one.

     

     

     

    So there you have it.  Comixology Unlimited – Try it for the 1 month free trial, and you should know within a week or two if it is right for you.

  • Monday Morning Links

    Well Tiger ended his losing streak. And I have to say that he might actually win another major now, although the window of opportunity is still small. Your NFL winners were: Detroit (what’s wrong with New England?), Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles (Rams), New York (Giants), Balmer, Tennessee, Washington, Philly, Buffalo, Miami, Kansas City, and Nawlins.  The Stillers play the Bucs tonight.

    Really, Hokies? Really?

    In college, Va Tech shit the bed, Oklahoma almost did. Texas got off the schneid and Ohio State is preparing to take on Penn State in the white out this weekend with Urban Meyer back at the helm. The Astros clinched a playoff spot and the A’s all but have as well. The AL is practically set for the postseason and the NL isn’t far behind, although Colorado is trying to hang in there.

    Today’s famous birthdays include: Western Samurai William Adams, Chief Justice John Marshall, blues man Blind Lemon Jefferson, writer F Scott Fitzgerald, religious sociopath Ayatollah Khomeini, muppet man Jim Henson, cancer victim Linda McCartney, “Mean” Joe Greene, murder victim (thanks a lot Andy Dick, you asshole)) Phil Hartman, and bassist Sean McNabb.

    What’s the matter, Colonel Sanders…chicken?

    It was also the day on which the following happened: Columbus set sail on his second voyage. The Ottomans set siege on Vienna, John Jay was nominated to be the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Honda Motor Company was founded, so was Kentucky Fried Chicken, President Eisenhower had a heart attack while on vacation, the first nuclear aircraft carrier was launched, “The Munsters” premiered, CompuServe began operations, West Germany signed the reunification treaty, Mahmoud Amadenijad spoke at Columbia University (but antifa didn’t deem it as worthy of riots as a Milo or Amy Coulter speech). And “The Big Bang Theory” premiered (and may God have mercy on your soul if you watch it).

    That’s it for all that. Now on to…the links!

    Wait a second, are people actually calling this a credible claim against Kavanaugh? Let’s see what she has to say (emphasis mine):

    For Ramirez, the sudden attention has been unwelcome, and prompted difficult choices. She was at first hesitant to speak publicly, partly because her memories contained gaps because she had been drinking at the time of the alleged incident. In her initial conversations with The New Yorker, she was reluctant to characterize Kavanaugh’s role in the alleged incident with certainty. After six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney, Ramirez said that she felt confident enough of her recollections to say that she remembers Kavanaugh had exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away. Ramirez is now calling for the F.B.I. to investigate Kavanaugh’s role in the incident. “I would think an F.B.I. investigation would be warranted,” she said.

    Yeah, seems legit.

    She’s got. long way to go to catch this guy.

    Well, I’ll excuse you if you read the headline and think “not another Hillary article!” Well, you’d be wrong!

    Switzerland voters in one province overwhelmingly affirm their hate for Cousin It, among other things. Over 2/3 of the voters.  Wow.

    Bill Cosby set to be sentenced today for three counts of sexual assault. I bet he gets six months to a year.

    Nothing like a government manipulating the market in order for housing to be affordable for all. (That same home in Houston would probably cost $30-40k in average shape, or $60k with a complete remodel.)

    You want to know whether or not public school systems place the kids first? Well, here’s Exhibit A for them not doing so. Stay classy, Chicago Public Schools.

    Prepare to die!

    Well, I hope none of you had invested in Lime. Because they will be done after this regardless of the facts of the case.

    As Iran holds funerals for people killed in a terrorist attack, I will hold my breath that the US doesn’t somehow get dragged into the mess.

    Having a hard time picking a song today. I’ll choose two: Song 1.  Song 2 (may be NSFW for a few of you).