Glibertarians.com 2018 Archive

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  • Philosophy of Food

    I’m an animal lover.  I have two very spoiled dogs and a long history of pet ownership ranging from reptiles, rodents, cats and farm animals.  In high school I was a member of Future Farmers of America and showed poultry at the state fairs.  My parents owned a hobby farm populated with cows, goats, pigs, geese, ducks, chickens and one very fat turkey hen named Tiger.  I was showing Tiger at a fair and stopped for dinner at a sub shop.  I got a turkey sandwich.  As I ate my turkey sandwich looking at the turkey I had raised from an egg and had trained to follow me around, I heard a little voice say, “Isn’t that a little cruel to eat in front of your pet?”  Being 17 or 18 at the time, I wasn’t exactly a deep thinker and excused the thought due to the fact that I had no relationship with the turkey on my sandwich.

    The animals my family raised were never eaten by us.  Sure, we sold them knowing they would be butchered, but our hands were clean.  But as I grew older and started reflecting more on life, often while eating, I thought of the cows that I’d named and sold to market.  I could never have killed one of them.  I don’t think I could enjoy eating them even if someone else had butchered them, but here I am eating a hamburger.  I’d outsourced my killing. Did that make me morally superior or inferior?  I would never pay someone to do something I wasn’t willing to do myself, so how could I outsource my dirty work.  I decided around 27 years old to stop eating beef because of the time I’d spent close to cows, learning how curious and gentle they can be, each with their own unique personality.  Later I questioned what made cows special, other than the fact that I like them.  We had a pot belly pig that liked a good scratch and treat.  It is widely acknowledged pigs are intelligent animals, so pork fell off the menu.

    The little voice said: “Why only beef and pork?  Isn’t that an arbitrary line drawn by nothing but your feelings?”

    My hypocrisy was glaring and I decided I would eat no mammals.  An arbitrary line to be sure, but we are mammals ourselves and that seemed fair at the time.  So another year goes by eating fish, poultry and the occasional reptile when I thought back to Tiger the turkey and remembered eating that sandwich and the little voice reminding me that I wouldn’t have killed any turkey.  Well, I enjoy fishing and have no shellfish allergies so pescatarianism here I come.  Finally I could honestly say that although I was hiring someone else to catch and provide my food, I would be willing to do it myself.  I remained on that diet for several years and continued enjoying animals through zoos, aquariums, nature walks and television programs.  I love nature shows.  I find any animal fascinating.  The way they live, breed and hunt. Watching lions hunt on tv as a child I always rooted for the gazelle to get away.  As I got older I realized that the lion needs to eat too.

    Little Voice: “Is the lion an immoral creature because it hunts?”

    Only the most rabid PETA person would say yes.  So if the lion is not immoral for hunting, why did I myself consider it immoral?  Because I have agency?  I can choose not to kill.  I have empathy.  I can image what other people and animals feel.

    Little Voice: “What about the bass you love to catch?”

    That, I told myself was different; they aren’t a higher animal.

    Little Voice: “They fight for their lives.  They want to live.”

    Fine, fish off the menu.

    Little Voice: “What about shellfish?  They didn’t evolve those hard defensive shells for no reason.”

    Fine, all animals off the menu.  Are you happy now voice in my head?!?  I’ll go vegetarian!

    Little Voice: “Cows are slaves to dairy farmers.”

    Fine, vegan!  Good enough for you conscience?!?

    Once again,  I was watching a nature program, this time about wild tobacco plants.  Tobacco plants produce natural pesticides to protect themselves from insects and when exposed to a new pest that is resistant to their chemical warfare, they evolve a new pesticides in a never ending evolution of defense.  Not only do tobacco plants fight to live, they send a message to other tobacco plants with the design for the new pesticide.  The plants have empathy, they shared their hard work so the species could survive.

    Little Voice: “Seems like plants want to live as much as bass.”

    Fruit?  How about that brain? You got anything against fruit?  I’ll go full Jainism!  Not to offend any Jainist reading, but if you look into evolutionary history, that fruit isn’t meant for humans.  The reason that ripe fruit changes color is to signal birds that it is ready for them, not some local primate.  Prior to color vision development in primates, only birds could see the color change and the plants were offering a tasty snack to the birds in exchange for spreading seeds far and wide.  If a monkey ate the fruit, the distribution would be limited, so plants, specifically peppers, developed capsaicin in an effort to discourage mammals from eating their precious seeds.  Birds, fish and reptiles don’t have capsaicin receptors.  This was a limited chemical attack aimed at mammals, including us.

    Little Voice: “So animals don’t want us to eat them and plants don’t want us to eat them, what are you going to eat smart guy?”

    I thought about it.  Single cell organisms that use photosynthesis and have no defensive mechanism?  They aren’t even harmless!  I’m sure, little voice in my head you are familiar with the great oxygen event.  You must, you know what I know! Those little light consuming bastards wiped all other life off the planet with poisonous oxygen!  As I gained control of my addled mind, I began to think about how a small organism changed an entire planet and took my attention from the very small to the very large; our universe.

    The universe is big place and the vast majority is empty and yet filled with danger; vacuums, extreme cold, radiation, black holes and burning balls of gas.  The universe is racing to reach it lowest form of energy through constant expansion and organisms are fighting the flow of energy seeking its lowest state as the heat death of the universe approaches. Microbes to man are engaged in a Sisyphean challenge of rolling a rock up an energy hill, forever.  In that context, living is fighting. It is the ultimate fight club with no holds barred.  Our ancestors came down from the trees and developed efficient locomotion to pursue game; a unique shoulder design that allows for projectile weapons such as slings and arrows.  We learned to use fire to make meat more digestible and with that calorie boost our brains grew to develop even more complex hunting schemes and weapons.

    Little Voice:  “Does that mean YOU can do whatever you please with no consideration for life?”

    No.  Humans are still cursed/gifted with sentience.  We are not bound strictly by evolution.  We can make choices about what and how we eat.

    Little Voice: “Are animals nothing more than property?”

    That is a debatable question for another post, but let us assume yes, animals are property AND in need of special consideration.  Just because animals are a food source doesn’t mean we can’t still show empathy.  With these revelations my diet expanded to include animals once again, but with a wider consciousness.  I thought, what is the most ethical way to procure food?  A shallow thinker may conclude a vegan diet hurts no animals.  I already posited that plants may not want to be food, but conceding that point, growing vegetables isn’t harmless.   The land where soybeans and kale are grown had to be cleared and the native animals displaced.  After the animals and non-commercial plants are eradicated, the land needs constant protections from animals trying to eat the crops and plants invading the inviting soil.  A clear battle line is marked at the edge of the farm and pesticides must be applied which kill not only pest but other harmless insects.

    The veggie farm is just another arena in the fight club of life.  Cattle ranches and poultry farms have the same issues but with added ethical considerations of living conditions for the animals.  Buying cage free and free range is an option but still the animals aren’t wild and the land still managed.  Commercial fishing has it own set of issues such as long net vessels catch the target fish for market, but also thousands of fish with no food value.

    Little Voice: “There ought to be a law!”

    There oughtn’t, I counter.  Everything comes with a price, including ethical farming, fishing and ranching.  I choose to pay extra for what I consider to be the more ethical methods, but not everyone has room in the budget to make those same choices or has the same set of values as I do.

    Little Voice: “Clearly hunting is the most cruel.  Everyone knows that.”

    Not so fast my imaginary friend.  Recreational hunting is limited to only certain times of the year and subject to bag limits for native animals; on private land you can target invasive species year round.  In both cases, the land is left in a natural state so all non-game animals and plants can live without molestation.  Only a few of the game species are harvested so the majority is left to thrive and the sacrificed few aren’t wasted by responsible hunters, since the meat is eaten and the hides turned into trophies. Sport fishing is the cousin of hunting, where limits are set and only a sustainable number of animals taken during certain seasons.  Hunting and fishing are the most honest ways to procure meat in my opinion.  The hunted have a chance for escape and ethical hunters give fair chase to the animal.  The cow has no chance for life beyond the ranch and may even see the rancher as a friend who provides food, until led to the abattoir.

    After years of self reflection and deep though, I have made peace with the little voice in my head.  I try to eat sustainable fish, free range/cruelty free animals and this year I plan to buy a lifetime hunting/fishing license for the state of Florida, so I can supplement my diet with what I consider the most ethical meat source.  I would grow my own vegetables too, but it turns out I don’t have much of a green thumb or patience for weeding.  How is any of this of interest to libertarians?  Libertarianism is a governing philosophy, not a moral code.  Where the debate comes into play is how government regulates use of public lands for hunting, seas for fishing, animal cruelty laws for ranching and regulation of herbicides/pesticides/GMO for farming.

    As libertarians, we can debate how heavy the regulatory hand should be.  No FDA?  I’m listening.  No FWC?  I think they provide a valuable service of ensuring native species aren’t over hunted on public lands.  A better solution would be selling public lands to private conservation groups and have private regulation.  Mandate cruelty free food?  This is where my standards for myself and the law come into conflict.  I chose a diet that I believe to be ethical, but as a libertarian I would never force others to make that same choice.  If enough people would choose to pay the price difference the market will provide cruelty free alternatives.  As the market grows, prices should come down.  In the end, it is up to each individual to make peace with that little voice in their head.

  • Tuesday Afternoon Links of Cloud Computing Joy

    You know what’s really awesome? When you work almost entirely in the “Microsoft cloud” and the entire cloud login service is down in the morning, you, uh, “catch up on documentation”. To give them their propers, it was only down for an hour and a half. Other than that, shitty football weekend, great times with the kids. How the hell are you? Aside from Yusef. Sorry about your job, bud. Good luck on the hunt!

    I’m sorry, Bob Woodward might have once been a respected journalist, but I want to hear the tapes or see the transcripts on these too good to check quotes.

    • Chief of Staff John F. Kelly once said of Trump during a small meeting: “He’s an idiot. It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.”  What the fuck is you CoS doing with a job after this?
    • Senior officials have taken to stealing stuff from Trump’s desk so that he doesn’t see it. AYFKM? Sack the fuck up and tell your boss not to sign something. What are you, 10? Stealing the report cards

    All you Glibs between Destin and Lake Charles, stay safe! If in doubt, leave!

    Here’s a feature-length article about how “technology favors tyranny” Ctrl-F reveals no mention of the words “Cody” or “Defense”. Here’s the thing — when these complicated algorithms no longer effectively produce the result set that people are trying to find — say “people who won’t default on the money I lend them”, as long as there is a relatively free market and fair legal system, someone else will start lending money to the set of people who aren’t in that algorithm that ALSO won’t default on their loans. Its just a fucking tool. Its like saying that because only church records were written down in certain places in Medieval Europe there was no complex secular law or record keeping. Demonstrably false. Don’t confuse the tool with the outcome.

    This is a little rah-rah, but I’m in favor. High school holds “signing day” for seniors who have jobs in the trades waiting for them upon graduation. Show students you value what is important.

    Rahm Emanuel is not seeking re-election next year. Maybe after some of those cash bribe stories started circulating, he realized things had changed.

    Fuckin’ Fredocons. Republicans consider abandoning 2nd phase of tax cuts after SALT backlash. Guys, the whole fucking point — THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT — of capping the SALT exemption was to put pressure on high-tax states and localities to consider how their taxes might be a part of the overall burden.

    Let’s hope it doesn’t get this bad on the Gulf Coast this time.

  • REALLY Old Guy Music: A Brief, Poorly Sourced, and Probably Wildly Inaccurate History of Easy Listening, Exotica, and Other Neglected Musical Genres

     

    Writing a history of musical genres, no matter how modest or brief one attempts to be, is a complicated undertaking.

    Genres are fluid, with poorly-defined boundaries, and tend to shift and melt into one another as time goes forward. Looking back from the future we can see certain trends take shape, as particular styles rise and fall in popularity; but this is really only available with hindsight. Such a perspective also gives us the opportunity to look at social and historical trends that reflect themselves within the music, allowing certain forms to rise up and take shape, while other trends are downplayed, intentionally or otherwise.

    It certainly doesn’t help the matter when the types of music one wants to talk about are generally overlooked by the modern listening public, as well as by scholars and critics. Jazz, rock and roll, rhythm and blues – these are all important musical trends, and certainly deserve the bulk of listeners’ attention; but does that mean that other forms should be completely ignored? To look within histories of popular music, or even at album collectors’ price guides, one would be tempted to think that these other genres didn’t even exist – like Communist officials who have fallen out of favor, and are therefore removed from paintings and history books.

    This is not to suggest that there’s some sort of organized conspiracy to never speak of Easy Listening or other previous styles of music; rather, the attitude seems to be more one of contempt: why would anybody want to listen to, much less talk about, such old-fashioned stuff? It’s all mostly white people’s music anyway, from back when the boys wore a jacket and slacks, and the girls wore dresses, even to a casual get-together. Squaresville, man – strictly squaresville.

    Given the current political climate, one might be tempted to think that such a backlash might be so racially motivated – if Black Lives Matter, does White Music Matter? But, it’s not quite that simple. If anything, it’s not Black Vs. White, but Youth Vs. Squares – i.e., Mom and Dad. The 1950s saw a definite break between music meant for teenagers, and music meant for a somewhat older and more settled audience. What we are looking at in this installment is primarily the latter.

    Part I: Easy Listening

    The genre we tend to refer to now as Easy Listening had its origins in the late 1940s when different orchestras began recording music that was softer, lighter, and usually offered no overt vocals or harsh instrumental sections that might tend to break the mood. It was meant, theoretically, to be played in the background, during dinner or pleasant conversation, without intruding or imposing itself on the listener. Rather, it could enhance moments of romance or relaxation, if necessary, but without overwhelming the given situation. In the commercial world, this took the form of Muzak, which was music licensed by companies to play unobtrusively in the background, soothing and mellow.

    Composer and arranger Paul Weston began recording albums starting in about 1945 that were slower and smoother than what most other bandleaders were doing – this seemed to be part of a larger musical trend where audiences were going to hear bands just to listen, and not to dance. ‘Hot’ bands and faster songs were also still popular, and always would be, but there was also a desire (probably more from the female audience members) for music that was slower and softer. Weston’s Music For Dreaming, released at first as a 10” disc, fit the bill perfectly. Calling the style Mood Music, Weston had a hit, and knew he was onto something.

    Easy Listening (or Mood Music, or Beautiful Music, as it was also called) might have been okay with the younger female audience members, but it was certainly palatable to older listeners – the parents, but also young marrieds who were settling into domestic life. The adults generally didn’t want to be confronted by the more abrasive aspects of much popular music; Easy Listening strode somewhere between Classical and Pop music; not harsh, but lively and interesting enough to make for a pleasant listening experience.

    In time, arrangers found that they could do Easy Listening versions of popular tunes that were never meant for such treatment. The results were ultra-smooth concoctions with all of the jagged edges ground down, and naturally musical purists hated them – but nevertheless, a certain portion of the record-buying public preferred these versions to the originals. The songwriters, of course, still got their royalty payments regardless of the interpretation; and besides, if one preferred, one could always go back to the source material. But the fact that – for example – the Hollyridge Strings could offer their Beatles Song Book albums and get respectable sales, while the original Beatles recordings were still in the charts, proves that there were two distinct audiences, each of whom had very different wants and expectations.

    This sort of thing, of course, further convinced the kids and the hardcore fans that Easy Listening was the music of squares – watered-down, milquetoast versions of popular songs cranked out for Mom and Dad who couldn’t handle the originals. In essence, this was correct. Not that Mom and Dad ‘couldn’t handle’ the more raucous musical styles that came along during the 1950s & ’60s, but they generally didn’t want to: Easy Listening gave them a certain aural satisfaction without demanding much from them. The kids might go buy a Jimi Hendrix album and bring it home to listen to over and over, staring at the cover and trying to grok every note, but generally their parents just wanted something nice playing in the background while they ate dinner. Certainly, from a more purist point of view, the kids’ motivations are more laudable; but does that completely invalidate Mom and Dad’s desires?

    Given its softer and romantic nature, Easy Listening was also deemed perfect music for affaires d’amour, whether it was a young bachelor trying to seduce his date for the evening, or a couple in love hoping to get each other in the mood. These days this aspect of Easy Listening is usually referred to as “Bachelor Pad Music,” or some variation thereof. Indeed, the 1950s and ’60s were certainly the Age of the Bachelor, when that lifestyle was essentially defined by the men’s magazines and other aspects of popular culture: not for nothing did so many album covers from that period feature lovely, buxom young women in glorious dishabille. Most were in fact quite tame – like those of, say, Jackie Gleason or Ray Conniff, which featured young women in the throes of romantic love, often embracing the male of their desire. Others featured women in quite a different mood, the look in their eyes unmistakably one of lust and animal passion (or so it was supposed to appear to the common male record purchaser).

    Another aspect of Easy Listening that may strike modern listeners is that…well…it’s really, really white. Not that black people could not, or did not, participate; but the vast majority of the genre’s progenitors were not only white, but seriously white dudes. Percy Faith and Henry Mancini may have been giants of popular music during the 1960s, but God love ‘em, they resembled high school shop teachers more than rock stars. Black record buyers tended to stick with the shifting landscape of rhythm and blues, jazz, gospel, and popular music during the time period in question. This isn’t to say that their tastes were superior, nor inferior; but much of it didn’t seem to resonate with black listeners. Who can blame them? It’s really not very funky; in fact, it’s practically anti-funky. But, by definition, that’s what Easy Listening is.

    Easy Listening began to fade somewhat in the late 1960s. Why this is, is probably a complex topic of study, but the changes in popular music that were taking place, first in 1964 with the Beatles, then with groups like the Tijuana Brass and Brazil ’66, then toward the end of the decade with the hippie movement when things tended to get looser and harsher at the same time – all of this resulted in a radically altered listening landscape. Even the music that the grownups enjoyed was changing. Post-Whipped Cream and Other Delights, softened versions of popular songs were still around, but tended to take a more modern approach, doing away with the heavy use of strings and multi-piece orchestras. This was “The Now Sound,” which had the same basic goals as Easy Listening, but used different methods to achieve its aims.

    By the early ’70s, Easy Listening was still around, but was barely hanging on. A lot of popular music seemed to be about excess, but there were also a few trends with a softer and more relaxed approach. Singer-songwriters like Carole King were coming more often to the forefront, offering a nice alternative to the harsher radio offerings. Songs from the ’40s and ’50s became less and less in demand, and when the more modern (i.e., post-Beatles) songs were desired, more listeners wanted to hear the original artists rather than some orchestra’s interpretation – so, the decades-old habit of doing ‘standards’ (that is, songs that existed in many different versions) gradually began disappearing. (Name That Tune notwithstanding.)

    It wasn’t until 1979 that the Billboard Easy Listening chart was renamed Adult Contemporary; it had held its previous name since 1961. But those two dates are each a bit late to the party; the trend had started several years before 1961, but certainly ended long before 1979.

  • Tuesday Morning Links

    This game was over in the first quarter

    Monday college football always feels weird. Obviously FSU felt like the game was at the wrong time. They’d have preferred a Saturday…in 2013. Jeez, they were hopeless on offense last night, as they fell to VA Tech at home.  Other big winners of the weekend were: Bama, Clemson, THE Ohio State University, Georgia, Nicholls State, Auburn and just about everybody else who played with the exception of That Team Up North, who lost their 17th consecutive road game to a ranked opponent (dates back to 2006) and have now officially gone an entire year without a touchdown reception by a Wide Receiver.  Shit, I bet Georgia Tech and Army have at least one in that span. It also caused the (probably alcohol-fueled) meltdown of one of their own...and many laughs in Buckeyeland.

    In tennis, Federer got bounced last night as Joker-Man won. Serena bounced Venus in what seems like an eternity ago and has now moved to the quarterfinals with many of the top seeds having been taken out already. I expect her to win it all now. And Bryson DeChambeau won the second FedEx Cup tourney in a row to put a bit of a stranglehold on the chase for the $10m prize and all but assure himself of a Ryder Cup spot.

    Elsewhere, Some of those red-hot divisional/playoff races in baseball are cooling off. As you can see here, half of the races are locked down. And the AL teams are just playing for postseason position. There’s still some action in the AL West and the NL divisions could tighten up (obviously the west is already a dogfight). I’d like to see that.

    OK, on to birthdays. British automaker and founder of Jaguar William Lyons was born on this date. So was TV’s Paul Harvey, so was the first Darrin Dick York, economist Clive Granger, hater of fried chicken Raymond Floyd, drummer Gene Parsons, golf great Tom Watson, another drummer Martin Chambers, the hilarious Damon Wayans, guitarist Kim Thayil, convicted sex offender and Clinton pal Anthony Weiner, baseball player Mike Piazza, and big-assed singer Beyonce.

    Its also the date on which the following happened: Henry Hudson discovered Manhattan Island, Halley discovered the comet named after himself, Los Angeles was founded, Edison’s light bulbs illuminated Pearl Street Station, Geronimo surrendered and ended the last Indian War, George Eastman patents the roll camera and name “Kodak” (which later enables Paul McCartney to accumulate the rights to a shitload of music), Man-O-War won a race by 100 lengths, Darlington hosted the first 500 mile NASCAR race, Ford introduced the Edsel, “The Price Is Right” made its TV debut, Yes performed its last concert, Google was incorporated, “Xena: Warrior Princess” debuted, and Mother Teresa was canonized.

    And now…the links!

    Expect to see a lot more of this

    Nike makes the unemployed Colin Kaepernick the face of its 30th Anniversary campaign. The slogan says “Believe In Something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”  A lot of people are tweeting about it. Pat Tillman was unavailable for comment.

    A man prepares for his interview to head NBC

    NBC are starting to fess up to the coverup of the Weinstein story. I wonder how long they can hold up as a credible news source when their hypocrisy in this matter is so obvious.

    Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing starts today.  Expect a lot of very pointed and specific questions. And expect a lot of noncommittal answers, which is standard practice in these settings but will be presented as evasion by the people who hate the process now that the other team is in charge.

    Trump makes what I consider to be his dumbest comment since his swearing-in. You cannot tell your AG he is carrying out politically-motivated prosecutions. Especially when they’re pretty blatant (alleged) transgressions. Stupid comment. Dumb. The worst comment.

    No wonder China are pulling away from us in education. They’re keeping their kids more engaged with exciting new teaching techniques. I, for one, would like to see this employed in the Houston area on a political program.

    Get out of the fucking road, assholes!

    Hotel workers break laws and aren’t arrested in Boston.  I wonder how much longer these types of protests will continue before someone plows through it because they are trying to get to the hospital or something. And police will be partially responsible for not doing their damn jobs.

    Hey dumbass, don’t leave your car running when you pick up a hooker and leave her in it. I’m curious how he’s gonna fare when the grand jury is done with this.

    I had a couple decent choices from the 80s and 90s, but I went a little further back today.

    Go out there and start the (short) week off well, my friends.

  • D-Day, 1944 pt. 4 – Modeling

    Catch up on all the Omaha Beach Diorama posts
     

    Things change when you build a diorama, and now that I’m on my second one, I have learned that they ain’t the same. Scale aside, this one has pieces embedded. I usually would show you a bunch of tanks and guns on my table, ready to display. This time I have to place men as part of the piece, as it were, then place all my dynamic guys after, with the pieces set (the pieces are all the boats, tanks and things on the table).

    I learned that D-Day occurred at low tide, so a nice bit of rip rap seemed to fit the bill.

     

    And I wanted a mixed sand look, so we take 10 parts sand color to 1 part black cinder and it comes out like this:

    A little more against the wall and we are done with the beach sand element of the project.

     

    Defenses: Trying to finalize the primary defenses is easy enough, some barbed wire and the dragon’s teeth, some boat preventers and we are looking good so far, but there are a few details yet to come in that regard.

     

    Army Men: I’m reaching saturation on the board. Have 221 men to paint, and with all the effects it’s going to get busy.

    They need 7 colors, and we paint the base, then bas relief the rest of them. In 1/35 I could paint masses of one color, for example, all the boots on one sprue tree, all the Kbars on another, and guns on a third, all in one pass. At 1/72 scale I get about 3 to 6 parts done before my eyes bug out, so it kinda sucks for production, but we carry on.

    These are the guys I need to finish now, everyone else can wait.

    Someone asked about tools. I have my main tools and supplies packed for the AZ move, so everything had to be bought from scratch on this project, and it looks like this:

    I am using acrylics as much as possible, and Hobby Lobby has a great selection, very cheap. All the scenery elements like the clump foliage used in the ‘splosions, the water, sand, etc. are Woodland Scenics. Dollar Tree supplies my white glue, toothpicks, foam board, rip rap, stir sticks and painters blue tape. I’ll show you how I do some cool things in a future post.

    Part 4 Gallery

    P.S. I’m cutting this episode short because a lot of things are happening, and I don’t want to get confused. Cheers!

     

  • ZARDOZ’S LABOR DAY LINKS

    THE BBQ IS ON! GATHER THE BRUTAL EXTERMINATORS FOR RIBS, BURGERS AND ITALIAN SAUSAGE.

     

    ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN ONES. YOU HAVE LABORED MIGHTILY, SNARKING AT THE BRUTALS, WHO ARE LEGION AND CLUTTER THE WEB. TODAY IS A DAY OF REST FOR YOU. HOWEVER, ZARDOZ WILL GIVE YOU THE GIFT OF THE LINK….FOR ZARDOZ, THERE IS LITTLE REST. SUCH IS THE LIFE OF A FUTURISTIC FLYING STONE HEAD. GO FORTH AND COMMENT!

    • ZARDOZ CHEERS THE EFFICACY OF THE BRUTALS IN THE NHS. MAY THEY ALWAYS BE SO MISERABLE IN THEIR EFFORTS. ZARDOZ COULD LAY OFF HALF THE EXTERMINATORS…
    • ZARDOZ DOES NOT SEE A PROBLEM HERE…GOOD FAMILY BACKGROUND. WHY BE ANGRY? YOU COULD GO FAR ON THE BRUTAL EXTERMINATORS!
    • AH, ZARDOZ SEES WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RID OFF FACEBOOK…CIVIL WAR. ZARDOZ MUST SEE WHAT HE DO TO STIR MORE OF THAT UP.

    ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.

  • Stone Wall and Sudley Ford: A photographic tour of Manassas Battlefield National Park

     
    I want to start off with a few mentions. First off, thanks to Yusef for the diorama posts. I wouldn’t have bothered writing this article without your articles showing the interest the glibertariat has in historic battles. Thanks also to straffinrun for encouraging me to snap some pics and linking the Mises podcast.

    The Mises podcast is absolutely kickass and worth a listen.

    Part 1
    Part 2

    Part 3
    Part 4

    Part 5
    Part 6

    I’ll preface the bulk of this article by saying that I’m no expert on the Civil War, and I may get some details wrong.

    Also, I highly recommend the following atlas if you are a civil war buff.

     

    Here’s a basic view of the area surrounding the battlefield:


     

    Now we zoom in to the battlefield.


     

    I annotated the map to include some of the important landmarks:

    From east to west between Henry Hill and Matthews Hill is the Warrenton turnpike. From north to south between Henry Hill and Chinns Ridge is Sudley Road.

    I spent all of my time on Henry Hill, as I had my 1 year old with me and didn’t want to cross US 29 (Warrenton Turnpike) with her to walk Matthews Hill. These images are all hi res, so you should be able to zoom in by clicking on the images. Edit: the site choked on my super hi res images, so these are lower resolution but still clickable.

    The Museum at Manassas
    Looking East across the top of Henry Hill. Bull Run is about 1/2 mile into the woods.
    Looking North from Stonewall Jackson’s statue at Henry House.
    Henry House with Bull Run mountains in the distance
    Still looking North at Henry House, Matthews Hill can be seen on the top right of the image

    The above image is a bit deceptive. There is a large valley between Henry House and Matthews Hill.

     

    Henry House and a monument to the battle
    Turning to the East, you can see a Union artillery line
    Union Cannons
    Confederate Artillery on the West side of Henry Hill pointing east
    From the Confederate Artillery to the Union Artillery is maybe 1/4 mile west to east
    Mrs. Henry’s grave at Henry House
    Henry House
    You can go into some of the houses, including Henry House and Matthews House
    Looking East from Henry House. Stone Bridge is buried in the distant woods out of sight.
    Matthews House at the base of Matthews Hill. Warrenton turnpike passes right in front of the house

    Chinns Ridge is back in the woods to the West across Sudley Road. I didn’t make it back there.
    Working East along a loop around Henry Hill, there are info boards in various places.
    Northeast of Henry Hill is Robinson House, which is around 200 yards away from Warrenton Turnpike
    The foundation of Robinson House
    Working back South toward the Union Artillery
    Another info board
    View from the Union artillery West toward the Confederate line

    Natural Beauty
    Sudley Church
    My photography assistant

     

    A picture is worth a thousand words, so this is like a zillion word article! Let me know if you have any questions or want to see something more in specific.

  • Monday Morning Last Minute Substitute Links

    Well, you nice folks were supposed to be rid of me this morning. But Sloopy called in sick and I’m the only staff guy stupid enough to be awake this early on a holiday. So you’re stuck with me for one more day. And indeed, Links will have a certain… rushed quality. Not the high quality, high precision Links you’re used to from the Sloopster. Ah well, we’ll live.

    Birthdays and anniversaries looked pretty dull today, so fuck that. Except that it’s Charlie Sheen’s birthday, so we should all celebrate with coke and hookers.

    Sloopy did say something about some Little League thing involving Michigan. This is shit I don’t bother with.

    See, we have a theme! Now let’s briefly look at some news.

     

    America is now leading the world in taking silly things like grapes out of wine production, and grain and barrels out of whiskey.

    Over the past two years they have developed a way to re-create wines, using flavour molecules, sugars, acids and ethanol derived from natural sources. Decolongon said they identified more than 100 compounds in the wines they have replicated.

    The beverages would be cheaper to manufacture than real wine and have less of an environmental impact.

    Hopefully, they’ll be better than that really horrendous Photoshop job on the photo of Decolongon.

     

    We used to have Planet Ten to fantasize about. Since Pluto’s demotion, we now are back to single digits.

    Circumstantial evidence continues to accumulate for the existence of Planet Nine, the hypothetical body thought to be lurking in our solar system far beyond Neptune. But no telescope has been able to spot it. Michael Brown, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology, says he feels “eternally optimistic” that someone will soon find it, but there’s reason to believe that Planet Nine, if it exists, might be essentially invisible to existing observatories.

    Wait a minute, didn’t Michael Brown get shot and killed by a racist cop? This is all very confusing.

     

    In the Department of I Told You So, Team Blue is suddenly rediscovering their love for the filibuster.

    Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Democrat, expressed remorse that her party eviscerated the power of the filibuster five years ago, leaving them no path to stop Judge Kavanaugh, barring Republican defections. Ms. Klobuchar, who voted with fellow Democrats in 2013 to trigger the “nuclear option” and curtail the filibuster, said she would support reverting to the 60-vote rule should her party regain the Senate.

    “I don’t think we should have made that change when we look back at it. But it happened because we were so frustrated because President Obama wasn’t able to get his nominees, but I think we would have been in a better place now,” she said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

    Clearly a woman of steadfast and consistent principles.

     

    Well, Florida’s gubernatorial race is taking a predictable turn- the Team Blue guy wants to monkey with health care, but he has a creative way to pay for that boondoggle. He’ll raise taxes. But not on ordinary people, he’s got newer, fresher ideas.

    “We will increase taxes for corporations in our state who, right now, just so you are aware, only 3% of companies in the state of Florida pay the corporate tax rate. … And that 3% under the Donald Trump tax scam got a windfall of $6.3 billion overnight due to the tax reform that took place in Washington, DC,” Gillum said. “We’re not asking for all of it,” he continued. “We simply said we believe that we ought to bring a billion of that money back into the state’s government because being a cheap-date state has not worked for the state of Florida.”

    Clearly not. That booming economy and huge in-migration of people and business are things that must be stopped.

     

    And here in Chicago, our “Reverend” Livingston is still determined to piss off as many people as he can, pursuing the goal of drawing more attention to… Reverend Livingston.

    Protesters led by an activist Chicago minister plan to shut down the nation’s second busiest airport on Labor Day by blocking the primary highway leading into and out of O’Hare International. The Rev. Gregory Livingston says Monday’s march along the Kennedy Expressway is an effort to highlight the violence and lack of educational and employment opportunities on the city’s South and West sides.
    “We must end Chicago’s tale of two cities,” said Livingston, pastor at New Hope Baptist Church on the city’s West Side. “We will shut down O’Hare International Airport.”

    Well, I’m sure every gangbanger in his neighborhood is thinking, “Shit, I gotta stop doing this, they’re gonna shut down O’Hare!”

    And of course, the penalty for having me sit in on Links today is more Old Guy Music. And still old school Tull, another song I’ve played in various bands over the years.

  • SEA SMITH LABOR DAY WEEKEND LINKS OF LABORING

    SEA SMITH LABOR DAY WEEKEND LINKS OF LABORING

    SEA SMITH RISE AND SHINE.

    SEA SMITH TAKE BREAK FROM COMEDY FOR TONIGHT. HE REST FOR LABOR DAY WEEKEND. BY REST, MEAN NOT RAPE. BUT HE GIVE LINKS TO FUNNY LAND GLIBERTARIAN HOOMANS! HAVE BUDDY NINGEN OVER FOR GRILLED FISH AND BEERS ON LABOR DAY. HE GOOD GUEST. BRING GOOD COLD, ANTARCTIC BEER.

    BLOOP! BLOOP, BLOOP.
    • RUSSIANZ!!!! SEA SMITH SEE FREE $#!% ARMY MARCH ON MOSCOW! “Many carried the red flags and banners of the principal organizer of the protest, the KPRF Communist Party.”
    • SEA SMITH SURE THIS GET JUSTICE! ALSO, EXPECT SEE BLUE WHALES FLYING OVER KANSAS SOON!
    • THIS NO SEA SMITH FAULT! NOT MESSICAN OWNER FAULT EITHER, HE NOT ON BOAT! NO BLAME LIBERTARIANS.
    • HERE SOME CELEBRITY PICTURES. SOME CRAZY. ALL STAGED. SEA SMITH SHAKE FINNED HEAD.

    HOPE ALL FUNNY GLIBERTARIAN LAND HOOMANS HAVING GOOD WEEKEND!

  • Green Chilies, Life and Rolling Stone References

    The world of green chilies is a vast one.  Everyone knows about New Mexico green chilies and their highly marketed name plate Hatch.  I love green chilies, and the chili that is its namesake, and grew up eating it.  I often use Hatch chilies in a pinch, but have always preferred locally grown when available, which is always if one plans right and has them in the freezer.  I was unaware of the chili rivalry between Colorado and New Mexico that I uncovered during the 15 minutes I spent researching this article.

    Being a semi-loyal Glib reader and a thin crust pepperoni clad warrior in the food wars, I am not afraid of voicing an opinion when it comes to food, but always just knew western Colorado chilies were far superior to anything grown in New Mexico–or anywhere else for that matter–and never gave it a second thought.  I never made a big deal about it because what is the point of harping on facts to people lacking all the information since they probably never had a chili grown here.

    I also never even considered anything grown on the front range, such as in Pueblo, was worth anything because the front range, anything east of the mountains, is considered by western slope folk to be pretty much western Kansas, and Pueblo has only ever been famous for being the location of the CO loony bin back in the day.  In short, the only good thing about the front range is the Broncos.

    This summer I have been far less enthused about fresh produce season than previous years due to a case of the mehs which I get from time to time, but I recently stopped and grabbed a handful of chilies (Big Jims) from a stand and brought them home for roasting.  The best way to buy chilies is to buy big and have the seller roast them for you, but they wanted $35 for a box and I was not willing to part with $35 at the moment and it is no problem roasting small quantities ones self.

    I did these on the Weber on a small pile of coals and the method consists of drinking beer and turning them until they char a bit on all sides and then put them in a paper bag to steam.

    The day I roasted those chilies if I looked only through my left eye, they looked like this:

    You see, there are certain factors that may cause cataracts and I checked most of the boxes.

    Aging: Check (sort of, I am only early fifties)

    Over exposure to UV rays:  Check

    I started skiing in 1972 when I was seven and back then we used the finest sunglasses one could buy at the gas station.  Preferably red white and blue layered plastic frames with reflective plastic lenses, and that is what we wore during sunny days on the slopes which was most weekends when I was a kid.  I have spent most of my life working outdoors in very sunny locations, and I have also done a fair amount of welding in some of the world’s finest shitholes with the finest welding masks available in said shitholes.  UV protection is not a known hazard in most shitholes and you will see welders arcing beads wearing nothing but plastic sunglasses.

    Diabetes:  Maybe a possible Check

    There is a good chance I have spent much of my life pre-diabetic due to diet and lifestyle.  I was diagnosed as such in my mid 30’s but never felt bad so what was the point of following up on that right?

    Drinking too much:  Ya, ok, maybe, sometimes, occasionally, a time or two.

    Smoking:  Check.  Off and on for thirty years.

    It seems I most likely did this to myself in one way or another.  That is something I have to come to terms with as I age.  I never thought I would live long enough to ponder life’s questions of self reflection on what I have done to myself.  Whether it was career choices and the hazards that come with using one’s body as a tool, recreation choices where the body is just another piece of equipment to be abused, and what is most damaging of all, what is ingested for fun or to silence the inner voice rambling on about what horrible choices you made in your life.

    To go with my green chilies I dug some Italian sausage out of the fridge that I had cooked earlier for pizza, as well as a pizza dough that was made, surprisingly, for the same purpose.

    Being someone who has only had one surgery when I was five when my tonsils were removed, and having a serious phobia about anything touching my eyeballs to the point I struggle to put in eye drops and even fainted during a glaucoma test once when I was in my late teens, I arrived for my surgery pretty much freaked the fuck out.  But by god I could do it, “don’t be a pussy,” I kept telling myself.  My blood pressure was jacked when they first hooked me up to all the monitoring devices but I eventually settled down.  The doctor and the anesthetist, who introduced himself as the guy who would make me feel good, dropped by to check on me and soon they wheeled me away to the operating room.

    I peeled my green chilies and laid them on the pizza dough as best they would fit, leaving enough dough on the outside edge to later fold.  I placed a sliced-lengthwise piece of sausage on each green chili and covered it with cheese.  I then cut around each chili leaving enough dough to fold kind of like a pinched top taco, sideways calzone or big dumpling.

     

    They don’t put you under for cataract surgery and only mildly sedate you because you have to listen to the doctor and move your eye when he needs.  During the surgery I only really freaked once and had to be told to hold still.  It felt like the doc was pushing my eyeball into my brain as he wrestled the cataract infused lens out of my head and I found that a bit unnerving.

    I did my green chili calzone things on my gas grill on my fire brick platform until golden brown.

    They could be stuffed with anything you want, and they were good.  I found they were better the next day.  I ate one that night in some marinara which overtook the green chili and I was not that impressed with my creation. The next day I muckled down the rest one at a time as I reheated them one by one and ate them poolside, and the green chili really came through. They were delicious.

    As to my whole cataract ordeal, it took something like 30-45 minutes in the operating room and I was at the hospital for little more than two hours.  It is truly amazing the day after and I see with clarity I have not seen with in 20 years.  It can only be described as how you are amazed at the clarity and drastic focus things appear after eating a small handful of mushrooms.  Not the, “holy shit that chick put her makeup on with a spatula” clarity but just vivid focus that seems drastic compared to what I have been living with for the past few years when the cataract really got bad.

    As they wheeled me to recovery with a patch over my eye the anesthetist asked how I felt.  I said, “Disappointed, I am not near as high as I hoped I would be”.  He said, “Here, we don’t give you what you want, we give you what you need.”  I caught the Stones reference, but was not sharp enough to come back with a wiseass retort, but sure plan to when they do my right eye some months down the road.  I am going to tell him to hell with this what you need stuff, give me what Keith would have.

    It wasn’t that long ago in medical history when the procedure done to me was not possible and I indeed feel lucky I am alive when it is.  It sure is better than previous techniques like poking a stick in the eye.

    A stick would work to roast a green chili over a fire though.