Gone Fishin'

A girl in dis dress

Is there a story here?  Of course there is.

Avast!

Air in-Money out

s--t hits  fan Thirty-one years ago this month we bought a Lennox furnace and air conditioner.  In that time the A/C was serviced once (freon), and the furnace once (blower motor).  Thirty-one years.  Bound to happen, then. The A/C water pan rusted out and water was leaking all over.  At the same time, and while our water heater was showing no sign of malfunction (they don't), MoSup was afraid that after 20+  years it would, and wanted it replaced.  All at once.  Of course we went with Lennox again, and wouldn't you know, the Vivint Solar people picked that day to install the solar panel electric.  We had 5 Scardina and 2 Vivint trucks outside, and god knows how many worker men in the basement, bumping into one another.  Took 13 hours, but all we need now is the county solar 'lectic inspection sign-off, and then a BGE meter installed, and our electric is free. So to speak.  On top of that, we are assured that the new HVAC system will cut our electricity bill in half, and it's good thing since this stuff has all doubled in price (water heater tripled) since last installed.  What I like is the Lennox wi-fi thermostat control panel.  It allows me to—you name it;  like watch daily power consumption, and the ability to set all the heat/cool parameters on the computer instead of hunching over a control screen trying to get fat fingers hitting the right numbers.  And best of all- we will never have to buy another system.  Oh, wait.  Oh my.  First time I actually thought in those terms.  Yay! We win.

Mawage

THE Manhattan Battleship Project

The USS RECRUIT

"The equipment is that of the up-to-the-minute dreadnought with accommodations on board for day and night life of officers and men." -POPULAR SCIENCE, AUG. 1917 Did the Indians used this battle ship to defeat Custer at Little Big? Horn! As a recruiting tool the ship was very successful, helping to recruit 25,000 men into the U.S. Navy. The First World War ended in 1918, and by 1920 the Recruit was no longer needed in Union Square. It was properly decommissioned and dismantled, with the intention of relocating it to Coney Island's Luna Park. This did not happen and the fate of the Recruit is unknown.* *If you check the roll-over, it appears that—like with Iran today—the government gave it to the Sioux Nation who used it to win at the Little Bog Horn?!? I am astounded and gob-smacked that—in this time where cable televison's 758 channels devote 24/7 to history and the miltary!—that I have lived approx. 97 years without having had so much as an inkle about this Union Square battleship.  Full props to Ron Metzgercan Hat Dance for finding it for us.  He wrote: It's news to me, too. The reason is most of my NYC stays are at a hotel a block from Union Square. Many of the buildings in these 95+-year-old photos are still there. And, in one of the 'battleship' photos, a statue of Lafayette is in the foreground. It's still there, too. PS The appearance of this 'battleship' is much like the original appearance of USS Arizona, built at Brooklyn Navy Yard and launched in 1915 And horry clap; look!  The Navy was the pioneer Gays in the Military service!  Who knew?  Many more pics here.

If the F-35 was a ship, it would be the SS Jimmy Carter

WHAT THIS GUMMINT DO                              Living Down To Expectations ...

We’ve heard of significant shortcomings before with the fighter jet that’s supposed to be America’s future, but this is just as bad as it gets. The F-35 performed so dismally in a dogfight, that the test pilot remarked that the it had pretty much no place fighting other aircraft within visual range. And to add insult to injury, the JSF flier discovered he couldn’t even comfortably move his head inside the radar-evading jet’s cramped cockpit. “The helmet was too large for the space inside the canopy to adequately see behind the aircraft.” That allowed the F-16 to sneak up on him. F-35 Can't Carry Its Most Versatile Weapon Until At Least 2022 The short takeoff and vertical landing capable F-35B, which has handicapped the entire Joint Strike … Read more And it’s even worse than a mere maneuverability issue. At one point, the pilot’s helmet was so big he couldn’t even turn his head inside the cockpit. That’s according to a scathing report obtained by our friends over at War Is Boring that details the results of visual range air-to-air engagement tests between an F-35A and an F-16C. The F-35, which the US Air Force, Navy, and Marines are expected to rely upon, in addition to the air arms of militaries across the world for at least the next few decades, was supposed to be better than its F-16 predecessor in all respects. [Oh, there's more....] There will be an upside—when Obama sells them to Iran. "Beautiful! Just freaking beautiful!" cuzzin ricky

What's the Worry; What's the Fuss ....

QOTD "As soon as Sharia Law becomes the law of the land, the whole 'gay marriage' thing will go away. So there's really no sense in our getting upset about it." Stu T

Cray-Z Che-Z

When Jay-Z Speaks ... Che-Z Stu T

Statues having fun with people

This "Statues having fun with people" meme is great fun

When Sharpton and Jesse were guest preachers ...

When I heard Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were guest preachers at a nearby black Jacksonville church, I decided to check them out in person and see what it was all about. I sat down and Sharpton came up to  me, I don't know why, maybe it was because I was the only white person in the Church. He laid his hands on my hand and said: "By the will of Jesus the Lord All Mighty, and the will of God, you will walk today. " I told him I was not paralyzed.   Then Jesse Jackson came by and said: "By the Grace of God, and his Son Jesus, the Lord All Mighty, you will walk today. " Again I told him there is nothing wrong with me.  After the sermon I stepped outside and Lo and Behold, my car had been stolen.... Air Commander Tim Walker

Roberts Deriliction

vichyssoise gummint

I'm avoiding the news for the next few days or weeks. Can't take it anymore. BUT here's an excellent summary that pretty well sums it all up. Mark Miller Since the New Deal, courts have permitted almost any legislative infringement of economic liberty that can be said to have a "rational basis." Applying this extremely permissive test, courts usually approve any purpose that a legislature asserts.   Courts even concoct purposes that legislatures neglect to articulate. This fulfills the Roberts Doctrine that it is a judicial function to construe laws in ways that make them perform better, meaning more efficiently, than they would as written by Congress. Thursday's decision demonstrates how easily, indeed inevitably, judicial deference becomes judicial dereliction, with anti-constitutional consequences. We are, says William R. Maurer of the Institute for Justice, becoming "a country in which all the branches of government work in tandem to achieve policy outcomes, instead of checking one another to protect individual rights. Besides violating the separation of powers, this approach raises serious issues about whether litigants before the courts are receiving the process that is due to them under the Constitution." The Roberts Doctrine facilitates what has been for a century progressivism's central objective, which is the overthrow of the Constitution's architecture. [ObamaCare Ruling Is Judicial Dereliction] *snip* *snip* I began to grow up after being introduced to George Will, lo these many years ago.  But Mr. Will is, alas, too gentlemanly for my taste.  After years of Sunday morning watching, I finally tired of  waiting for him to punch Sam Donaldson in the face and, while still wondering if he was banging Cokie Roberts, I stopped watching Brinkey Sunday and moved on to Ann Coulter. But the man is  smart.  And he has punched Judge Roberts in the puss.

TSA ALL STARS

TSA BLASTED FOR TWEETING PHOTO OF TRAVELER'S CASH 'And you wonder why nobody trusts you people' In the wake of 9-11 Bush 43 created the TSA because ... because  he could.  And because we needed, he said,  professionally trained, security minded unionized  personal who can't be fired manning American airport security ramparts.  Hilarity ensued. Predictably

Fat and Juicy Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal Raison Cranberry Cookies

Makes 16 to 20 large cookies If you prefer a less sweet cookie, you can reduce the white sugar by one-quarter cup, but you will lose some crispness. Do not overbake these cookies. The edges should be brown but the rest of the cookie should still be very light in color. Parchment makes for easy cookie removal and cleanup, but it’s not a necessity. If you don’t use parchment, let the cookies cool directly on the baking sheet for two minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. INGREDIENTS 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups raisins (optional) 1/2 teaspoon table salt 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg 2 sticks unsalted butter (1/2 pound), softened but still firm 1 cup light brown sugar 1 cup granulated sugar 2 eggs 3 cups rolled oats INSTRUCTIONS 1. Adjust oven racks to low and middle positions; heat oven to 350 degrees. In bowl of electric mixer or by hand, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time. 2. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg together, then stir them into butter-sugar mixture with wooden spoon or large rubber spatula. Stir in oats and optional raisins (or cranberries). 3. Form dough into sixteen to twenty 2-inch balls, placing each dough round onto one of two parchment paper–covered, large cookie sheets. Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes. (Halfway during baking, turn cookie sheets from front to back and also switch them from top to bottom.) Slide cookies on parchment onto cooling rack. Let cool at least 30 minutes before serving. I've made these cookies 3000 times and, always, they  look like  this .  Nevertheless, they are gob smack good.  Best ever. You're welcome.

a plot to get the plans?

'mergency molarectomy piece by piece  dismantlement

Beating the Man!

Nobody but MS Mahjong Challenge players will know what this is.  And no, it's not cheating.  It's outsmarting JONG.  Actually, I don't have the time today to find all the matches before they time-out.

The whole event is confusing ...

MSNBC ALL-STARS and ilk ... is worth 1000 words

CNN confuses black and white flag covered in sex toy symbols for that of ISIS during London Gay Pride parade CNN aired 'exclusive' report claiming ISIS flag was displayed in gay march But the satirical flag was actually adorned with symbols of sex toys Referring to the symbols, the reporter said it was 'very bad mimicry' of ISIS She went on to claim she was the only person to notice the jihadi flag Beauty.  You'd think that Democrat media would be the last people not to recognize a dildo, wot? Hat Tip to Stu and Skoonj

Calming the Seas

Playing Catch-up

In the past, and we're talking 14 years here, a sudden sparsity of blog posting was due to miasma.  Now it's due, largely, by having so much to rail about that I don't know where to begin.  Okay, there is a certain miasma, perhaps, in that I really can't see a way to to reverse our country's slide into .. into something that was unimaginable even 20 years ago.  Where tyranny by a minority trumps the constitution and half the population applauds.  I reached a point where I was so filled with hatred for anyone I saw as part of the problem, aka anyone who was not apologetic for ever voting for any Democrat, that, not only was I miserable, but I made anyone around me .... erm, uncomfortable.  Odd as it seems, a turning point came when MoSup and I began watching the Blue Bloods series.  Every episode rang true—well, except for the Black mayor who is not only open to suggestion, but shows a good deal of common sense to boot.  There are no Democrat politicians in my experience who have those qualities (but it is the liberal wet dream, as witness the Black President in the 24 series, who, with the verisimilitude rating of minus-6, is more Thomas Jefferson than Brok Obama).  Anyway, at the end of each episode the Reagan family get together for a family meal, a wonderful model for any family.  It's here that — one reader here called it the "Greek Chorus"— they toss around current events, ideas and philosophies.  I felt good after every episode; I think because so many of the values I grew up with were in evidence.  I did that video a month ago.  That's how far behind I am.  Maybe its the cork in the monkeys ass.

π=mc³

Today's Mahjong Index of Brainal Power >>Operating on 8 cylinders<< Operating on 5 cylinders Operating on 4 silanders Operating on 2 slinders Operating on ... Oh, look!  A fly.

This Just In: π=mc³

More of the same

HELTER SKELTER                           Sowing Discord, Provoking Unrest