One of the world's largest air forces

In the Arizona desert near Tucson.

http://www.dhc-2.com/Monthan_Memories.html


Just about every airplane pictured is now gone.

Sent by Joe Rooney.

A few years ago the Confederate Air Force (now the Commemorative Air Force) sent a crew to pick up a B-29 at the desert site. A crew member said they checked the tires, changed the plugs and engine oil, filled the gas tanks, fired up the four engines and flew to the CAF base, then in Harlengin, Texas. No other maintenance necessary.)

F-100 vs. MiG-17

The F-100 Super Sabre “flew more individual sorties in Vietnam than any other fighter. … In fact, the F-100 Super Sabre did almost everything a modern fighter could do – except shoot down an enemy aircraft.”

http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/f-100-versus-mig-17-the-air-battle-nobody-told-you-about/

At xbradtc.com

The dumbest thing since the last dumbest thing

On my wife’s Facebook page someone posted a picture of a man standing outside a Cracker Barrel, holding a sign saying Cracker Barrel is racist.

I asked my wife, “How is Cracker Barrel racist?” She handed me her Extremely Intelligent Phone and said, “Look it up.”

According to Google search, here is why Cracker Barrel is racist:

• A site said Cracker Barrel had “surrendered to homophobes and racists” by reinstating Duck Dynasty goods in the stores; and
• Cracker Barrel is a racist term because it refers to crackers; that is the appellation for redneck racists.

I laughed and laughed when reading the second one. What we have is a lack of education, people not knowing that in the days of general stores, customers often stood around a big wooden barrel of crackers, munching while discussing events of the day.

Laugh and laugh I did and then remembered Snapple changing its label because some dumba$$es said the picture of the Boston Tea Party was slave ships unloading chattel. Snapple explained the label, but dumba$$e$ do not understand facts. A DA on TV said, “I don’t care what they say, it reminds me of my enslaved ancestors, and that causes me pain.”

Well, Hell’s Bells, we can’t have anybody getting her feelings hurt, can we. Change the labels!

Sometimes a woman’s got to do what a woman’s got to do

Man robs bank, flees. About a quarter mile before heroine rams his car with her pickup.

“It seemed right at the time,” she said.

And every other time, we would add.

http://www.abc27.com/story/25345202/woman-says-she-couldnt-let-bank-robber-get-away


At fark.com

Which federal agents have authority to arrest you?

Not as many as I thought.

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/defenseandsecurity/a/Firearms-Authority-Of-Government-Agencies.htm

‘Come and take it’ lost in translation from Texian to Arkansian

Last Monday while the Sears repairman worked on my fire-damaged mower, I worked on getting my Come And Take It flag onto a makeshift staff – a four-foot wooden dowel.

When I had the flag ready for insertion into holders on the front porch and when walking by the repairman, I asked if he knew about the flag. He said he did not. Never missing a chance to educate Arkansans in things Texas, I explained:

Colonists in Gonzalez, Texas, petitioned the Mexican army for a cannon to protect against Indian raids, mostly by Comanche. The army sent a small cannon, probably a swivel gun. In 1835, as relations worsened between colonists and the government in Mexico City, the local army commander in San Antonio asked for return of the cannon. Gonzalez residents declined. The commander sent a contingent to get the cannon. The colonists (armed, as all colonists and citizens should be) met the soldiers with the small cannon on a crude carriage, and a flag with a crude drawing of the cannon, a single star, and the words “Come And Take It.” The soldiers tried, but failed. (Two Mexican soldiers were killed.) The cannon might have been used at the Alamo, I said.

When I finished talking, the repairman just looked at me as though trying to process the information. I realized I lost him somewhere around “colonists” and “Mexican army.” He said, “Hunh. That’s an interesting story.”

He went back to working on my mower; I went to the front porch and put up the flag.

I realize not everyone knows anything about Texas history, but everybody should.

Face the fact: If you are not a Muslim, you are a target

An Afghan “security guard” on Thursday shot and killed three Americans and wounded another at a hospital in Kabul

Said the Associated Press: “What prompted the guard to fire on the Americans was not clear …”

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/father-son-illinois-killed-kabul-attack-article-1.1770177

What prompted the AP to stupidity is not clear, except perhaps an unwillingness to face the possibilities: the guard was a Muslim who hated Americans; the guard was a Muslim who hated foreigners; the guard was a Muslim who hated Christians; the guard was a Muslim who gated American Christians.

Out of Georgia

A piece of Africa wound up in Georgia (and Alabama and North Carolina) 250 million years ago when the supercontinent Pangea broke apart and pieces drifted all over the place and formed the world as we know it today.

‘Chunk of Africa Found in Southeast US’

http://www.newsmax.com/SciTech/pangea-chunk-u-ssoutheast/2014/04/25/id/567697/

(A neat story if only because it shows what we think is solid and never-ending, isn’t. Environmentalists take note. Spotted owls and snail darters haven’t been around forever.)

Did you know ...

It takes 215 denim pelts to make one pair of jeans?

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/unstrange-phenomena-slideshow/

(Scroll down. Of course. Why scroll up when you are at the top of the page?)

It takes 500 nauga hides to make one naugahyde recliner/swivel rocker?

It takes 5 minutes for seamstresses Polly and Ester to make one XXL pullover shirt?

(I wrote the last two. Use them as you wish.)

A couple of thoughts while reading Paul Greenberg's column on expansion of the Arkansas lottery

Those who ignore Evil are not so much doomed to repeat it as not to recognize it when it makes an appearance. Or, this is the bravest of new worlds, where Evil does not exist.

Government stupids and cliche-spouting Malthusian from fark.com

Does it really matter where the first chili pepper was grown?

‘This information better equips us to develop genetic conservation programmes, increases the efficiency of breeding programmes and will be critically important as we work to deal with climate change and provide food for a rapidly increasing global population.’

http://metro.co.uk/2014/04/22/scientists-make-a-meal-out-of-finding-the-birthplace-of-the-first-chilli-plant-4704755/

(Oh, it’s about climate change and feeding the Malthusians. Carry on, cliché users.)

Here’s the proof of Russian interference!

Men with beards, wearing camouflage and ski masks, carrying rifles, photographed in Crimea and Ukraine!

State Department says pictures do not lie!

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/04/20/world/europe/ukraine-provides-evidence-of-russian-military-in-civil-unrest.html


‘Police say they take complaints of anti-social behaviour very seriously’

Girls build stick house in woods, have picnic, told to leave by police.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2609197/Parents-fury-young-girls-built-den-holidays-threatened-Asbo-police.html#ixzz2zgGGqSZd

Sleepy students; kid-stressed parents

Fairfax County Virginia teens don’t get enough sleep – less than six hours a night, when the scientific recommendation is nine hours. What to do, what to do.

The county school board might have an answer: Later school start times, 30 minutes or maybe an hour.

In defense of the proposal: Some kids get on school buses at 5:20 a.m. to get to school that starts at 7:20 a.m.

Both those times are way too early. The only reason kids should be up and about at 5:20 a.m. is to milk cows.

http://www.wtop.com/149/3608367/Later-school-start-times-for-Fairfax-Co

A couple of months ago, Arkansas school kids spent a lot of time at home because snow covered much of the state for days on end.

After snow melted and kids went back to school, the Little Rock School District announced counseling availability for parents who had become over stressed with their kids home for three and four days in a row.

Stressed parents should have gotten their kids up at 5:20 a.m. and sent them outside to build snow cows for pretend milking.

Obama jokes

A muslim, a socialist, and a communist walk into a bar.
The bartender says hello Mr. President.

Q: What does Barack Obama call illegal aliens?
A: Undocumented democrats.

And the funniest Obama joke of all (Drum roll, please): brrrrrrrrrrp:

A MIRROR!

(Search for 'obama jokes' gets lots of hits, but not much funny stuff.)

Excellent Sears service

A Sears service man came out this afternoon and replaced burned wires and belt on the mower and the dead battery.

Sears products are often so-so, but service is excellent.

'Is my momma dead yet?'

Priscilla and I drove to Texarkana Sunday and had Easter lunch with John. We were supposed to meet John at West Side Church of Christ, but people at the group home misunderstood advance voice communications and called the church and said the transportation van need not come by because we would get John before church. The CNA in charge Sunday was scheduled to take another resident to another church, so when we did not arrive, she arranged for John to attend services there.

All in all, everything worked out. John went to church, and he and we had lunch.

The CNA was helping two other residents from a car when Priscilla and I arrived. Those two men use wheel chairs to get around. One cannot stand.

John stood in the carport. Priscilla and I got out of our car.

John walked to Priscilla and asked, “Is my momma dead yet?”

Priscilla replied, “No, John. She might not die for another few weeks or months.”

John said, “She’s sick and she’s going to die.”

Priscilla said, “Yes, she is sick and she will die, but not just yet.”

We got in our car; John sat in the back passenger seat. After buckling his seat belt, he said, “When my momma dies, the funeral home will get her.”

“That’s right,” Priscilla said. “When she dies, I will call the funeral home and they’ll come get her.”

“They’ll put her in an ambulance,” John said. He sighed. “That’s a whole lot of miles to Little Rock.”

Involuntarily executed

A friend emailed she often checks journalismjobs.com, probably not too seriously, since she and her husband live and work in Dallas, and neither is likely to up and quit and move to another area or, goodness gracious no, to another state.

I checked the site and found its “news” rather liberal; sort of like reading Editor and Publisher or Quill, the latter published by the Society of Professional Journalists/Sigma Delta Chi, to which I once belonged but allowed my membership to go away because of SPJ’s bias against all things conservative.

I looked at jobs even though I will not apply for any, not even the ones in Wyoming, Montana and other places west.

The newspaper in Le Mars, Iowa, advertised for a reporter. I looked up Le Mars, because I did not know where it is. Now I do.

Wikipedia lists John Spenkelink as a notable person from Le Mars. Spenkelink, Wikipedia said, was the “first person involuntarily executed in America after the re-introduction of the death penalty.”

“Involuntarily executed.” How many voluntary executions do we have?

Latest candidate for Stupidest Program on TV

Mountain Monsters. Got it all – Bigfoot, Wolfman, dumba$$ hillbilly wannabes, stupid dudes with guns, Bigfoot noises, “OMG! What was that?” Even, “We definitely located (whatever monster they were after), but we ran out of time and have to move to the next dumba$$ location.”

In the one (and last) I watched, these “researchers” are tromping through the woods at night, every damn one with a flashlight, camera lights, saying the monster is just up the next holler. And they are standing with guns pointed forward and the camera dude is in front of the muzzles!! HSOATB! (Holy S--- On A Toasted Bun)

Dipsticks.

Still on the air

Fourteen … five … twelve … sixty-four …

The spooky world of the ‘numbers stations’

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24910397

At fark.com

Not here any more

Mrs. R. fights every morning when Priscilla does diaper change and cleanup. Sometimes she hits Priscilla, sometimes she pushes, sometimes she pinches. She has hit and pinched the nurses aides who visit every weekday.

Friday night, Mrs. R. tried to eat her pajamas. Priscilla prepared a soft meal and fed her in bed, with Mrs. R. using her fork. Then Mrs. R. began poking her pajamas with the fork. Priscilla asked why she was doing that. “I’m going to eat it,” Mrs. R. replied. Priscilla said, “Mother, those are your pajamas. You cannot eat your pajamas.”

None of that computed. “Mother … pajamas … cannot eat.” Those words or combination of words were not or are not part of Mrs. R’s mental ability.

Other things are gone. Mrs. R. the other day referred to Priscilla as “that woman who visits.”

Priscilla often sits with her mother and discusses photographs from the 1940s through the 1980s. Mrs. R. recognizes herself, her husband, son John and her mother. She does not recognize Priscilla or our children or her brother or sister.

Maybe “recognize” is not the right word. More accurate might be no one but Mrs. R., Mr. R., John and Mrs. R.’s mother are part of her mind. We often think those with dementia forget things. Probably, most things simply are no longer there.

Pro-Russian forces in Donetsk tell Ukrainian Jews to register with government

‘Dear Ukraine citizens of Jewish nationality’

Nothing to be concerned with, but you are asked to report to the Commissioner of Nationalities.

"ID and passport are required to register your Jewish religion, religious documents of family members, as well as documents establishing the rights to all real estate property that belongs to you, including vehicles."

Taking a cue from somebody, officials say there will be “consequences” for not registering – revocation of citizenship "and you will be forced outside the country with a confiscation of property." Each Jew over 16 will pay a registration fee of $50.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/04/17/jews-ordered-to-register-in-east-ukraine/7816951/

5,000 dinosaur footprints

In one rock wall.

http://twistedsifter.com/2013/10/cal-orko-wall-in-bolivia-covered-in-dinosaur-tracks/

At Maggie’s Farm.

Northwestern University ponders problems female students have in, ah, self-pleasure

“Northwestern University is sponsoring an event for female students who are ‘having trouble masturbating.’

“’Vulvas too confusing? Having trouble masturbating? Wanna please your consenting female-bodied friend?’”

Comment from a reader: “If they are that dumb, how did they get to college?”

http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=5535

Maggie’s Farm.

Man drops attacking bear with two shots, maybe three, from revolver

The story is almost five years old, but again proves the adage of carrying something bigger than a bear when in bear country.

“Greg Brush, an Alaskan fishing guide, was ambushed with no warning by a charging bear. All he had time to do was pull out his .454 Casull and fire as fast as possible, while falling backwards after tripping on a branch.”

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2009/08/31/man-kills-charging-bear-with-454-casull/#sthash.TGFkNOWc.dpuf

One comment recommends keeping a foreign tourist between you and the bear.

Found while searching for information on the Desert Eagle XIX, which is this month’s Gallery of Guns giveaway. The Eagle might be nice to have so as to say, “Hey, look what I’ve got,” but $1.50-$2.50 per round would eat into the Social Security check.

Anybody surprised the guy at the top wants to keep his job?

Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Micheal P. Barrett says lesser-paid Marines will be better Marines. Senior NCOs in other services say, “Well, we don’t agree 100 percent, but Congress needs to get on the ball and cut stuff.”

Those guys got to their top jobs because they play the game. “Yes, Sir. Absolutely, Sir” to someone’s face and “Stupid bastard” when no one is listening.

http://militaryadvantage.military.com/2014/04/top-enlisted-slow-compensation-to-protect-readiness/#ixzz2yy4bbjQP

Congress will wind up cutting pay and benefits and raising TRICARE costs, and when the complaints start piling up will say: "But that’s what your senior NCOs said you wanted!”

SGM responds after Marines ask, “What the hell you talking about?”

His words were “misreported.”

"Recent reporting of my testimony may have left you with a mistaken impression that I don't care about your quality of life and that I support lower pay for service members. This is not true," Barrett wrote in the letter.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/04/14/sergeant-major-responds-to-backlash-over-pay-cut-support.html?comp=7000023435630&rank=1

“Misreported?” Modern term for “Oh, s*it, I forgot there were reporters in the room.”

Great for morale, Sergeant Major, telling Congress “your” Marines will be better Marines if they’re not paid as much.

Supreme Court justice tells how to fix Second Amendment

Just five little words, says Justice John Paul Stevens.

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms when serving in the Militia shall not be infringed.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-five-extra-words-that-can-fix-the-second-amendment/2014/04/11/f8a19578-b8fa-11e3-96ae-f2c36d2b1245_story.html

Here are five other words: “the right of the people.”

Writers of the Constitution wrote what they did for a reason. If there had been a compelling reason for specifying militia members only, it would have been written that way. But it wasn’t.

If the Justice wants the change, he is within his First Amendment rights to lobby his federal representative and two senators for an amendment to the amendment.

Under Justice Stevens' plan, is "militia" the same as National Guard? And when one leaves the militia, does he lose his right to own a gun? Would Active Duty members not have the same right.

We could go on and on. And on.

At www.drudge.com

'They ought to just let her die'

Saturday was John’s bowling day, so Priscilla and I drove to Texarkana and got John from the group home and took him to the bowling lanes. Afterwards, we all drove back home. A Certified Nuerses Aide cared for Mrs. R. while we were gone.

After bowling, but while still inside the building, John walked up and shook hands with one of the volunteers who oversees the bowlers. Like John, all the other bowlers have learning disabilities. The four or five volunteers are parents of bowlers.

John shook hands with the volunteer and then turned and waved at me. He put out his hand. I shook his hand. Grinning, John said, “My momma lives in Little Rock.” I was surprised. I said, “I know, John. She lives in my house.” John pointed at Priscilla, who was talking with another volunteer. John said, “That’s my sister.”

I thought, “Oh my gosh. Is he going, too? We can’t handle him and Mrs. R.”

I said, “I know who she is, John. She and I have been married almost 42 years.”

John, still grinning, said, “That’s my big sister.”

“I know,” I said. “We’ve been living together more than 40 years.”

In the car and leaving Texarkana, John said something about “still growing.” Priscilla said, “John, you are not still growing. You are a grown man.” I told her what John had said in the building.

“Oh lord,” Priscilla said. “We can’t handle both of them.”

“No, we can’t.”

“We just can’t,” she said.

At lunch Sunday, Mrs. R. ate at the table, an unusual event lately because she usually has neither the strength nor inclination to sit up, even in her high-back wheel chair. She ate almost all her tuna casserole and green salad, also unusual lately.

John said, out of nowhere, “My daddy’s dead.”

Mrs. R. said, “No, John, your daddy is not dead. He’s somewhere else.”

Priscilla said, “We’ll talk about that later, John.”

She talked about it Sunday evening when we were almost at John’s group home. “John,” she said, “when Mother said Daddy was not dead, she was confused. Daddy is dead. You know that.”

“Yeah,” John said.

“She was just confused. Her mind isn’t working right.”

“Yeah. My momma’s sick.”

“Yes she is.”

“She’s gonna die.”

“Yes, she is,” Priscilla said. “But she’s not going to die today. She might die in a week or two weeks or a month. We just don’t know. But right now, she is confused.”

John said, “They ought to just let her die.”

As I have mentioned before, John is 57 years old physically and 5 or 6 mentally and emotionally. He saw his father die and his uncle and his aunt die. He sees the difference in his mother from four months ago and now. When he said “They ought to just let her die,” he might have been repeating what someone said 20 years ago when Mrs. R.’s mother suffered through dementia and finally died at 97; or, he might have been giving his own thought. The sincerity and frankness with which he said the words … I think it was his own thought.

Worst vacation ever?

Late Saturday afternoon, Blue Collar Radio had its People Talking Instead of Comics Comeding program, which usually is a waste of time and “Hmm. Wonder who’s on Laugh USA?”

Yesterday's progam was an exception to the usual banality.

At accessing Blue Collar, I heard this: “There were 5- and 6-year-old kids carrying machetes.

"And then the guide yelled ‘RUN!’”

At the end of the fight, the caller said, “One man was on the ground bleeding to death and another was hacked up.”

I missed where the caller said this happened, but I did hear “There were men with spears.” Not likely in the US.

Bear stories

Beating up on the Cubs

Wikipedia: “The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team …”


Bad reporting

‘Seminole woman injured in possible bear attack’

Was the woman of the Seminole tribe? No. She lives in Seminole County.

“possible bear attack.” Was the attacker maybe Bigfoot? Or a gorilla escaped from a zoo, but civil officials don’t want to alarm the populace? Something that looked like a bear, but the woman isn’t sure?

The woman said she “encountered five bears rummaging through the bin she kept inside” her garage. Five bears. Why not “five possible bears?”

“Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission had no comment late Saturday but investigators are looking into the matter to confirm if bears were responsible for the woman's injuries.”

Oh. Fish and Wildlife people think maybe the attack was not by bears?

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-bear-attack-lake-mary-20140412,0,7893060.story

Alternate headline: Seminole County woman allegedly injured in possible bear attack. Or: Seminole County woman injured in allegedly possible bear attack.

At Fark.

Why does a corporation have the same rights as a person?

Because the author of the 14th Amendment said so.

“Which gets us to the chief action to which Bingham was called, when he worked to secure the interests of RR companies – namely, liberating corporations from state control by inserting the word ‘person’ into Fourteenth Amendment language, thereby qualifying naturally avaricious, potentially immortal wealth accumulation machines for the same protections freed slaves were soon to enjoy.”

“The Crafting of the Fourteenth Amendment”

http://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2014/03/crafting-fourteenth-amendment/

The state backs its actions with guns …

… but citizens who protect their rights should be weaponless?

"Gun Nuts?"

http://politicalhat.com/2014/04/12/gun-nuts/

At www.ritely.com

Obama tweet: History moves backwards ... and sideways. And up and down and spirally convexitially

The White House ✔@WhiteHouse

Follow

President Obama: "We are here today because we know we cannot be complacent. History travels not only forwards, but backwards and sideways."

12:39 PM - 10 Apr 2014

(Mr. Prez: I want me an example of some sideways history. And some backwards history while you’re at it.

(The man don’t know s*it, and he doesn’t care.

(This has to go at the top of the “If GW Bush had said this …” list.)

At www.ace.mu.nu

SGM of USMC says lower pay will make for more disciplined Marines

“Lower pay and slimmed-down benefits will make Marines more disciplined and less wasteful, according to the Corps’ top enlisted Marine.”

And: “In my 33 years, we’ve never had a better quality of life,” Barrett said. “We’ve never had it so good. If we don’t get a hold of slowing the growth, we will become an entitlement-based, a health care provider-based Corps, and not a war fighting organization.”

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/article/20140409/NEWS05/304090064

(Stupid duck. You get what you train. We’ve never had it so good, and I intend no one else will, either.

(What happened to USMC complaints of the Corps always doing more with less, complaints those candy-a$$ other services got new stuff and the Corps got stuck with s**t and castoff equipment?)

At Fark.com

‘TSA spokesperson Nico Melendez told ABC7 that it regrets the incident.’

“I think it could have been handled differently by the TSA and it probably could have been handled differently by the family, and hopefully moving forward the family won’t have this problem again, because they know about the programs that we have in place,” Melendez said.

http://nypost.com/2014/04/10/mute-stroke-victim-barred-from-lax-flight-forced-on-8-hour-bus-ride/

(Melendez, you are one stupid government son of a bitch. Did you not comprehend the complaint? One of your fellow stupid government sons of a bitch would not let a mute board an airplane because she could not say her name! Do you know what mute means? And that “it could have been handled differently by the family” BS … And now the family knows “about the programs we have in place.” Does that mean TSA will never allow a mute to fly?

(The government is so f’d up, which means we are so f’d.)

At fark.com

Fire! Fire! Fire!

That is what I was yelling this afternoon when leaves accumulated on the mower deck contacted the swiftly moving belts driving the two blades, long enough for friction to bring the leaves to flammable condition.

Leaves also had accumulated between front tires and the deck to make steering difficult. I had just struck a hickory sapling and when backing up saw flames in leaves in front of the mower. I quickly backed up and then saw flames coming from beneath the mower and from a side of the deck.

“Fire! Fire! Fire!” I yelled as loud as I could, while backing the mower from the burning leaves. I kept yelling “Fire! Fire! Fire!” even when I got the mower 40 feet from the leaves.

Our house is the first of seven on a cul-de-sac. Two other houses face the street; the others are back in the woods. On the connecting street, six houses are in view. Surely, I thought, somebody can hear me.

Priscilla was in the house with Mrs. R., so I didn’t expect an immediate response. I kept yelling: “Fire! Fire! Fire!” And: “If you people value your homes, help me fight this fire!”

I started raking leaves away from burning leaves, hoping to make a firebreak. But I had three different fires going – the original burning leaves; the place where I first stopped the mower; and a fire beneath the mower.

I started walking for my pickup, parked about 150 feet away, near the shop. Priscilla came from the house and asked what I was doing. “Getting something to rake leaves from the fire,” I said. All the time I was walking, I was yelling “Fire! Fire! Fire!”

I got a hoe from my truck. Priscilla got a hose from in front of the shop. Once we had the proper tools, getting the fire out was easy.

No one else ever arrived.

The fire burned out some wiring on the mower and probably ruined the mower belts. I doubt the warranty covers fire.

Problem solving: Kidnap the CEOs …

… of the 10 largest American companies and have those CEOs call every customer service number of every company they control and go through the frustrating number menus just to give answers to a computer.

After the CEOs have done that and are aware of reasons for customer anger, take them out back and shoot them. Then kidnap the next 10.

The redkneckest redneck TV show

Not Swamp People, not Ax Men.

Downeast Dickering, straight from Maine.

The Robertsons of West Monroe, La., are completely and sophisticatedly civilized by comparison.

The Maine rednecks are on The History Channel.

Southern rednecks need to start a web page that announces: We Ain’t Like Them.

Internet security

The computer pops up a lack of security message when I preview posts. A check showed all addresses with https are secure; addresses without the s are not. My address has https. So, what's the deal? Is Google trying to scare away readers?

Formula advertisement

A TV ad has a smiling woman talking about her obviously nice and smiling son, who does not eat breakfasts she prepares, said meal in the ad resembling bacon, eggs and a lump of brown. The boy, smiling and nice, pushes away the plate.

Not to worry, Mom says, smiling. She gives her smiling son a plastic bottle of some liquid stuff, which the boy smilingly drinks. That is all the boy needs, Mom says, for a full and nutritious meal. That night, she tucks the boy in bed, and Wow! – the blanket no longer covers his ankles and feet! The boy has grown six inches since that morning, when he got out of bed, before he refused the meal Mom cooked, before Mom offered pre-teen formula.

The ad is a Progressive’s Utopian dream – single mom, obedient son, an entire meal in a bottle, and the meal containing not one single animal cell. Pure vegan in a bottle. We can do away with cows and pigs, sheep and goats and every other animal butchered for human food, switch to soy milk or rice milk and pump in bunches of organic things.

What a perfect world! Well, except for the plastic bottle, and surely Progressives can work out that part.

We must close this gender gap

In signing the equal payday law or whatever it was, President Obama said of something, “It’s not fair” and “That’s not right,” something about women making 77 percent of what a man makes. Well, here is a statistic we must, must, do something about:

92% of work-related deaths in 2012 were to men.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303532704579483752909957472?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303532704579483752909957472.html

Want to close the gap, girls, sharpen those axes and chain saws, or fill your tool belt with hammers and box cutters and tape measures, or get down to an Alaskan or Maine fishing dock and sign on. You’ll get paid more than in one of those office jobs, too.

Four manly lessons from the minor leagues

Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals.

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2014/04/03/4-manly-lessons-from-the-minor-leagues/

Soldiers know everything flows from fundamentals, which means practice and practice and practice. And know when and how to adapt.

At Maggie’s Farm.

Several hundred miles off the west coast of Australia …

… a dolphin swims in a slow circle, stops every now and then at the same spot in the circle, and goes: “Ping.” The dolphin snorts and chuckles, swims the circle, stops: “Ping.”

When search ships get too close, the dolphin will swim a few hundred miles north or northwest, swim in a circle. “Ping.” Snort. Chuckle.

Little Rock school bus speeding!!

Monday, 7 April 2014, 2:56 p.m., IH-440 east, Little Rock School District bus 1-1-150 was speeding far above the 65 mph limit, passing me and several others who were driving at posted limit. The bus sped away from us all.

Bad bus driver! Bad, bad!

The driver’s action was in keeping with actions of other Arkansas persons of authority, who appear to believe rules of the road do not apply to them. North Little Rock police are especial practitioners of speed limits do not apply.

Stupid sign

Sign in a Kroger in North Little Rock, beside the store manager’s picture: “I am always here, but when I am not the individual in charge will be glad to help you with your problem.”

We’ll skip the “I am always here, but when I am not” part, since that is stupid on its own.

Let’s go right to “individual in charge.” Individual what? Dog? Rabbit? Head of lettuce? Bunch of carrots?

Oh! Individual person? (Assumption, but with a fair degree of accuracy, since it is not likely an individual dog or an individual head of lettuce could or would help with your problem.)

So why didn’t the manager state that when she is not at the store (even though she always is) “the person in charge” is, like, the store manager?

Who knows? Inept grammar, or going with the flow of TV news and police reports, maybe.

“Several individuals were robbed …”

“The alleged robber was described as a white male …” Male what?

Another Arrgghh!

An Ivy League what? Education? Get real.

Dartmouth students demand; president promises more talks

“The demonstrators had a 72-point manifesto instructing the college to establish pre-set racial admission quotas and a mandatory ethnic studies curriculum for all students. Their other inspirations are for more ‘womyn or people of color’ faculty; covering sex change operations on the college health plan (‘we demand body and gender self-determination’); censoring the library catalog for offensive terms; and installing ‘gender-neutral bathrooms’ in every campus facility, specifically including sports locker rooms.

….

The president “left after an hour and told the little tyrants that he welcomed a ‘conversation’ about their ultimatums. They responded in a statement that conversations—to be clear, talking—will lead to ‘further physical and emotional violence enacted against us by the racist, classist, sexist, heterosexist, transphobic, xenophobic, and ableist structures at Dartmouth.’ They added: ‘Our bodies are already on the line, in danger, and under attack.’"

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303987004579479501134392562?mod=trending_now_1

At Maggie’s Farm.

Sometimes you want to say: You want to be a martyr for your cause? Step this way.

Search for number of students involved: One site said about a dozen.

http://www.vnews.com/news/11400891-95/students-confront-president-change-demanded-at-dartmouth-college

said “more than 30.”

My diploma has “State University” in the title, but I still learned some stuff.

It is to laugh. And laugh.

Chickens and critters

Priscilla was talking about maybe getting some chickens. I said we would need a chicken house. She said, "We've got a shed attached to the shop." I agreed the shed would make a good chicken house, but that we would need to fence in an area in front of the shop so the chickens would have access to sunlight and scratching around, as chickens do.

Momma and Daddy kept chickens when we lived near Rocky Branch, Texas. Daddy and I built a chicken house from scrap lumber and roofed it with several sheets of tin found in a barn. Daddy got some fence posts from somewhere and chicken wire and staples from a feed store. He and I put up the fence and he made a gate so we could get in and gather eggs. We had 15-20 chickens. A chicken lays an egg a day, generally. With Momma and Daddy and five kids, a dozen eggs a day for breakfast and for recipes came in handy.

We raised the chickens from chicks, but we lost some. There was a watering device that chicks sometimes fell into and drowned. And, chickens sometimes just up and die. There was a feeder, too, but when the chicks got big enough we just scattered chicken feed in the run. Daddy made nest boxes for the hens and put in straw. Hens laid eggs in the boxes.

When the chickens got older, Momma sometimes got two (one at a time) and wrung necks and plucked feathers and cut them open and removed the insides and washed them out and cut them up. She made batter and fried the chickens in bacon grease and sometimes Crisco. I can cut up a chicken, but I'd rather wring a neck and dip a chicken in boiling water and pluck feathers and gut one.

Priscilla and I could have maybe a dozen chickens. It would take a little labor to make the shed into a chicken house and put up a wire enclosure with steel posts. We would need nests, too. We're still thinking about it.

This morning Priscilla saw a coyote run up the driveway and into the woods out back. That is the first indication of coyotes here. Something else to consider.

Whatever you do, don’t talk about Jesus

Somebody might be offended.

A student at Thomas Nelson Community College in Virginia has filed suit saying uniformed campus police two times stopped him from preaching in an open area on campus.

School officials told Christian Parks “his actions violated the Student Code of Conduct and a Virginia Community College System policy that requires students to be part of a student organization before he or she can speak in open areas of a campus. In addition, students can only speak in campus areas college officials approve ahead of time, and they must register with officials four days in advance, according to the policy.”

http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/16918/

From the school’s web site:

“From its inception in 1968, TNCC has been dedicated to the belief that individuals should be given a continuing opportunity for the development and expansion of their skills and knowledge and an opportunity to increase the awareness of their role and responsibility in society. TNCC is devoted to serving the educational needs of the community and assumes a responsibility for helping meet the requirements for trained manpower.”

http://tncc.edu/about-2/why-thomas-nelson/who-was-thomas-nelson/

The college wants “individuals” to “develop … their skills…” Apparently, TNCC has no use for grammatically correct English. And don’t talk about Jesus, either.

If Thomas Nelson’s administration had been in charge in England, there would be no Methodists.

At Maggie’s Farm.

That does not compute

With eggs scrambled and bread toasted, with Mrs. R. lifted from bed and set in her wheel chair and wheeled to the table, I started to work on her coffee – decaffeinated, heaping teaspoon of sugar, thickening mixture (older people often choke on normal texture liquids, so addition of a thickening agent enables swallowing) and a little 2 percent milk. When the coffee was fixed, I took the cup to the table and set it beside Mrs. R.’s plate. I asked Priscilla, “Do you want coffee?” She replied, “Yes.” I asked, “Which kind of cup would you like?”, meaning 38th Reconnaissance Squadron, Girl Scouts, or Obama Sucks, which really doesn’t say that, but indicates the idea from “Obama’s accomplishments: and “Blame Bush: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.” Priscilla said, “I would like the bistro cup, please.”

My mind: The what? What is a bistro cup?

I asked, “Which one is that?”

“The plain white one.”

Now I know. I think. If the she meant the shape of the plain white cup.