Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Fischer, Texas 78623

Population – 310. Male/female – 159/151. 96.1% white.

100% of people older than 25 are high school graduates.

Number of families/individuals below federal poverty level – 0%.

Fischer is in Comal County, 20 miles northwest of New Braunfels.

Here is a history of the town: http://www.visitwimberley.com/category/travel/fischer-ls.shtml

The remark about no one being happy with the new post office building replacing the store is common throughout Texas when the federal government decided the PO Department seemed a rather ramshackle outfit if local mail business was conducted in a general store. Congresspersons always make a big deal about getting a new post office, but seldom remark about the new fancy building not having a potbellied wood stove for winter heat and conversation around.

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hnf48

pushes settlement back a few decades.

Here are pictures of dog-trot houses:

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=dogtrot+house&qpvt=dog+trot+house&qpvt=dog+trot+house&FORM=IGRE


And you got a Participant ribbon, too

An internet poster:

Love yourself.
without your
flaws, you
wouldn’t be you.


From something called jar of quotes. Unfortunately, someone took the lid off the jar, and that one got loose.

Another one, from another site.

Uhh, show me
there’s nothing
to afraid.


Kind of makes you want to say, “WHAT?”

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Gluteny trannie fats out, FDA says

Or maybe it was transfats. These days, it’s hard to tell what the govmnt is saying. Today. Or yesterday.

“When the federal government's 1980 ‘Dietary Guidelines for Americans’ warned about the baleful effects of saturated fats, public interest activists joined the fight and managed to persuade major food companies to switch to the shiny new alternative: trans fats. Thirty-five years later, the Food and Drug Administration finally determined that trans fats are not just useless but unsafe, and ordered them removed from all foods. Oops. So much for settled science.”

Also useless: Vitamin C megadoses, Omega-3 supplements, gluten-free anything … Soon to make the list are other foods/supplements deemed healthy by people/companies making money with alternatives.

I'm waiting for the peanut allergy shoe to drop. "Help me! I dreamed I saw a picture of a peanut and now I can't breathe!"

http://www.newsmax.com/CharlesKrauthammer/fda-diet-celiac/2015/12/26/id/707143/

Link at http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/

Monday, December 28, 2015

‘I’m from Brooklyn’

That’s what the older woman at the table said. “I remembah the Dahdghas.”

I said, “Do you remember when they won the World Series in 1955?”

“Oh, yeah,” she said. “It was a wondahful time.”

She said she remembered 1957, too.

“All the drivahs were blowin’ their horns. I asked my mother, ‘What’re they doin’?’ She said the Dahdghas were moving to Los Angeles.’ What’d they want to do that for?”

I told her I was a Dodgers fan. A Northeast Texas boy, a Dodgers fan. My father and my older sister were Yankees fans. We had some disagreements.

I’m with the Brooklyn born and raised woman.

“What’d they want to do that for?”

1970s

MALTHUSIAN: Population growth will be greater than food production, resulting in mass starvation, food riots and wars.

CLIMATE ALARMIST: Statistics show the earth is growing cooler, which means we will have another Ice Age in the next 30-50 years.

HISTORIAN: With the end of the war in Vietnam, we have seen the last war of nationalism, just as 300 years ago history saw the end of religious wars.

(A search for “predictions 1970s” brings hits mostly on climate misguesses. The rest of the stuff – starvation, overpopulation, religious wars – people kind of forgot about. This subject came from a morning dream in which a college student preached Malthus predictions as reality. Another character rebutted her with … something. I woke up and forgot what the other character said. The way of dreams sometimes.)

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Florida white Christmas

Accompanied by our two sons and daughter-in-law, my wife and I on Saturday went to Holmes Beach on Anna Maria Island. Lots of other people had the same Dec. 26 destination. Those other people went in cars, of course. And on motorcycles and bicycles. Traffic was thick, and parking places not so many.

The beach was nice. Waves from the Gulf rolled in, onto the mix of ocean-crushed shells and white sand, mostly shells. The afternoon sun was warm, but not too hot.

Altogether, a nice day after Christmas.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Christmas presents

1951. I got a cap pistol that had a cylinder that rotated when I pulled the trigger. That was a big deal, the cylinder that rotated. I had never seen a cap pistol like that. The toy … No, it was more than a toy. It was like one carried by Lash Larue or Hopalong Cassidy or Johnny Mack Brown in Western movie serials. The cap pistol was burned up in a house fire in September 1952.

1956. I got a stamped metal, wind-up bulldozer with rubber tracks. The bulldozer climbed books I stacked on the floor; first one book, then two, and three. It wouldn’t climb four books. Outside, the bulldozer scraped sand with its blade and destroyed German and Japanese twig bunkers. I think the spring broke, or maybe I wound it too tight. The bulldozer was the first self-propelled toy I ever had. It made a good tank, too.

1962. Daddy gave me a Mossberg .410 bolt-action, three-shot shotgun. It was the first gun I owned. Daddy didn’t keep a gun. I never killed anything with the gun, except a few bottles and cans. Sometime the next year, I came home from school and saw a black Ford pickup in the front yard. Daddy was at work, so I asked Momma, “Where’d Daddy get the truck?” She was sitting on the couch in front of the front windows in the living room. She said, “He traded for it.” I asked, “What’d he trade?” She said, “Your shotgun.” Daddy didn’t ask me to approve the trade. When I saw him next day, he didn’t say anything about the truck or about my shotgun. He never did.

Cornell joins war against pagans

Things that may not be displayed at Cornell University:

Nativity scene; menorah; angels; mistletoe; stars at the tops of trees; crosses; stars of David.

While banning mistletoe, Cornell does allow representative snowflakes and trees “(in accordance with Fire Safety Guidelines)”) that are decorated with snowflakes and other non-religious symbols. Snowflakes and trees of non-religious decoration are “Consistent with Cornell’s Commitment to Diversity …”

Mistletoe is not a Christian or Jewish symbol, so why does Cornell ban it? The only logical reason is the university’s war against Paganism, Celtic religion and Nordic worship. This something up with which we must not put.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-23/christmas-safe-space-cornell-bans-menorahs-crosses-mistletoe

http://www.celebratingholidays.com/?page_id=1572

Monday, December 21, 2015

Yes, but is sex while driving legal?

The government in the Netherlands has clarified that it is legal for driving instructors to offer lessons in return for sex, as long as the students are over the age of 18.

However, it is illegal to offer sex in return for lessons.

Transport minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen and Justice minister Ard van der Steur addressed the issue in response to a question tabled in parliament by Gert-Jan Segers of the socially conservative Christian Union party, noting that, although ‘undesirable’, offering driving lessons with sex as payment is not illegal.

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/12/one-way-driving-markets-the-polity-that-is-dutch.html

Link at http://ace.mu.nu/

Making fire

There are no matches in my house. The garage might have one of those long-barrel butane lighters, the kind used to light candles and start kindling burning for a fireplace fire. There is no fireplace, so lack of a fire starter for a fireplace doesn’t matter.

Why would I need fire? Well, if everything should fall apart and governments and economies collapse, I’ll need fire to boil water for drinking and for cooking the canned and frozen foods and for beans and pasta.

If everything falls apart, electrical plants will stop running when the gas or coal is gone. Without electricity, water treatment plants stop working, which means water does not get pumped to storage towers or into homes. No water for drinking, cooking, bathing or flushing. Waste water treatment stops, too, and sewage backs up and people get sick and die because hospitals can’t function without water and electricity and general cleanliness.

With matches, I could start a fire, if I had wood. There are trees out back, trees now part of the landscaping and protected by homeowner covenants and signs that say the trees are part of wilderness preservation. If everything fell apart, my neighbors would be after the same branches and limbs, those who could start fires and who would not wait for a government to tell them what to do. We might have to arrive at an agreement on who gets what in the way of fire supplies, or maybe he who has the biggest gun and is the most willing to use it.

Also behind the house is a three-acre pond. The water is somewhat brackish, certainly filled with all sorts of microscopic creatures that want to find a home inside human intestines and such, but boiling the water would kill those murderers. The pond has turtles, too, and lots of fish. And an alligator. The alligator would find itself somewhat popular, given its amount of meat and its hide. I have never gone after an alligator, but I do have a number of rifles in calibers of .22, .30, 7.62mm, 7.92mm and .30-30, as well as pistols and revolvers of .22, .32, 9mm, .38, .357 Magnum, .40 and .45 calibers, and shotguns -- .410, 16 gauge and 12 gauge. Several of those are large enough to kill an alligator, all, in fact, with proper bullet placement.

So, with fire, my wife and I could get by for a while. But we have no seed for planting. Weather here is good enough for at least three harvests, growing the right things in the right months.

Like most of our neighbors, we are nearing elderly years. And, most of the people here take one or 12 prescription drugs to maintain mobility or life. Those would stop if everything fell apart.

I would guess a death rate of 80 percent in industrialized countries within a month of everything falling apart. With Walmart looted and trucks not running, people would starve, bodies would not be collected, diseases would spread, no drugs would be available to keep the diseases away.

Just some thoughts.

I am reading Without Warning by John Birmingham. In the book, most of the United States, much of Canada, half of Mexico and about 99.9 percent of Cuba are depopulated.

The world without America. It falls apart. As of Page 175, anyway.

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Refugees leaving Austria, going back home

Not enough free stuff, no quick movement to a better country, treated worse than dogs.

“The Caritas charity confirmed that between September 1st and December 14th 257 Iraqis, 35 Afghans and 53 Iranians flew home - most of whom had been resident in Vienna. In 2014 only two Iraqis, nine Afghans and one Iranian chose to return to their own countries.”



“Three Iraqi men in their 20s who spoke to the Kurier newspaper say they plan to fly home on Wednesday after three months in Austria. They are all computer engineers and had hoped to build a better life here. "We wanted peace, freedom and a future," 23-year-old Muqdad said. He and his friends have been living in emergency refugee accommodation in Vienna’s 3rd district.

"’We’ve just been humiliated here,’ said Omer. ‘It was a mistake to come. People look at us here as if we were terrorists, and all we want is peace. Dogs are treated better than refugees in Austria - at least they have something good to eat, and are even given something to wear.’”



“Günter Ecker, the head of Vienna’s human rights association (VMÖ), expects the trend to continue. ‘Many Iraqis say that they expected better social care here, and many also had a misleading idea of how long the asylum process might take. They didn’t realise that they might have to wait a year or more until their families could join them here.’”

http://www.thelocal.at/20151215/asylum-seekers-return-home-as-austria-fails-to-meet-expectations


I can live with that

Life is short.
Eat dessert
First.

The suggestion is on a mouse pad here:

http://www.zazzle.com/life+short+eat+mousepads

I didn’t get paid for that. It’s a freebie.

From my mind:

Life is short.
Leave Planet Earth now.

Life is short.
Get good sight alignment
And a good sight picture.

Life is short.
Get that 1966 GTO
You always wanted.

Friday, December 18, 2015

Fruitcake

My wife made a fruitcake last night. She makes the best fruitcake I have ever had. Anybody who says he doesn’t like fruitcake would change his mind if he had my wife’s fruitcake. I had a piece for breakfast. I told my wife, “This is the best fruitcake I’ve had since the last time you made fruitcake.” I will have lots of fruitcake breakfasts and some lunches, too.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

‘Knucklehead’

“Mike Rowe, host of the TV show ‘Somebody's Gotta Do It,’ blasted socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders as a ‘knucklehead’ for suggesting that those who don't go to college end up in jail.

"’At the end of the day, providing a path to go to college is a helluva lot cheaper than putting people on a path to jail,’ Sanders tweeted on Sunday.

http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/mike-rowe-bernie-sanders-college/2015/12/17/id/706273/

(Wasn’t there a Democratic candidate for some office said kids might wind up in the Army in a war in some far-off desert land if they didn’t go to college or something? Typical Northeast liberal.)

Obama leading fight against terrorists

My wife said Obama’s speech today sounded like excuses given by millennial membership specialists during sessions on not meeting written and stated goals.

Millennial: “I attended four neighborhood meetings.”

“But you didn’t recruit any new leaders.”

Millennial: “I told them what the programs were, but nobody wanted to volunteer.”

We have programs, the programs are working, I’ve told people what they should be doing, everything is fine. I’ll be in my office.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Something is wrong here

The Associated Press

LOXAHATCHEE, Fla, — Police have arrested a 13-year-old boy two days after a stabbing at the Florida nudist resort where he lives.

An 18-year-old woman was wounded Sunday at the Sunsport Gardens Naturist Resort in Loxahatchee. Palm Beach County sheriff's spokesman Therese Barbera said in a news release Tuesday that the boy is being charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Authorities haven't identified the woman. Resort general manager Morley Schloss told The Associated Press on Sunday that the woman arrived at the resort about 60 miles north of Miami by bicycle Saturday evening. She'd been walking on a trail when she was stabbed multiple times.

Deputies say the motive isn't known. The teen was taken to a juvenile detention center.

(Raised in nature, nudists are supposed to be more peaceful than the normal population … That’s what naturists say, anyway.)

And on the west coast

The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — Homicides detectives were investigating Tuesday after authorities found two children dead inside a commercial storage unit in northern California.

Autopsies were planned Wednesday for the 3-year-old girl and 6-year-old boy, whose names were not released. No charges have been filed in their deaths.

The investigation also led to a starved and injured 9-year-old girl, who was taken to a hospital, the Plumas County sheriff's office said.

It began with a call about a possible child abuse case in the small town of Quincy, about 220 miles northeast of San Francisco.

On Friday, authorities found the 9-year-old at a Quincy home, according to a news release from the sheriff's office. Her name and medical condition were not available Tuesday.

Sheriff's officials later arrested a 17-year-old boy and 39-year-old woman on suspicion of felony child abuse, torture and mayhem. Each remained jailed Tuesday on $1 million bail.

(If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear flowers in your hair. People are more gentle there.)


1893 naval parade, New York

Forty-eight photographs; ships from Russia, Britain, France, Italy and U.S., including USS Miantonomoh, a monitor.

Ships have sail and steam, some with turrets; overall, pictures of navies in changing times.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/smu_cul_digitalcollections/sets/72157646922353152/

Monday, December 14, 2015

Hell in a handbasket

Nigerian told she is insensitive to Islam.

A Boston landlord has been ordered to take an introductory course on Islam. As you might expect, the landlord took exception to the order. Now, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will hear the case and decide whether a lower court judge may order a citizen to take a course on religion.

The landlord, Daisy Obi, is 73 years old. She is pastor of Adonai Bible Center in Somerville, Mass. She is from Nigeria.

One would think the judge who ordered the courses on Islam might have read a news story or two on murderous, terrorist Muslim activities against Christians in Nigeria. One would think the judge might realize that the Christian pastor already has been introduced to Islam.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/12/13/daisy-obi-forced-to-learn-islam-muslims/

We should revolt against this kind if thing.

Here is a subhead at http://legalinsurrection.com/

‘Treasury Secretary delays their $10 bill update announcement’

How many treasury secretaries do we have? One. How can one secretary be referred to as “their?”

It was hell, not merely next door.

A website I read several times a week recently had this to say about the Muslim terrorist murderers of San Bernardino:

One of the murderers “brought their spouse back to the US …”

“(T)he foreign national had said they wanted to be a part of (ISIS) …”

“(T)he foreign national used a false address on their application.”

In each case, the writer is focusing on one (1) person. One person may not be a “they.”

I posted a comment on grammar; singular vs. plural; Progressive attempts at making no things different, but all things the same; and refusal by some writers to recognize the pronouns “he” and “she.”

My comment disappeared. Reckon the web site owner doesn’t appreciate criticism. Here at my place, anyone who wishes to criticize is quite welcome to do so. Honest and accurate criticism usually leads to better writing and thinking.

Another internet "What???"

Buddha was not a Buddhist.
Jesus was not a Christian.
Mohammad was not a Muslim.
They were teachers
Who taught love.
Love was their religion.

Aww. Ain’t it sweet?

It’s from “Good Thoughts” at Pintrist. I guess you think that stuff all day long, you are at peace with the world and will remain so until the Islamist begins slicing your throat. Then you can tell him Mohammad was not a Muslim.

I’m pretty sure Jesus was a Jew. As was Gideon the judge. As was the conqueror David. As was the warrior Joab. And etc. and etc.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

You mean U.S. law agrees with Trump?

Title 8, Section 1182 of the U.S. Code provides in relevant part:

"Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate."

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1182

Linked from a Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy site, which I X’d out of and then could not find again.

Liberal woman rabbi serves up Obama Kool Aid at WH alleged Hanukkah celebration

Posted even though lots of vast right-wing conspiracy sites are doing the same, because this pisses me off.

Translation before reading: If you oppose Obama, you are a racist Zionist apartheid pig.

Rabbi Telve:

With all the schmutz in the world, can you believe that we are here with the President of the United States and the President of Israel celebrating Hanukkah, in the White House? And I know we bring many people here with us, each and every one of us. I stand here today with my 90-year-old father, whose parents fled the Ottoman Empire. And as they passed by Lady Liberty they planted within us the promise that the gates would stay open for all immigrants and all refugees who would come to build America. And I also stand here with my fierce family of clergy and Black Lives Matter activists who took to the streets of Ferguson to stand firm until all members of the community would see God in the face of the other.

I stand here for two groups of St. Louis moms, one working to get the guns off of our streets, and the other working to get help clean up the fires of the toxic nuclear waste that are threatening our lives in St. Louis and throughout the country.

And, of course, I stand with my sisters who lit these lights at the Kotel this year.

I stand here to light these lights that say no to the darkness of Islamophobia, and homophobia and transphobia and racism and anti-Semitism and all the other isms that dare to dim our hope.

And I stand here, like President Rivlin said, the Maccabees of old who defied the culture of their time that said that destiny could not be changed, and instead they jumped in to write a new story that demanded freedom and equal opportunity for all.

And today, friends, we stand with the President of the United States and the President of Israel, who today stand together in this critical moment in history when we must do everything to ensure security for Israelis and justice for Palestinians as allies committed to a lasting peace for all people.

Ins'Allah, Ins'Allah, Ins'Allah, Ins'Allah.

As a mother with a son named for a fallen Israeli soldier and with a daughter living in Israel, I offer these blessings to inspire all of us to jump into the story, to stand up to those who try to fill us with fear and to dare to believe that we can make a better, less violent world for our children.
\
Remembering that the real miracle occurred when knowing that there was not enough oil, we still had the holy chutzpah to light that first candle, because we knew that godliness and goodness are beyond what we think we know, and there is always a chance, always a chance for something more, and something new.

The real miracle, that no matter how much violence there is in Paris, in California, or in the streets of our nations, we will respond with more love and more understanding and more compassion, and we will see that the good in us has grown like the lights of Hanukkah -- and in spite of all odds, like the Maccabees of old, we too, we too, will win.

http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tom-blumer/2015/12/13/ap-ignores-outrageous-rant-rabbi-white-house-hanukkah-event

Dainel Greenfield, Front Page Mag, observed:

“... Chanukah is a celebration of the Maccabees defeating a Syrian occupation, but Talve may not even know that. Radical clergy tend to be light on the religion and heavy on the social justice.

“... Her behavior was deeply insulting to the religious Jewish community and made it clear that the White House was determined to hijack even a Chanukah party to promote an anti-Jewish agenda.” (Also newsbusters link.)

So, like all Progressives, Talve believes one or two things: (1) Once Muslim Arabs are in charge of a one-state Palestine, they and Jews will live in peace and harmony; (2) Peace in “Palestine” will occur when Jews return to their European homeland.


Saturday, December 12, 2015

Russians: You lost, we expelled your ancestors. Get over it

Circassians: Not blood likely.

“Circassians were once the largest ethnic group in the North Caucasus and dominated the region, especially the central and the western parts. However, after the Russian state conquered the region in a long and bloody war that spanned the 18th and 19th centuries, the Circassians were reduced to a small ethnic group in the area. After dealing the final blow to Circassian forces near modern-day Sochi in 1864, the Russian government expelled the remaining Circassian population and replaced them with Cossacks and ethnic Russians, who were quickly dispatched to the area. By 1870, an estimated 2 percent of the Circassians’ prewar population remained in their homeland (Onkavkaz.com, December 1). The rest were either killed, starved to death or expelled to the Ottoman Empire. Currently, the Circassian diaspora in Turkey is several times larger than the Circassian population remaining in the North Caucasus. Even within the North Caucasus, the Circassians are split among four regions, which also irritates many Circassian activists.

“Discussion of their lost homeland has become especially popular among Circassians due to the ongoing war in Syria, which has influenced Circassian self-consciousness in a big way. Since Syria used to be part of the Ottoman Empire, it had a substantial Circassian population. After the war started there, Circassians pushed for the evacuation of the estimated 100,000 Circassians in the affected areas. However, Moscow allowed only a handful of the Syrian Circassians—about 1,000—to resettle in their homeland. Moreover, they do not have full residency rights, and constantly have to pay various fees as temporary residents (Facebook.com/psekups.kulokova, December 1).”

http://www.jamestown.org/regions/thecaucasus/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=44878&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=54&cHash=1a7e41e61923fdc3316cfdc64af0ddc4#.VmxUq2DMs5s

Friday, December 11, 2015

The ruling class has no idea what is going on …

… and, therefore, no idea of how to stop it.

“The way it is supposed to work is the GOP works with National Review, Fox News, ‘grass roots’ organizations that have K Street offices and so on. That way, these folks can make some money, get relatives jobs in the bureaucracy and look like players in the ‘arena of ideas.’ In return, these groups go to the megaphones and rally the voters by declaring the GOP candidate the next Ronald Reagan.

“Trump, obviously, is having none of that and he is winning. That’s a big problem if you make your living selling GOP product in conservative media. The folks at Fox News used to think they were the gatekeepers, the king makers on the Right. Now they look like chumps because the guy most likely to win the GOP nomination treats them like human footstools. The ditsy blonde they sent out to whack Trump in the first debate came back in a shoe box and they have never recovered from it.” – “The Battle Cry of the Ruling Class”

http://thezman.com/wordpress/

(A problem with running things for a long time, the two parties forget there are ideas other than theirs. Leaders of the ruling parties, then, are unable to recognize as valid any belief not springing from party headquarters. The response: “This cannot be true! This … OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!”)

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Tibor Rubin, American soldier

When freed by American soldiers from Mauthausen concentration camp, Tibor Rubin asked God to let him go to America so he could become an American soldier.

Rubin died last Saturday. He repaid those who freed him, as well as the entire country.

From his Medal of Honor citation:

“Corporal Tibor Rubin distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism during the period from July 23, 1950, to April 20, 1953, while serving as a rifleman with Company I, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division in the Republic of Korea. While his unit was retreating to the Pusan Perimeter, Corporal Rubin was assigned to stay behind to keep open the vital Taegu-Pusan Road link used by his withdrawing unit. During the ensuing battle, overwhelming numbers of North Korean troops assaulted a hill defended solely by Corporal Rubin. He inflicted a staggering number of casualties on the attacking force during his personal 24-hour battle, single-handedly slowing the enemy advance and allowing the 8th Cavalry Regiment to complete its withdrawal successfully. Following the breakout from the Pusan Perimeter, the 8 th Cavalry Regiment proceeded northward and advanced into North Korea. During the advance, he helped capture several hundred North Korean soldiers. On October 30, 1950, Chinese forces attacked his unit at Unsan, North Korea, during a massive nighttime assault. That night and throughout the next day, he manned a .30 caliber machine gun at the south end of the unit’s line after three previous gunners became casualties. He continued to man his machine gun until his ammunition was exhausted. His determined stand slowed the pace of the enemy advance in his sector, permitting the remnants of his unit to retreat southward. As the battle raged, Corporal Rubin was severely wounded and captured by the Chinese. Choosing to remain in the prison camp despite offers from the Chinese to return him to his native Hungary, Corporal Rubin disregarded his own personal safety and immediately began sneaking out of the camp at night in search of food for his comrades. Breaking into enemy food storehouses and gardens, he risked certain torture or death if caught. Corporal Rubin provided not only food to the starving Soldiers, but also desperately needed medical care and moral support for the sick and wounded of the POW camp. His brave, selfless efforts were directly attributed to saving the lives of as many as forty of his fellow prisoners.”

http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=63173

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/tibor-rubin-holocaust-survivor-and-korean-war-medal-of-honor-recipient-dies-at-86-1.382721

All he wanted was the flight he paid for on the stupid airline

Subject: Application for Refund of Unused Ticket.

It is informed that I buy a returned ticket from London United Kingdom to Lahore Pakistan. The travel world 36 wood grange road forest gate, London make an e-ticket for my visit. My visit consists of 6 days stay in Saudi Arabia. What happened!

When I was reached to Jeddah airport to take my flight for Lahore Pakistan on 2 march 2012, I found a long queue for the boarding I also joined the queue for boarding in the meantime towards counter I also found that the Saudi Arabian airline staff, supervisor and manager were in tension because there was some baggage’s were left at Jeddah airport of one aeroplane which was left.

Well in short they refused to give me the boarding card as they mentioned that counter was closed. I do try a lot and go to the customer care counter and also tried to speak to the manager to resolve the matter, but all in vain. Customer care officer told me that this ticket is finished and you have to buy a new ticket if u wants to fly to Lahore, Pakistan.
I was in great tension and then unwillingly buy a new ticket from Jeddah to Lahore, Pakistan as my family waiting for me over there. I buy a new ticket from FLYNAS airline and fly to Lahore. After reached at Lahore I visit Saudi Arabian Airline office in Lahore to confirm my next flight seats from Lahore to Riyadh and Riyadh to London Heathrow airport which was scheduled on 29 March 2012. But the office was not confirming my next flight seats. I was visiting 3 weeks to office but the matter was not resolved and I am unable to fly with Saudi Arabian Airline to finish my journey. So, I was forced to buy a new ticket from Lahore to London and I buy a new airline ticket from Uzbekistan airline to London.

So, I am not able to use my 3 parts of the ticket as airline staff were not helping me to deal with it. I requested to you that please refund my remaining amount as I just use London to Jeddah service and the rest are unused. Following are details how much I pay for only one journey.

Sr.# Airline/flight Local Currency Currency in GBP £
1. Saudi Arabian Airline/ 4 flights from London to Lahore and back. GBP 619.00 £ 619.00
2. FlyNas Airline/ Jeddah to Lahore. SAR 1049.00 £ 175.00 approx
3. Uzbekistan Airways/ Lahore to London. PKR 38, 064.00 £ 262.00 approx

Looking forward for a positive response and give a chance to thanks as this is my legal right to applied for a refund of the service which I am not getting.

I attached all the tickets scanned copies herewith for your information and necessary actions. Please feel free if u wants any further information or proofs regarding this matter.

Note: I already emailed this matter to the customer relations department but no answer given at the moment.

Regards
(Name, address, email)

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/saudi-airline-ticket-ticket-refund-request-c604155.html

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Caucasus migration threatens Russian security

Under the Soviet system, movement was strictly controlled. Now, though, Russians are moving back to Russia, non-Russians are sneaking into Russia for work, and Muslims leave Russia for Syria and Iraq.

The latter movement is of greatest concern. “It involves those who have gone to Syria or elsewhere in the Middle East to fight for the Islamic State or other radical groups and who are then returning home, where they will continue their fight or recruit others. Russian officials, from President Vladimir Putin on down, suggest that there are only a few thousand of these, but regional experts say that Moscow is understating the problem by a factor of at least ten. The Kremlin says there are only 500 Dagestanis in the ranks of the Islamic State; whereas, local experts say the figure is 5,000 or even more (Onkavkaz.com, December 7).”

http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=44873&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=7#.VmiZ8WDMs5s

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has a number of stories concerning Islamist attacks in North Caucasus.

http://www.rferl.org/section/North_Caucasus/167.html


Free fire zone 3

The last time I machine gunned the abandoned village was in the summer of 1967. I was door gunner on a UH-1D that day. The Huey went to Long Binh for some kind of delivery. On the way back to Blackhorse, the aircraft commander decided to give the crew chief and me a little gunner practice. He made three runs over the village at a higher than usual altitude. I emptied the ammunition can, firing every round from the M-60D machine gun. The crew chief had stoppages on all three passes.

By that date, the village was a mass of broken concrete blocks and red roof tiles. Not a single building or wall remained standing. Six months as a free fire zone target will do that.

Commanding officer’s report, USS Neosho

The USS Neosho was a fleet oiler based at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Surviving that attack, the ship in the coming months served the fleet, until sunk on May 11, 1942, following the Battle of the Coral Sea. The commanding officer's report is a witness to standing to duty as well as instances of sailors abandoning stations.

http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/logs/AO/ao23-Coral.html

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

One of those internet poster things

“I hate it when I’m singing along with a song on the radio and the artist sings the wrong words.”

I mentioned that to my wife. She said, “Yes, you expect the person who wrote the song to get the words right. Like ‘There’s a bathroom on the right.”

“That makes sense,” I said. “That follows ‘I see the toilets overflowing.’”

There are web sites for that, probably an app somewhere. Compilers of wrong lyrics can’t get their numbers straight, though.

’23 song lyrics you’ve probably been singing wrong …’

http://www.buzzfeed.com/michaelblackmon/23-song-lyrics-youve-been-singing-wrong-for-years#.cuvxdOpkV

(Most of those songs are new to me.)

And: ’46 songs you’re singing wrong’

http://mashable.com/2013/07/29/wrong-misheard-lyrics-song/#XEh0wqHsbGqA

(Why 23 and 46?)


Monday, December 7, 2015

Free fire zone 2

A couple of months after shooting up several roofs in the abandoned village, another gunship team went in to check gun and rocket sights alignment. The two ships made one pass each, and as the first ship went in for another run, some kind of smoke round streamed down about a hundred meters to the right.

“What is that?” the pilot of the trail gunship asked the team leader, who replied: “I don’t know, and we are not sticking around to find out.”

The two gunships quickly left the area and continued the assigned patrol.

Smart man, the team leader.

Arrgghh!

“In this world, there are
“somethings that you are
“happier without knowing them.”
--cosmas

("somethings?" Is that like "some things?"

And another:

“Your a lie.”

Help me Rhonda!!

Free fire zone

An abandoned village sat in a large clearing northeast of Blackhorse base camp. The village consisted of half a dozen concrete block buildings with red tile roofs and a small Catholic Church building, also with red tile roof. The village was in a free-fire zone. That meant the area was so infested with Viet Cong that everyone had been suspect and relocated to a village under government control. Free fire zone also meant anyone could fire into the area at any time, no reason or approval required.

The village became a favored place to test helicopter machine guns and rockets following aircraft overhaul as well as evaluating new gunship pilots, and for registering artillery pieces.

One day in spring 1967, the gunship team leader in whose platoon I flew that day decided to test his two ships’ door guns and side mounted flex guns, six M-60 machine guns on each helicopter.

I learned that day: it is fun as hell, rolling into a number of concrete block buildings and firing a machine gun; and, roof tiles shatter when hit by 7.62mm slugs.

The Chuck Norris of military rifles

AR-15 vs AK-47 vs Mosin-Nagant.

AR-15: Your enemies will giggle
AK-47: Your enemies will take cover and swear as they ready their weapons
Mosin-Nagant: Your enemies will flatten themselves to the ground and offer up prayers of salvation to whatever god they believe in…then they will die.

AR-15: Carried by elite special forces and highly-trained American soldiers
AK-47: Carried by illiterate peons and unwilling conscripts.
Mosin-Nagant: Carried by Vassily Zaitsev.

http://www.everydaynodaysoff.com/2011/10/10/ar-15-v-s-ak-47-v-s-mosin-nagant/

Link at www.neveryetmelted.com

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Chestnuts roasting over a pagan fire

Centuries and centuries ago when our pagan foremothers at this time of year began gathering small evergreen branches and took decorative dried berries from storage pots and announced the time for winter solstice decoration, our pagan forefathers found reason to be elsewhere.

“I believe,” said pagan forefather Lars, “this is the most opportune time for me to track and kill the elusive, and soon to be extinct, European bison.”

Pagan foremother Megan then said, “You are not going to help me decorate this massive log dwelling with decorations proper for welcoming the winter spirits?”

Said Lars, “You know I would like nothing better, but the elusive, and soon to be extinct, European bison waits for no man.”

“But,” rejoined Megan, “the bison have traveled to lands more southward.”

“Ah, the reason they are so elusive,” said Lars.

“You just don’t want to help.”

“No, no,” remonstrated Lars. “That is not the reason at all. But … I promised Rothgar and Hagar I would accompany them on the hunt.” Lars then went to the clothing alcove, from where he took fur boots and a bison hair coat, and the to the weapons locker, selecting four of his best hunting spears. “In fact, I agreed to meet Rothgar and Hagar this day at the Glade of Gathering.” He hugged Megan and opened the door and stepped into snow lightly falling. “I will return in a seven-day,” he said, and he closed the door before Megan could say anything else.

***

My wife today finished decorating the Christmas tree and has laid out plans for outside light hangings. Alas, there is no Florida bison for me to hunt.

Rice, Texas, 75155

A town in Navarro County, not the university in Houston.

Population – 2,670 for Zip Code; 798 in town as of 2000 census; 928 estimated 2014 population.

Home sales 1st quarter 2009 – 14, at $140,000 median cost; 2nd quarter 2012 – 3, at $30,000 median cost.

Cost of living index – 80.5, U.S. average 100.

Nine registered sex offenders in Zip Code as of 3 December 2015; ratio, one of 37 residents.

Racial makeup: 76.3% white; 9.77% black; 12.53 from other races. 36.5 % of population 65 and older live below poverty rate.

Police department has six officers.

Young’s Recycling will pay 22-32 cents per pound for aluminum cans; 30-33 cents for aluminum siding, up to $1.72 a pound for bright copper wire.

There is not much to say about the town. Here is a site that has information:

http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Rice/Rice.htm


Friday, December 4, 2015

What??

“That feeling when your future
“is already planned but here’s
“someone coming who wants to
“stay the same what you are.
“So confusing!”

(An internet posting. I suppose it means to say "who wants you to stay the same what you are." Or maybe the someone wants to be what you are. Or maybe something entirely different, with no realization a person is a "who," not a "what.")

Easier than spelling, I guess

Headline: “‘OITNB’ star accused of assaulting teenager’

Everybody who knows what “OITNB” stands for, raise your hand.

Me, too.

Or, the purpose was to get readers to say “What?” and then click to find out just what the heck OINTB means. A consumptive pig, maybe? (OIN from “Oink” and TB from “Tuberculosis.”)

Thursday, December 3, 2015

West Side Story

My wife bought tickets to the Asolo Repertory Theatre’s production of West Side Story. I wore socks.

West Side Story is not in my 100 favorite things to watch. Or in the 200. It’s not on my list at all. I’ve seen parts of the movie, and when TV had variety shows in the 1950s, I sat and watched and had reinforced the idea I did not want to live in New York City, or any other place where people were jammed so close together and Italians fought Puerto Ricans. The “white” gang was never identified as Italian, but to an East Texas boy, who else would have gangs? Irish gangs? German gangs? Polish gangs?

The idea of a gang was foreign. And, the idea of really, really tough guys dancing around in pretend fights … Unusual types, you might say. Laughable, really.

The big girl’s dance, though … In the Sarasota production, three of the PR girls were of Serena Williams’ size. But, man, could they dance. Skinny girls like you usually see as normal on TV and in movies? No contest. Any time a 180-pound-plus dancer can touch her nose with her knee, that is one healthy woman.

In short, the big girls’ dance saved the production. In my mind, anyway.

Caddo Mills, Texas, 75135, home of Texas’ first drag strip

There used to be a saying (and I am not making this up): I’d rather my sister work in a whore house than live in Caddo Mills.

I don’t know the origin of the comment, but then I’ve never been in Caddo Mills. Driven past it a few dozen times in journeys west and east along I-30, but never in the town.

Caddo Mills is in Hunt County. Estimated Zip Code population is 5,223, with 1,432 for the town. Racial makeup is 93 percent white. It’s in the county whose county seat – Greenville – used to have a banner across a downtown street reading: “Greenville, Texas. Home of the blackest land and the whitest people.” Hunt County is in the blackland prairie and is one of the meanest places in Texas. Not necessarily for cuttings, stabbings, shootings and overall murder rate, although there are quite a bit of those. Hunt County is mean because black people and white people just don’t like each other, and a lot of white people don't like other white people and black people don't like other black people. Greenville is 70 percent white and 20 percent black. Hunt County overall is 84 percent white and around 10 percent black.

Caddo Mills businesses include: Courteous Carpet Care; Triple H Trash Solutions; Alpaca Spirit Ranch; and Boutique Doodle-do’s.

During World War II, the Army Air Force built an air field at Caddo Mills. As with a lot of post-war long stretches of concrete, the strip was used for drag races and is considered the first in Texas.

http://www.dragzine.com/news/flashback-friday-texas-first-nhra-sanctioned-drag-strip/

The state of Texas and Hunt County in 2011 filed suit against owners of the strip, alleging “contamination and illegal dumping.” There probably was beer drinking going on, too.

http://www.heraldbanner.com/news/settlement-reached-in-caddo-mills-dragstrip-lawsuit/article_47d58cd6-2a88-11e4-9f74-0019bb2963f4.html

There are many internet stories on the drag strip. Many, many stories.

A person schooled in today’s grammar

An insurance company cut my brother-in-law’s Medicare Part B coverage when John moved from Texas to Florida. OK. Insurance companies pretty much cut insurance when someone moves from a state, but the moving was not the reason given. The company said it did not have an office in this part of Florida. The insurance company is called Blue something, and I'm fairly certain the company has offices everywhere.

My wife called the company to get coverage re-established. She talked to a young woman who, my wife said, “was reading from a script.”

After taking information, the woman said, “I will give this to an agent and they will contact you.”

He will contact me,” my wife said.

“What?”

He will contact me.”

“That is what I said.”

“No,” my wife said, “you said ‘they’ will contact me.”

“That’s what I said. They will contact you.”

“Right,” my wife said. “It’s only English, so what does it matter?”


Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Soros groups 'undesirable' in Russia

Some newspaper and TV reporting from the Caucasus and other areas are funded by the Open Society Institute, which is funded by George Soros.

The Russian government has decided Soros’s organizations are undesirable and a threat to constitutional order.

“The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has recognized George Soros’s Open Society Institute and another affiliated organization as undesirable groups, banning Russian citizens and organizations from participation in any of their projects.

“In a statement released on Monday, prosecutors said the activities of the Open Society Institute and the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation were a threat to the foundations of Russia’s Constitutional order and national security. They added that the Justice Ministry would be duly informed about these conclusions and would add the two groups to Russia’s list of undesirable foreign organizations.

“Prosecutors launched a probe into the activities of the two organizations - both sponsored by the well-known US financier George Soros - in July this year, after Russian senators approved the so-called ‘patriotic stop-list’ of 12 groups that required immediate attention over their supposed anti-Russian activities. Other groups on the list included the National Endowment for Democracy; the International Republican Institute; the National Democratic Institute; the MacArthur Foundation and Freedom House.

“In late July, the Russian Justice Ministry recognized the US National Endowment for Democracy as an undesirable group after prosecutors discovered the US NGO had spent millions on attempts to question the legitimacy of Russian elections and tarnish the prestige of national military service.

“The Law on Undesirable Foreign Organizations came into force in early June this year. It requires the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Foreign Ministry to draw up an official list of undesirable foreign organizations and outlaw their activities. Once a group is recognized as undesirable, its assets in Russia must be frozen, its offices closed and the distribution of any of its materials must be banned.

“If the ban is violated, the personnel of the outlawed group and any Russian citizens who cooperate with them could face heavy fines, or even prison terms in the case of repeated or aggravated offences.

“The Soros Foundation started working in Russia in the mid-1990s, but wrapped up its active operations in 2003.”

https://www.rt.com/politics/323919-soros-foundation-recognized-as-undesirable/

Link at http://moonbattery.com/

(officepc will not allow pasting hyperlink.)

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Long memories vs. admitting ‘I know nothing’

Turkey and the Caucasus and that part of the world.

“One of the many reasons America has no business mucking around in that part of the world is we know pretty much nothing about that part of the world. On the other hand, the people in that part of the world know everything about that part of the world. History for them is a nightmare from which they can never awake. All sides have old scores they would like to settle for no reason other than that’s who they are and that is what they do.” – ‘Ruminations on the Great Game’

http://thezman.com/wordpress/

Hittites, Amorites, Persians, Azeri … the list of peoples done wrong goes on and on.