Month: May 2020

Mystified

Food & Drink

I understand why people use drive-through lanes to get their morning coffee en route to the office, even though I think it’s a mark of either stupidity or pure laziness when the “convenience” is nullified by long waits in the queue, e.g. in Britishland:

Motorists queued for hours to get a drink at Costa drive-throughs this morning, sparking fears people are ignoring lockdown measures as more high street chains reopen.
Tailbacks stretched around the block at takeaway chains in Edinburgh, Wakefield and Glasgow today as drivers waited to get their coffee fix.
At the weekend, eager customers queued for more than a mile to get a coffee at a branch in Snowhill Retail Park in Yorkshire as it reopened after more than a month on Saturday.

Costa makes decent coffee, but it’s not that  great.  (And don’t get me started on Starfucks’s burnt water concoctions.)

For those people who are not completely up to date on recent modern inventions, there are now things called “travel mugs” which allow one to make one’s coffee at home and take it to the office, where it can still be enjoyed hot.  Here’s an example:

… or, if one prefers to support one’s favorite coffee brand: 

Pro tip:   Plastic travel mugs are useless.  Nothing beats a decently-insulated metal one — unless you’re rich and can afford the Thermos (glass-interior) type.

Even better, brewing one’s own coffee at home allows one to use a decent brand of coffee — whether it’s the humble Dunkin’ Donuts Regular (still my favorite coffee, after thirty years):

  … or one of the “gourmet” (over-priced) offerings: 

In the old days, the only way to brew coffee was in a giant thing which made a large pot of the stuff — which, of course, is not the optimal choice when one needs only a single cup.  However, since the mid-1990s there has been another option, the single-cup home brewer:

…or, if one wants to feel all Italian: 

…which were once tied to the awful pods, but now allow one to use ground coffee in a small filtered device which — and I cannot express this strongly enough — enables one to brew coffee to the desired strength, and not as decided by some bored coffee-jockey.

I know that all this sounds terribly complicated, and really can’t compare with the joy of waiting for hours in one’s car, eventually to get a cardboard cup filled with overpriced coffee, but I would be remiss if I didn’t point out at least a modest option thereto.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the Keurig.

Don’t Bother

Good Stuff

I am really, all evidence to the contrary, a fairly even-tempered man [quit yer sniggering, it’s true].  Whenever people who only know me from this website meet me in person, they’re all astonished to discover that I’m quietly-spoken, placid and quick to laugh or chuckle at life’s many little hassles.  Even behind the wheel, I am not — and never have been — prone to road rage;  automotive dick-headedness will almost always just get a shake of the head and a quiet “What an asshole” from me.

The one thing, however, which is guaranteed to turn me into an instantly-violent psychopath is pranking, whether in public or in private.  I don’t play pranks on people — I actually think it’s a form of cruelty — and I have absolutely no tolerance for pranksters.  (And for any who want to test that, having read this, please don’t.  It will not end well for you.)

So when I watched this video at the Knuckledragger’s place, my response was immediate — I roared with laughter, frightening New Wife out of her chair in the next room.

All pranksters should meet a similar fate, or worse.

Good Things To Come Out Of The Coronavirus Pandemic

Good Stuff

In no specific order:

  • Rage Against The Machine 2020 tour canceled
  • the “NSFW” warning has become irrelevant as everyone’s at home anyway
  • “social distancing” means I don’t need an excuse to steer clear of assholes I don’t like
  • Taylor Swift kept out of the recording studio
  • the ChiComs have finally been exposed for the totalitarian pricks they really are
  • ditto most Democrat state governors and mayors
  • the “globalism is good” mantra has been discredited
  • maybe, just maybe, we’ll get our prescription drugs manufactured in the U.S. once more
  • …and lots of other stuff, too
  • gun stores classified as “essential services” (as well they should be);  and pursuant to that:
  • liberals discover the virtues of self-protection, are forced into buying guns, and discover that you can’t just order them off the Internet and that there’s a lengthy legal waiting period (that they voted for) before actual ownership can take place.  And following on from that:
  • California law (that they voted for) stops ammo manufacturers from sending them ammo from online orders, so they face empty shelves at gun stores
  • people who have provided for themselves in the event of calamity or disaster are no longer sneeringly called “doomsayers” or “apocalyptics” by the media, as liberals discover the benefits of “hoarding”

And finally:

  • daily Instagram pictures of Christine McGuinness in a bikini as she self-isolates.  Also the occasional video (sample).

   

Feel free to add to the above list, once you get out of the cold shower.

Not Optimal

The Gun Thing

Over at AmmoLand, Jim Grant lays down some smack on the .38 revolver as a carry piece:

Despite the fact that revolvers are among the most recommended carry guns for new and female shooters, they aren’t all great choices.
Don’t misunderstand me, I’ve owned and carried revolvers for years. While six-shooters absolutely have their place in a shooter’s arsenal, they’ve often employed wrong. This isn’t to say that they’re a bad choice when shoe-horned into roles they weren’t built for, but more so that a combination of factors have caused some of their most shining moments to eclipse. Paramount among these is the .38 special snub-nosed revolver. Compact, reliable and fool-proof, the .38 wheel-gun should be the perfect concealed carry option for new shooters – but it’s not.
Here are four reasons why it’s not.

…and I’m not going to argue with any of them.  Here’s an example of the offending article:

I carry this S&W 637 as a backup most of the time — with the occasional exception being for a 2-minute trip to 7-11 to get lottery tickets — and I’ll also confess to not practicing with it as much as I used to (now, maybe once a month or so instead of twice a week).  The only weekly practice involves dumping shells and reloading with a speedloader (I keep ten empty casings around for that specific purpose).

Even with this amount of practice, the time from last shot fired to next shot after reloading is about seven seconds — compared to just over four seconds with my 1911.  (The time includes retrieving the speedloader / fresh 1911 mag from my left-hand pants pocket, because that’s typically where I carry them.  Real-world stuff.)  That’s not combat-adequate, of course, but in reality you’re not going to need more than what’s already in your gun to end the threat, one way or the other.  If the ChiComs were to invade, we can talk about adjusting to that threat later.

I’m not too worried about my accuracy with the 637 because it’s not bad, and the 637 is a halitosis-range gun anyway. which is just as well because even shooting “only” .38 Spec+P ammo, alloy-framed snubbies have an astonishing amount of kick;  which is why I’m idly thinking of replacing the 637 with a steel-framed Model 60 at some point, or maybe just going with a 4″-barreled 627 in .357 Mag instead:

…the other reason being one of Grant’s points, viz.  the terminal ballistics of a .38 Spec bullet coming out of a 1.5″/2″ barrel are just awful.  Even with a decent bullet design, you’re asking a lot from a snubby — which means multiple shots and only five rounds in the cylinder — but then again, the 637 is my backup  carry piece.

Yeah, the steel 627 is heavier to carry than the alloy 637, but saving weight is a big trade-off in terms of saving your life, and the 8-shot 627 still weighs about the same as my 1911.

I guess the point to all this is that snubbies are really just backup, and not primary carry pieces, and that’s how I’ll continue to treat mine.

News Roundup

Bad News

Just popping over for a little of the old in-out, darling. [/Clockwork Orange]


…


…which will make it a little difficult to manage the Commie louts in my preferred manner, but oh well.


…I was going to rant about filthy foreigners and their horrible dietary choices, but then I remembered things like refried beans, squid ink, black pudding and White Castle sliders.


…yup, keep in prodding the rattlesnake, Governor Witless.  And the media reaction:


…actually, the stormtroopers would be the state police agents that the governor is using to enforce her insane lockdown policy.


…so not much has changed, then.


…actually, we already hate you, you Communist motherfuckers.  Trump’s just reminding us why.


…and Harvard professor Bartholet uses incident as further reason for banning homeschooling.


…as the BritPolice’s fearless war on victimless crime continues.


…I guess it all depends on how you define “spiritual wellbeing”.

Which reminds me:  I need to stop off at Goody Goody later today for a case of Sipsmiths.

Stupid People

Disaster, Media Assholes

One of the most unattractive things that has come out of the Chinkvirus pandemic has been the social shaming of people who, in the opinions of some, are ignoring the dangers of the virus’s spread.  Brits have coined a term “covidiots” to describe these people, hence (link in pic):

Well of course they would be fearful, because — and let’s be under no illusions about this —  when it comes to viral infection, only two things matter:  dosage (the actual number of viruses inhaled or ingested) and its subset, dispersion.

Most studies on infection take place in a closed room of about 400 sq.ft. (20′ x 20′).  Now take that outside (especially on a breezy day), and the dosage will be immediately reduced to an enormous degree because the wind not only disperses the virus-laden particles, but can even blow them apart, reducing their danger exponentially.  It’s why the Nazis went to all the trouble of building gas chambers at Auschwitz, instead of just spraying Zyklon-B on the hapless Jews out in the fields.

So to return to the above hysteria:  of course a majority of people are going to be apprehensive about going back to the office — it’s a closed environment, you idiots, and viral infection is definitely a possibility.  But out in the open air?

Nada, zip, zilch — as long as people keep some distance between themselves and strangers so that the open air can work its magic.  And don’t touch railings and other surfaces that others have touched without cleaning your hands with disinfectant wipes immediately afterwards.

And as for those idiot cops who keep harassing sunbathers, surfers and the like:  the cops should be tied to lampposts and hosed down with icy water (lest they get viral infections by getting too close to the people they’re harassing), e.g.:

And those moron journalists [redundancy alert]  who perpetuate this foolishness deserve the same treatment.