Month: March 2021

Style Points

Friends and Family, Music

I have written before about my old band Atlantic, and with great affection of our late lead guitarist, Kevin.  While I tried to describe his guitar playing, I feel I didn’t do it justice.  But now I can.

As I was stumbling and bumbling around the Internets last night, I happened upon this oldie, and if you want to see exactly how Kevin played, note the virtuosity of Focus’s Jan Akkerman — and it is absolutely no exaggeration to say that in playing this song (as Kevin used to do, just for practice), his and Akkerman’s style, down to the way they held their guitars, are identical.  (Nobody in our band, and quite possibly nobody in the whole world could ever sing like Thijs van Leer.)

Kevin had better hair, though.

Enjoy.

Quite Understandable

Business, Gypsies Tramps & Thieves

Seems as though the British holiday camp chain Pontins is in hot water with the Gummint Over There.

You see, they’ve apparently been using a hmmmm social filter when booking people into their establishments, to whit:

Pontins used a secret blacklist titled ‘undesirable guests’ to ban customers with 40 common Irish surnames in a bid to stop Traveller families booking holidays at its resorts.
Families with surnames including Boyle, Doherty and Gallagher were all barred by the company, with staff told ‘we do not want these guests on our parks’.
Employees also monitored calls and refused customers with Irish accents.

Why oh why do they hate the Irish so?  (I know, I know, but stay with me here.)

Discriminatory practices included the ‘undesirable guests’ list, published on its intranet page, monitoring calls within its contact centre and refusing or cancelling any bookings that were made by people with an Irish accent or surname, and using its Commercial Vehicles policy to exclude Gypsies and Travellers from its holiday parks.

Ah, now all is explained.  You see, when (the mostly-Irish) gypsies descend on a place, several things happen, none of them good:

  • Petty crime increases (pickpocketing, burglary, bagsnatching and car theft, to name but some)
  • Violent crime increases (armed robbery, fights that often turn deadly, and murder)
  • Ordinary law-abiding people see all this and leave, often never to return
  • When these parasites eventually leave, they leave behind scenes like this:

So to the bedwetters and handwringers:  It’s not racism;  it’s self-preservation.

Identifier

Men & Women

From now on (if I remember), I’m going to put a little dot at the end of all my posts which can serve as an “identifier” — I mean, if the LGBTOSTFU can do the rainbow thing, then why can’t I, and people of my persuasion, have their own identifier?  Here it is:

And what does that little bee-like color scheme indicate?

Obviously, it depends on your sex as to which one — women or men — that you’re attracted to.  I, for example, and hopelessly attracted to this kind of (massively heterosexual) woman:

 

 

 

I could go on (and on, and on, and on…) but I think you follow my drift, here.

Not Ready For Prime Time

Architecture

Oh good grief.  Here’s something that at first seems like a good development [sic], but when you see the details…

AUSTIN, Texas — A Kansas City developer has announced America’s first 3D-printed homes for sale.
3Strands is partnering with Austin-based construction technology company ICON to leverage ICON’s proprietary 3D printing construction technology, software, and advanced materials to deliver the two- to four-bedroom homes in Austin.
“We want to change the way we build, own, and how we live in community together,” says Gary O’Dell, 3Strands’ co-founder and CEO. “This project represents a big step forward, pushing the boundaries of new technologies, such as 3D-printed homes.”

Sounds perfect for a town like Austin, dunnit?

And then comes the pic of the likely dwelling:

Yikes.  It looks like a prototype for a CIA detention / torture center.

Let me know when 3D printing can produce one of these, and then we could talk:

Until then, nope.

Okay, I Guess

The Gun Thing

So with the NRA leaving the inhospitable climes of the North and moving to Texas, I have to say “Welcome” like all the others, but with a single caveat:  leave the people at our Texas State Rifle Association (TSRA) alone.

Over the years, the TSRA has been highly effective in killing all sorts of gun control nonsense (proposed by, duh, big-city Democrat politicos) and in general, keeping things running on the side of the righteous.  And frankly (unless someone from the TSRA tells me otherwise), we do not need the NRA throwing their weight around here like a clumsy bull elephant.

I have what I think is a common attitude towards the NRA among gun owners:  I support them in general terms, but I also think that on occasion they’ve behaved in a manner that sticks in my craw — and I’m not talking about Wayne LaPierre’s suits, either.  That enormous HQ building in Virginia is a case in point:

That is a lot of member funds spent, in one of the most expensive real estate areas in the world.  It made me think at the time that the NRA had its priorities wrong, and I haven’t much changed my opinion since.

So I say to the NRA:  y’all come on down, but behave yourselves.  It’s what I say to California transplants, and it pains me to have to say it to gun folks, but there it is.