May 2021 – Page 6 – Splendid Isolation

News Roundup

May 17, 2021 Kim du Toit Bad News

With news so bad, you’ll puke. Today, we start off with a large helping of INSIGNIFICA (with links and comments, this time):

…daughter “JAMES”? Poor kid doesn’t stand a chance.

…file under “Nobody’s Business”. Journalism at its most prurient and intrusive finest.

…I preferred him when he was still an executive transvestite, and funny.

…you never go Full Luddite.

…Jesus wept.

…the only “sex toy” I’d want to use on this whiny moonbeam tart would be a bullwhip.

…fighting over sports teams is only slightly more ridiculous than fighting over shampoo brands.

Now onto the REAL [snigger] news:

…don’t you just love the Third World? Next thing, they’ll believe in Socialism. And speaking of which:

…sorry, Nigel old chap, but I’ll start to believe it when you Brits privatize the NHS.

…sorry, but I had to exercise a little editorial discretion, there.

…and if you were dead, we wouldn’t have to endure bullshit like this, you smug Canucki socialist sow. (For those with short memories, this foul creature was once governor of Michigan. Yeah, I know: Michigan voters have no clue.)

And just to improve the spirit, so to speak, here’s a Michigander who isn’t ugly:

If Dita isn’t good news, we’re all in trouble.

Monday Funnies

May 17, 2021 Kim du Toit Funny Stuff

So instead of lyin’ about, let’s try to get the ol’ smileyface working:

And:

And now, a quiz. What do all four of these ladies have in common?

A: They’re all consuming things that are considered bad for your health.

You dirty-minded bastards.

Today’s Earworm

May 16, 2021 Kim du Toit Music

Peter Skellern: Love Is The Sweetest Thing

You’re welcome.

Oh, and if you want my favorite Skellern song of all time: Still Magic

Masterpieces

May 16, 2021 Kim du Toit Fine Art

Went back among my old posts to look something up, and ended up here, where I spoke about Giovanni Boldini.

Well, so much for that search. I ended up wandering along the highways, byways, trains of thought and their branch lines that is Teh Intarwebz.

So: some more Boldini pics — just not the commissioned portraits this time. I do love how he paints women’s faces, though:

But it’s when he gets naughty that I like him the most:

And then there was this one, which caused quite a scandal in its time:

Not yer typical society portrait, is it?

…and even some of those weren’t quite the typical Victoriana, like this one of Madame de Nemidoff:

or of Madame Pages:

Brilliant.

Gratuitous Gun Pic — M1 Carbine (.30 Carbine)

May 15, 2021 Kim du Toit Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

I have often touched on the topic of the WWII / Korean War-era M1 Carbine before, but never really done it justice. For those people who have a busy day ahead of them and have to get on with it, here’s the Executive Summary:

I love this rifle.

I love it more than just about any other rifle I own, because it satisfies several of my “needs” at one go:

it’s handy — lightweight, easy to carry, easy to shoot / low-no recoil, not huge and cumbersome
shoots a decent cartridge (a topic to be covered at some length further down the page)
it’s a piece of history, and killed lots of Evil Bastards (Commies, Nazis and Imperial Japs) in two major conflicts
plentiful ammo (under normal circumstances, don’t get me started)
less importantly, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t enjoy shooting it.

“But Kim,” you may ask plaintively, “what about all the geeky stuff?”

Glad you asked. Because it’s the weekend, I’ve taken the trouble to collect a few videos from EwwChoob and put them all in one post.

Firstly, there’s Gun Jesus (Ian McCollum) giving you the background history and technical aspects (in his usual masterful manner).

Next comes Chris Baker from Lucky Gunner, giving not one but four videos (you can skip the first one as it covers more or less the same ground as McCollum does):

Part 1(history and overview)
Part 2 (.30 Carbine ammo test)
Part 3 (self defense with the Carbine)
Part 4 (reliability, and modifying the Carbine).

Finally, there’s a great conversation about the M1 Carbine between Ian McCollum and the peppery Ken Hackathorn.

Whenever I watch gunny videos, my trigger-finger starts to itch, but with gunny videos about the M1 Carbine, it starts to itch really badly. So if you own one already (and you should, it belongs in every household almost to the degree that a .22 rifle does) and you end up going out to the range with your M1 Carbine this afternoon instead of tackling the “Honey-Do” list, tell her it’s my fault.