Author: Kim du Toit

Shootin’ Time

Gummint, Shootin' Time, Wokism

And then there’s this, over in Britishland:

An award-winning fish and chip shop has been ordered to remove a Union flag mural by council officials ‘because it’s inappropriate for the area’.   

Chris Kanizi, 65, who owns Golden Chippy, in Greenwich, south-east London, has been told to paint over the mural of the humanoid fish which is adored by tourists.

Greenwich council said they received a ‘number of complaints’ about the mural, which features the phrase ‘A Great British Meal’, they said was an ‘unauthorised advert’.

And here’s the oh-so offensive item in question:

Imagine a burger place in Murka being told to take down a sign which reads  “The All-American Meal” because some immigrants might feel excluded.

Of course, the UK has no First Amendment, so government can do pretty much whatever the fuck it wants to do in cases like this.

Occasionally, A Ray Of Sunshine

Men & Women

In these cynical times, where anyone can be snarky about anything, there comes an all-to-infrequent bit of good news or luck, call it what you will.  Here’s one example:

And it appears that this is exactly what happened.  I’m not going to excerpt anything from the article, because despite all the snark (“14-year age difference” etc.) what emerges is a rather touching story about a woman who had some incredibly bad luck, and then it all turned around for her.

Set aside your Cynic’s Spectacles, and read all about it.

By the way, Bev Turner is a total hottie and always has been.  I remember her from earlier times as a racing commentator.  Here she is now at 50, with her good luck charmer.

Good for her, and good for him.  I hope it works out.

 

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Tactical Solutions OWYHEE Take-Down (.22 WMR)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

I haven’t heard of Tactical Solutions (Boise ID) before, but this is kind of an interesting concept (via Collectors):

Everyone’s heard me ranting about the cost of .22 Magnum (WMR) before, so I’m not going to repeat it here.  Fortunately, this is softened somewhat by the fact that this little boltie accepts the Ruger 10/22 magnum 9-round magazine, which is (surprisingly) still available despite Ruger’s idiotic decision to discontinue their 10/22 rifle in this chambering.  (Oh, how I regret selling mine… it was a sweetie.)

I have no idea what this rifle’s trigger is like, but at its price point ($1,200 – $1,300!) it had better be faultless.  (Typical rifle prices in this chambering run about $250 – $550, but as far as I can see, the Tac-Sol is the only takedown available.)

Interesting, and definitely worth a look, especially for hikers and backpackers.  Here’s TacSol’s website.

All that said, however, I’d be more tempted by a regular bolt-action rifle such as this Savage Mark II, dressed with this fine Boyd’s “Minimalist” laminate stock:

…priced at Sportsman’s for $340.

No Need For Revisitation

Architecture

Here’s a piece at Modern Thinker  which revisits Modernism:

The forerunners of modernism were a mixture of eccentrics and revolutionaries. They agreed on the break with tradition — and the abominated institutions of the bourgeoisie, including classical architecture. Regrettably, several of the rebellious architects were also willing to renounce their integrity and enter the service of the totalitarians.

Several?  Try “almost all” and you’ll be closer to the truth.

Longtime — and maybe even Recent — Readers will know all about my opinion of Modernist architecture (just follow this link if memories need refreshing).

So while the above article is an interesting read, the executive summary is that modernism sucks, sucks green donkey dicks in fact, and is a blight on the landscape everywhere it is perpetrated.

As the title of this post suggests, there is no need to “revisit” modernism, unless it is to be used as a guideline which says, “Not that.  Anything but that.”

“The Name’s Backless; Green Backless”

Corporate Fuckery, Technology

As the totalitarians / utilitarians / technology-worshipers in our midst try to push us evermore towards a cashless society, we see situations like this occur, this time in Britishland:

The IT meltdowns suffered by Sainsbury’s and Tesco highlight the dangers of relying on cashless payments which puts our society ‘at risk’, experts have warned.

On Saturday morning, Sainsbury’s experienced a ‘technical issue’ which created chaos for thousands of people on one of the busiest shopping days of the week.

The supermarket chain cancelled online orders and couldn’t accept contactless payments – so shoppers either had to pay in cash, or scramble to try and remember their PIN.

While people desperately queued to use nearby ATMs, the dramatic uptick in cash withdrawal meant many of the machines ran out.

Many loyal shoppers turned to rival chain Tesco – it also experienced issues with online orders, with a small proportion being cancelled.

By the way, you don’t have to be an “expert” to see the inherent dangers of over-reliance on technology;  you just have to be aware of the old maxim that to err is human, but to really fuck things up you need a computer.  And we’ve all been there.

Nor am I a conspiracy theorist, but at the same time the odds of a “technology meltdown” occurring in the UK’s two largest supermarket chains at the same time are, wouldn’t you say, rather alarming.

In another context, if the flight guidance systems malfunctioned simultaneously in both United Airlines and Air France — two unrelated corporations — there’d be all sorts of alarm and governmental enquiry commissions, not to mention screaming panic in the headlines.

Nor would the scenario of malignant agency be simply dismissed as paranoia — but here we are, where people can’t buy food for their families because of a “meltdown”.

You’d think that we’d have learned this little lesson during the previous lockdown, where all sorts of nonsense happened because “everyday life” was dislocated.

But we haven’t.

Just wait till Ford and Mercedes together experience “system failure” in their driverless car fleets…

Technology can be our friend, and often is.  But over-reliance on technology means it often isn’t.  Remember, the acronym MTBF (mean time between failures) is often used for reassurance, but it also presupposes the existence of failure.

Like what happened at Sainsbury and Tesco — simultaneously.

Update:  And now Greggs, too.