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End Times, California Style

Bad News, Funny Stuff, Gummint

It’s not often that I burst out with incredulous laughter when reading stuff on Teh Intarwebz, but this succeeded in making me do so:

There doesn’t seem to be any easy solution to the yearly wildfire season, and California policy has always seemed to work in opposition to fire safety. Environmentalists have, for decades, fought the clearing of underbrush that serves as fuel for these raging fires. Instead of doing basic maintenance, almost one million people will have to live without power. No one is ready for it.
The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that people are stocking up on liquor and few of them have safety readiness kits. One resident they spoke to said she “knew she was woefully unprepared for days without power. Despite living along an earthquake fault and within a half block of where the 1991 Oakland conflagration destroyed the whole neighborhood, Weld didn’t have a comprehensive emergency kit ready to go.”

Then Megan Fox unloads on these idiots, wrathfully.  And I bet that 90% of them voted Democrat in past elections.

And Californians make fun of Southerners… while the ghost of Charles Darwin sniggers.

Fuck ’em.  I hope these Commie-enablers all go up in flames.

More Blue State Idiocy

Gummint, Marxists

NYGov “Fredo” Cuomo just ruled that the tides may not rise past a certain level in New York, ever again.

Just kidding.  Actually, he did this stupid thing (among so many  others):

The Cuomo administration is ordering National Grid to provide natural gas hookups to over 1,100 previously denied Brooklyn-based customers.  The Public Service Commission, the state body that licenses and oversees public utility companies, announced Friday that National Grid must provide service to customers or else face “millions of dollars in penalties.”  Previously, 1,157 customers had been denied service due to National Grid’s moratorium on all new gas hookups, announced in May.

Why did National Grid do this?

As you may recall, plans for a new natural gas pipeline from New Jersey were killed off by the state government under pressure from environmental activists.

In other words, there isn’t enough gas flowing into New York to provide service to new customers.  So what’s going to happen when gas demand starts to peak (as it usually does) in the bleak midwinter?

If they continue to hook up new customers, you’re going to see the backpressure in the lines start dropping during peak demand hours. If you look at the configuration of a typical gas furnace installation you’ll note that if the incoming gas pressure drops too low, the furnace will simply shut down for safety reasons until the pressure is restored. The same is true for many other appliances that use natural gas or propane.  Since peak demand typically hits during a severe cold snap in the winter, what Cuomo is ordering could result in a lot of people suddenly going without heat, most likely near the furthest extreme of the gas lines.

And New Yorkers are gonna start dying of cold and exposure.

Here’s my take:  Fuck ’em.

If the people of New York are going to continue to vote assholes like Cuomo into power year after year, decade after decade, I fail to see why I should have any sympathy when said assholes’ idiotic policies turn round and start biting the very people who voted them into power.

Monday Funnies

Funny Stuff

Another Monday, another week of this ahead…

So to scrub that ghastly image from yer brains, try a couple of these:

(Must be in Alabama somewhere…)

And on with the show, this time in an airliner not far from you:

And on that topic, it’s time for a little lift-me-up.  How about something from the 1950s, like Vikki Dougan?

Don’t get into any hot water this week…

Follow-Up Post

The Gun Thing

Harking back to my paean of praise to the Savage 99 last week, something else about the originating article has stuck with me.

The author suggests that of the ten rifles everyone should own, one should be a custom-made rifle.

Now I’ll be perfectly honest, here:  aside from the cost involved (which should frighten almost anyone not named Phil Thee Richbags let alone a Cheap Bastard like me), every time I’ve thought about what I’m looking for in a custom-made rifle, I list all the components and invariably end up with something made by CZ.

Here’s a partial list of “desirable” features:

  • Mauser-style bolt
  • hogsback stock
  • Schnabel fore-end or  full stock
  • single-set trigger

…which leads to something that looks very much like this:

…which is the CZ 427, basically.  Or in a more manly chambering, this:

…which is nothing more than the CZ 557 Safari (a.k.a. Brno 602).  As for the full-stock dream rifle:

…which is the CZ 550 FS.

See what I mean?

Sure, I could always say I want a “blueprinted Remington 400x action with a 21″bull barrel, Timney trigger and a Fajen walnut stock” etc. but that’s going to cost me thousands, and I seriously doubt that I’d like it more, or for that matter be able to shoot it better than any of the ones shown.

Maybe — maybe — I could call up the folks at Dakota Arms to make me something to the above specs, but why, when CZ makes exactly what I need as a matter of course, and for a very reasonable price withal?

And if none of the above rifles makes your heart go pitter-pat just a little, then we’re on different pages of the Gun Geek Book entirely.

Don’t even get me started on chambering.  Certainly, I would eschew any exotic cartridge such as a .280 Ackley Improved and forget any custom cartridge designed for me exclusively.  When it comes to the damage-causing projectiles, I’d be perfectly happy with light ones like .223 Rem or .243 Win;  medium ones like .270 Win,  6.5x55mm Swede, 7x57mm, or .308 Win;  or for the heavies, .300 Win Mag or .375 H&H.  Any further tinkering would be in the realms of bullet weight and -type only.

In fact, now that I think of it, I already own my all-purpose “dream rifle”:

For those who’ve been on another planet these past couple years, it’s a Mauser M12 in 6.5x55mm Swede, topped with a Minox ZX 5i scope.

I don’t need  a custom rifle;  in terms of what I love about rifles, I already have one.  And if I want one with more “desirable” features, I’ll get a CZ.

Red-Headed Virgin

Culture

Reader Jeff W. sends me this article, which suggests that the BVM was, in fact, a ginger:

I had no idea that she was Scottish.  Was “Mhairi” her real name, I wonder?

Anyway, never mind all that.  The blog wherein such is to be found looks very interesting, so excuse me for a day or two while I examine it closely.

BTDT

Bad News

So there’s this list which ranks the most miserable cities in the U.S.  I’ve checked off those in the top 10 which I’ve actually seen / driven through / stayed in (don’t ask):

No question but that Gary deserves its spot.  Under “Non-Third World Shitholes” in the dictionary will be its picture:

Detroit we all know about, ditto Newark, Flint and Camden, which all resemble the above pic in one way or another.  Huntington Park should be driven around  let alone through, and I don’t know anything about Warren (although its location near Akron and Youngstown probably gives us a clue).  Pine Bluff is actually little different from most Southern rural shitholes, except that its inhabitants seem to be more violent than most, for reasons which escape me.

I’m a little puzzled by Passaic’s position, though.  I lived just a couple miles away from it, in Lincoln Park, and other than the fact that it gets flooded out every other year or so by its namesake river — perhaps the reason for its high misery ranking, come to think of it — it’s little different from most of its Noo Joizee neighbors e.g. Paterson (a true shithole) and Verona (only a little less shitty), neither of which made the top 10.

Feel free to add your miserable candidates in Comments.