Pointless Shit

I’m always ranting about how the auto industry has overloaded basic transportation with evermore-complex technology (3 seat-position memory options? FFS), but of course, they’re not the only ones.

Here’s another example, seen via a link on Insty’s page:

What a load of bullshit.  My old Keurig essentially has two options:  size of cup, regular/strong brew, and that’s it.  (“High Altitude Setting”? FFS #2)

Oh wait… I forgot mine’s warning light for “There’s No More Water In The Reservoir, You Idiot, Can’t You See Through The Clear Plastic?”

Let’s not forget the lie of “Brushed Silver” when it’s just shiny plastic.

And forgive me, but the whole point of a Keurig is that you can make a cuppa quickly without waiting for the water to boil, so the “Auto On/Off” switch is the work of Satan.  (Yeah, “saves electricity” blah blah blah… fuck the whales.)

Needless to say, in the spirit of manufacturers everywhere, my model Keurig is no longer available;  so when it finally quits working, I’ll be forced to buy one of these multi-featured over-complex monstrosities at, of course, a price which is 40% more than I paid for mine.

Don’t even talk to me about the cost of replacing my ageing VW, or my soaring blood pressure will ensure that the Tiguan outlives its owner.

Wings Of Clay

…or, an unvarnished look at the WWII German Messerschmitt 262.

Along the way, this screamingly-funny chap slaughters all sorts of sacred cows, e.g. that the Me262 could have won the war for the Nazis, that Albert Speer was a genius, that German technology was superior to that of the Allies, and that Herman Goering was an incompetent asshole.

Okay, that last one happens to be true, as historian Lord HardThrasher sets about him with a cricket bat, calling most of history’s revered sources a pack of liars and completely debunking the myth of Germany’s technocrats, e.g. Willi Messerschmitt (yeah, the guy who designed the Me109).

Along the way, he proves that Allied bombing actually worked better than today’s naysayers would have you believe, and that bad things happen when you allow the reigns of power to be wielded by simpletons and incompetents.

But you all knew that.

There is plenty of bad language, but as Readers of this here website, you should be used to that by now.

No Slam Dunk

As Mollie Hemingway says:

“The worst part of the Trump presidency was the hate-drenched media spewing chaos and conspiracy theories. The best part was everything else.”

Sent to me by Reader Old Texan:

At any other time, in any other place, with any other Republican candidate, charts like this would mean a 48-2 state result in the Presidential election.

This year…?

See Ya

I don’t really have a big dog in this fight, but I do like this news:

A pro-abortion extremist has been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for firebombing the Wisconsin Family Action pro-life clinic on Mother’s Day in 2022.

Biochemist Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, was caught by police using DNA from a half-eaten burrito that they left at the scene of the crime. Roychowdhury had thrown two Molotov cocktails through a window he broke, set a bookcase on fire, and spraypainted “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either” on the front of the building.

The arsonist was facing up to 20 years in prison but has accepted a plea agreement to reduce his sentence.

I wish the sentence was longer, but that’s the legal system for ya.

Just remember my words, though, when some asshole gets arrested for firebombing an abortion clinic.  Because I’m going to feel exactly the same way, and most likely use the same words.

Bombing is bombing, regardless of who throws the bomb at whom.

Lone Asshole

If we’ve learned nothing else from history, it’s that it will be almost impossible to stop one lone asshole (e.g. ex-Marines Lee Harvey Oswald and Charles Whitman) from doing bad things to people in a public place.

As happened in gun-free Sydney AUS over the weekend:

Authorities received calls around 3:30 p.m. local time that a knife-wielding man was attacking people at Westfield Bondi Junction, NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke said during a press conference.

Footage obtained by 9News Sydney showed the suspect, wearing a gold and green rugby jersey and shorts, brandishing a long knife and approaching several horrified shoppers.

Point of interest:  the “gold and green jersey” is in fact the team jersey of the Oz national rugby team Wallabies — no doubt, the OzGov should ban sale of said jerseys to prevent future events like this from happening.

Or, as Reader Mike L. suggests, the OzGov should institute commonsense knife control laws, like:

  • No one needs a knife longer than 18 inches
  • No one needs a knife with more than 10 serrations
  • No one should be able to buy a knife more easily than borrowing a library book
  • etc.

Much praise is being heaped on the “hero” Oz coppette who ventilated said stabby asshole and reduced his body temperature to the “room” setting.  Doing her job, in other words, and not going all Uvalde, running away and hiding.  And yes, good for her.

Of course, had a situation like this occurred in, say, Arizona, Florida or Texas, there is an equally-good chance that a Concerned Citizen would have applied the same solution as the hero Oz coppette did, perhaps even before he had a chance to stab anyone.  (We call that “pre-emptive goblin disposal” — okay, “fear for one’s life”, see next post — but cops usually have to wait until the stabbing actually begins before applying the appropriate trigger pressure.)

As I write this, we don’t know why our Wallaby supporter went all Apache in the mall, but frankly it doesn’t matter because in matters of this nature, he may have had what he thought was a good reason (Oswald), or else because his head was all fucked up (Whitman).

Sic semper dementis.

Private Property

Here we go:

A proposed rule from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) will soon take effect, forcing many private gun sellers to use the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to sell their guns.

The targets of this rule are not licensed federal gun dealers, as they are already required to use the NICS on every gun sale and/or transfer.

Federal Firearms License (FFL) holders are required to conduct background checks on all gun sales and transfers because of the Brady Act (1993). That act created the NICS, and, since then, all retail sales of both new and used guns have been conducted via the NICS. Democrats have pushed to include private sales in the NICS requirement. However, Congress — even when controlled by Democrats — has refused.

But the recently proposed rule does what Congress has refrained from doing by allowing the ATF to set its sights on private, non-licensed Americans who may sell guns at some time throughout any given year…

…and when people refuse to comply with this fucking monstrosity, the rule will create criminals where heretofore none existed (as so many of these “regulations” do).

Oh, and don’t think you can get around this assholishness by swapping or bartering for guns, either.

I know, I know:

But a reminder:

This should be interesting.  My advice (and remember, I am no lawyer, nor any kind of criminal — yet):  if you are going to ignore this un-Constitutional infringement on your rights, make sure to do so only with trusted friends and family members — no strangers, ever, because you never know when the ATF is blackmailing or otherwise pressuring someone into breaking the law on their behalf.

Like they did with Randy Weaver.