After 15 Years, He Finally Cleaned The Place
Yes, a subtle layout overhaul. A light dusting. As is the way with such things, there may be one or two glitches to sort out, archived videos that need to be resized, etc. Do feel free to point them out. But overall, the blog should be more legible and responsive to a range of devices. Less squinting, I think.
Also, I now have a Twitter account. By all means follow me there. I mean, you wouldn’t want to miss anything, would you?
And because there’s always, but always, a catch…
It’s time to remind patrons that this rickety barge, on whose seating your arses rest, is kept afloat by the kindness of strangers. If you’d like to help it remain buoyant a while longer, and remain ad-free, there are buttons in the sidebar with which to monetise any love. Debit and credit cards are accepted. For those wishing to express their love regularly, there’s a monthly subscription option. And if one-click haste is called for, my PayPal.Me page can be found here. Additionally, any Amazon UK shopping done via this link, or for Amazon US via this link, or via the buttons top right, results in a small fee for your host at no extra cost to you.
For newcomers wishing to know more about what’s been going on here for the last decade and a half, in over 3,000 posts and 150,000 comments, the reheated series is a pretty good place to start – in particular, the end-of-year summaries, which convey the fullest flavour of what it is we do. A sort of blog concentrate. If you like what you find there… well, there’s lots more of that. If you can, do take a moment to poke through the discussion threads too. The posts are intended as starting points, not full stops, and the comments are where much of the good stuff is waiting to be found. And do please join in.
As always, thanks for the support, the comments, and the company.
Consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.
A question for Darleen.
In the video I see an absolute shed load of flags, pennants, hell even windmills with the Stars and Stripes in the store.
This pleases me greatly. Is it representation of much of California away from the main urban areas?
A question for Darleen
Yes, it does. The farming, ranching and otherwise non-urban areas of CA are not full of seething Wokeistanians. Suburban areas are a mixed bag. But the huge urban centers of Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area and much of San Diego dominate and rule the state and have become the face of CA.
The perps (from Los Angeles, Inglewood and Las Vegas) chose poorly in believing Norco “Horsetown USA” would be easy pickings. Norco isn’t just a town dominated by working horse properties (& no apartment buildings) but one that is quite active with community events including it has a large outdoor event center that hosts a a rodeo.
My grandsons graduated Norco HS in 2021, one of them is now a Navy Corpsman currently training with Marines at Camp Pendleton. One of the 13 military members killed in Afghanistan during Creepy Joe’s FUBAR bug-out was in the same JROTC program as the boys, just 2 years ahead and the town pulled out all stops to honor and support his family. They take the town’s vets seriously.
The farming, ranching and otherwise non-urban areas of CA are not full of seething Wokeistanians.
Victor Davis Hanson has been talking about this in recent podcasts. The vast majority of the people in the area around his farm are Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans. He reports that they are increasingly disgusted with the Democrat Party.
(VDH’s farm is in California’s Central Valley.)
“Yes, a subtle layout overhaul. A light dusting. As is the way with such things, there may be one or two glitches to sort out, archived videos that need to be resized, etc. Do feel free to point them out.”
Can’t get the blog to load properly at all in Brave (just the grey and white background), even with Brave Shield etc stuff turned off. Had to switch to MS Edge (also Chromium-based) to post this. Definitely an extension, but which one… goodness knows. Posting here for reference more than anything.
I’m with Captain Nemo here on the Nautilus. I much preferred the current post right in the center of the page, sandwiched as it were.
Thank you. Barkeep, a drink on the Lady for me. No, wait. A drink for the Lady. On me.
Can’t get the blog to load properly at all in Brave…
In “Settings” uncheck “Block Scripts” and it works – this is sent with Brave and that unchecked.
Protip: Header on every page at the top that takes you back to Home. Just. Do. It.
Gerard, hello! Hope you are doing well.
Once people are here, they generally seem to know where they are. I’m assuming they don’t often have to look up and check.
Yeah, I’m more concerned with the utility of the masthead to take me back to the landing page, especially now that the comments extend to multiple pages. It’s also nice when I’ve opened a page in a new tab, closed the first tab, then decide I want to go back to the landing page. As I did yesterday then realized I’d have to start typing the URL again and rely on autofill to save me some time. First world problems, I know.
Except now I’m feeling crazy, and questioning if the masthead here took you back to the landing page at all. I haven’t had much sleep the past few weeks, so if I’m wrong on that, feel free to mock me mercilessly.
Darleen is absolutely right. She is in SoCal; I am in the northern part of the state (Placer County–east of Sacramento). I moved to a small town here after living in Oakland for five years.
I was born and raised in Indiana, although I am unusually peripatetic for a Hoosier (having lived in North Carolina, New York, and Nevada). The Bay Area was an endless ocean of “In this house, we believe” signs–with gunfire expostulations providing the ironic soundtrack to all the virtue signaling. (But oh, so beautiful. And great weather.)
I moved to Placer County because the rent was going up; ended up buying a house and paying less for a mortgage than I did in rent (far less). How comforting now to be surrounded by pickup trucks and Jeeps (I bought one myself), American flags, livestock, and people who smile and wave. I can leave my vehicle unlocked while I run into the store. The weather is not as nice–too many days over 90 deg F. But one adjusts.
The rural vs urban dichotomy I think has to do with the % of people who have jobs that contact reality. Conceptual jobs (advertising, education, law, social work, administration, entertainment, even retail) do not provide feedback that what you imagine is stupid or crazy. You can go way off the deep end and never get that key slap in the face from the real world–or your policies/ideas harm others that you don’t see. For instance, the baby formula shortage and lack of monkeypox vaccine (in freezers in Europe) are both due to bureaucrats not accepting european inspection regs as adequate, with the consequences falling on others.
it is a bad example of frictionless programming
The different country SKUs simply aren’t available elsewhere due to wildly varying environmental and language regulations. I get why they do it. It’s a bit annoying when trying to submit purchase requests to head office though.
“Is this…is this a screenshot in PDF??”
“Yes. Sign here.”
ccscientist,
Years ago when I was doing US-based tech product development, I had to get things certified all over the world. Most of the non-US regulations were more stringent, or at least, more picky, than in US. One either dealt with TuV, for instance, or the US FCC regs + local “improvements” (VietNam, Sri Lanka).
In some cases I believed that the foreign regs were simply disguised heavy protectionism. Brazil was an outstanding example, which was validated to me when an internal memo at HP leaked.
Bottom line, though, is that I never ran into a case where it was easier to get approved to import something into a non-US location, than it was to get approved for US -> US, or EU -> US.
That’s all a rather confused way of saying that IMHO the babyfood situation is a plain case of US protectionism.
Speaking of dysfunction: Lyme disease is not a disease. It is an intergalactic gift for the most deeply spiritual people
Lyme disease: wow, talk about needing reality to slap them…
The different country SKUs simply aren’t available elsewhere due to wildly varying environmental and language regulations.
Yeah, as I was writing I was thinking it was something like that.
How to eliminate recidivism?
A sadly neglected behavioral modification technique.
I thought you made a change that I really liked but now I’m not sure that you made it but I think it’s a good idea to consider. Instead of having a dozen or so original posts on your main page, just have one or two weeks’ worth, maybe five posts or so. That way, even with “recent comments” and “blog roll” or whatever being a scroll down, it will only take just a swipe or two to get to them. I don’t know how others peruse the blog but while I may go back a few days or a week, anything much further than that I generally use the search box for. Don’t recall if Typepad gives you the power to configure that but seems it should.
Lyme disease is […] an intergalactic gift for the most deeply spiritual people
I suppose that, having had it 3 times, I should expect to find myself canonized shortly.
Not seeing a link to the main page from the comments. Not sure if this has already been mentioned.
Right hand column, top of “Recent Posts” section.
Not seeing a link to the main page from the comments.
Bottom of page on left.
Also tip jar hit.
any Amazon UK shopping… results in a small fee for your host at no extra cost to you.
On it. Have list. 🙂
Morning, all.
Also tip jar hit.
On it. Have list. 🙂
Bless you, sir, and bless you, madam. Should you be sprawled on the sofa and 90 seconds into the tense set-up of a pacey action movie, may your overly chatty neighbour, clearly bored, not choose that precise moment to share her boredom with you via a long, rambling and entirely unnecessary phone call.
a medical intuitive
Your health in a star chart?
One of my best friends of over twelve years is struggling with some issues with his kids. He’s been dancing around the issue for six months. He’ll get there when he’s ready and he knows there will be a cold one when he is.
Sometimes people want to talk about whatever horrible thing is happening to them, to vent or weep or whatever, and sometimes they just want a break from thinking about whatever the horrible thing is and would prefer an interlude of normal social interaction. A mental holiday, as it were. I suppose the ideal is to make it understood that either possibility is okay.
Did not have nostalgia for the Wiemar Republic on my 2022 list.
[ Rummages in archives. ]
But hey, wokeness is just about being polite, you know.
For instance, the baby formula shortage and lack of monkeypox vaccine (in freezers in Europe) are both due to bureaucrats not accepting european inspection regs as adequate
Unfortunately, it works both ways. Europeans don’t accept U.S. regs or standards as adequate either. This covers medical devices, automobiles, electronics, food labelling, and scores of other things. Ultimately it was/is designed to carve out the world into separate “consumer goods” trading blocks. In its time, Japan was a master at creating very country specific regs. – I seem to recall one for snow to prevent the importation of foreign skis.
So yes, bureaucrats. But not without the widespread support of politicians and industrialists.
Did not have nostalgia for the Wiemar Republic on my 2022 list.
Nor did I.
But given the draconian measures Germany is taking to conserve natural gas and oil, should we expect to see a law allowing Germans to only change their underwear once a year?
Thanks for the blogging, gracious host. *hits tip jar*
*hits tip jar*
Bless you, sir. May your sock drawer never be overstuffed with items of archaeological age and questionable elasticity.
And again, thanks to all who’ve chipped in so far, or subscribed, or done shopping via the Amazon links, including all those much too shy to say hello. It’s much appreciated and is what keeps this place here.
items of archaeological age
This would rob me of the ability to use “I have socks older than you” as a rejoinder to stroppy Gen-Zers.
This would rob me of the ability to use “I have socks older than you” as a rejoinder to stroppy Gen-Zers.
Every six months or so, a ruthless sock purge seems necessary. Otherwise, the shapeless, threadbare things, the ones that belong on a fire, just get thrown in the laundry and then stuffed back in the drawer. Usually on top of the new ones, thereby hiding them, and then the cycle repeats.
should we expect to see a law allowing Germans to only change their underwear once a year?
Let’s take a break from inveighing against Perfidious France to denounce the Boche.
[ Starts leafing through dictionary of ethnic slurs. ]
Nostalgia for the Wiemar Republic
So Frau Paus is acknowledging that the gender-benders are disabled.
the problematic nature of video conferencing – say, when a participant’s wedding photo – which is to say, evidence of a happy marriage – is visible in the background
I’m guessing the HOA on tonight’s FaceTime call will be quite uncomfortable if they happen to see the captured Japanese battle flag in the background on my wall.
…should we expect to see a law allowing Germans to only change their underwear once a year?
Yes, and they must wear it on the outside so the Unterwäschepolizei from the Reichsministerium für Unterwäsche can confirm that it has not been changed.
But hey, wokeness is just about being polite, you know.
That.
P.S. “Ping!”
That.
Well, imagine the kind of utter cow you’d have to be. And what that says about the psychology of wokeness, the inclinations to which it appeals.
P.S. “Ping!”
Bless you, madam. May you always remember to defrost the meatballs.
Wedding photo: but resentment is the gas that powers the Woke engine. They want to eliminate the admiration for slim, fit people, pretty people, rich people, smart people. They want to dumb-down school and have eliminated valedictorians in lots of places (makes someone feel bad). Criticism of anyone for any reason is hate speech. Can’t even criticize pedos and murderers. Envy is a dangerous drug.
resentment is the gas that powers the Woke engine. They want to eliminate the admiration for slim, fit people, pretty people, rich people, smart people.
That.
…resentment is the gas that powers the Woke engine…
Resentment, contempt, and hate.
“The woke left is composed of ugly people who want to be treated as beautiful people, bad people who want to be treated as good people, stupid people who want to be treated as smart people, and the grifters who profit from the above”
Instapundit.
[ Rummages in archive again. ]
Walking While Outdoors: A New Frontier For Fearless Homosexuals.
Somewhat related, The White Outdoors.
A New Frontier
Ah! Logic, what is it good for?