July 3rd...

 

Stolen fair and square from MeWe...

Some might suggest that bourbon and bacon are more appropriate. 

PSA

So there I was on Facebook...

...minding my own business (yeah, yeah, I know, no one on Facebook minds their own business, I mean, that's the whole point, but work with me here) and reading one of the posts by Michael Z "Mad Mike" Williamson demolishing the absurd claims that enabling women to defend themselves from violent assault somehow enables "rape culture" itself, (of late, he and Larry Correia have been tag teaming a whole passel of Social Justice Warriors, AKA SJWs, AKA gutless progressive crypto-commies) when someone opined that

I'd kinda like a picture of Charles Darwin saying "John Browning gave the female gender a way to teach the male gender not to rape via natural selection."

I live to serve*...

*Not really.  Get your own damn' sammich.

Guns, pipes, axes, and razors

Someone started a sort of a meme on Pistol-Forums.com about that.  In order to load the pics there, I had to have them hosted somewhere, and what the heck, I have this blog I haven't used in a week or so...

Colt Combat Commander, SOG Fusion tomahawk, William Henry Damascus folder,
Nording Danish Freehand, can of Frog Morton On The Bayou tobacco.

Who needs a razor?  I have tamahawks and knives!

Smith & Wesson 625-8 JM, Camillus Air Force Survival knife, Cold Steel Rifleman tomahawk,
Turkish meerschaum, Froggie On The Bayou.

Plus, there's always the Lumberjack Method, from the old song:

He never shaved his whiskers
From off his horny hide
He hit them with a hammer
And bit them off inside!

QuickMemery--First Amendment Edition

Here:Defend the Constitution meme | quickmeme

There's 115 pages of these things!  Each page has 14 different memes!

Seen at Power Line: Obama Cracks Down On Free Speech: the Quickmeme |

Music meme

Courtesy Dirt, er, Not Clausewitz.

1.) What was the first song you ever bought?
2.) What song always gets you dancing?
3.) What song takes you back to your childhood?
4.) What is your perfect love song?
5.) What song would you want at your funeral?
6.) Time for an encore. One last song that makes you, you.

1. Um. Don't remember. Something by Herb Alpert or Maynard Ferguson, probably, back when I knew how to play the trumpet. (Yes, I was a plumbing man.)
2. I blogged this a while ago, Santana's Smooth. What can I say?
3. Um. None, really. Well, OK, "On Top of Spaghetti."
4. Unchained Melody. And the Nat and Natalie version of Unforgettable. Actually, until I met Mrs. Drang, I never really had an "Our song."
5. My way.
6. My way.

Tetrology

Another meme, in this case, Robb Allen's Sharp as a Marble - Your 5 most wanted.  Guns, that is.

What 5 firearms would I purchase, should price nor practicality be an issue?

My choices:

1. Ma Deuce.  Of course.  
2. M1928 Thompson Submachine gun.
3. BAR.  Not sure I care which variant.  
4. Sharps carbine with a coffee grinder in the butt.  Just because the very thought makes me giggle.
5. Ferguson rifle.  Which would hang as a trophy.

On a daily basis those last two might change; I might, for example, really, really want a low serial number M1911.  Or a good-condition M1Garand that hasn't been butchered "civilianized".  Or a GAU19 to go with the M2HB.  (Do they make progressive reloaders in .50BMG?)  Maybe an Officer's Fusil, with accoutrements, instead of the Ferguson.

The first three are definitely both "price and practicality no object" items, since I'd have to move to a state where a man could actually own full-auto guns. 

How meta is this?

So, remember the Literal Eclipse of The Heart video?  In which the lyrics to Bonnie Tyler's one hit, Total Eclipse Of The Heart, are rewritten to match the original video?  (Which was pretty weird, as they tended to be back then...) No?  Well, here it is again:

(The video is of a cat watching the video, due to Sony having no sense of humor...)

I still crack up at "It started out as Hogwarts and wound up as Lord Of The Flies..."
Well, it seems someone has taken the lyrics to that version, and changed the video to match, using clips from Dr. Who.

Notes, downloadable version: zeborah | Fanvid: Literal Eclipse of the Heart
h/t Video: 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' Literal Version Meets Doctor Who | Underwire | Wired.com

Better to light a candle against the darkness...

...than to reflect on the increasing irrelevance of your organization, and the futility of taking a metaphor literally.

Weer'd Beard reports that the Coalition to Disarm Law-abiding Americans thinks that a candlelight protest will somehow stop the blood in the streets.

Yeah, I know, "What blood in the streets?" (See previous post.)

Anyway.  Behind the times as I usually seem to be, here is the photo I took and was supposed to post on January 8^th:

We have candles, but they're mostly the great, big pillar types that we use for emergency lighting during power outages, and are too unwieldy to move around for artsy photos, so I used my Surefire Z2 instead.  I think it has sufficient candlepower.

For good measure, and speaking of lighting a candle metaphorically, the pic on my Droid is of me helping teach an NRA Personal Protection class.

Colt Combat Commander, Surefire Z2, Columbia River Knife and Tool M16-10Z, and Droid.  Both mags are Pachmayr Stainless 7-round jobs with base pads I got when I picked up the .45; the mag pouch for the spare is Safariland.

For good measure: A Week’s Worth of Self-Defense | Power Line

Call it the Anti-meme

Fer cryin' out loud.  Tam posts a list of the 15 most played tunes on her ipoo'd, and the next thing you know everyone's doin' it.

Am I the only gun blogger who doesn't have a playlist/ipod/MP3 player? I've thought about getting one, but the only time I'd listen to it would be when I was on a plane, which doesn't happen often enough to make it worthwhile.  I loaded a bunch of tunes on my Droid, and. Never. Ever. Played. Any of them.

Maybe if I had a car with an accesory jack on the audio system.

Maybe.

Modern Dilemmas

I forget where I saw this, it was in the last day or two:

At what point should you inform your date that you are armed?

 I dunno.  When I was first introduced to Mrs. Drang, she had just received her first Concealed Weapons Permit, and filled out her first 4473 for her first gun.  So it never came up.

UPDATE:  It was on Instapundit.

#WeCan'tWait...

(reference)
...to find out what @BarackObama and @EricHolder really knew about Fast 'n' Furious, and when they knew it.

...for the acclaimed "most transparent administration EV-AHR" to  operate openly.  And honestly.

...for an apology to our good friends and allies, like the United Kingdom, Israel, and Poland, for apparently deliberate slights.

...for an acknowledgment that radical Islam is at war with Western Civilization.

...that Sharia Law is contrary to every basic precept of Western Civilization.

The knife meme

Seen first (by me) at Tam's, but Og started it. 

Take the knife out of your pocket and take a picture of it, and post it. Or post a picture of the same knife from a brochure or whatever.
No, not your favorite knife, or your prettiest, but the one that never leaves your side.

I've avoided it, largely because I was mostly wearing sweats or a bathrobe when I read others' posts, and had no knife on me.

Now...

20-year-old Leatherman Micra, with vet's obligatory P-38 can opener, probably older.  Micron light.  Buck something-or-other, Bantam BBW, I think.

I've also been through countless  multi-tools over the years, Leathermen and Gerbers, mostly, but no longer carry one routinely.   At work, where there are restrictions on what I an carry (without, at least theoretically, losing my job), so I carry a Gerber Shard, which is kind of neat, taking a #10 hobby knife ("X-Acto") blade.  (No sharpening, just replace it!)

Quite honestly, I lose pocket knives at an incredible rate, although the Gerber Gator, CRKT Pazoda, Spyderco Endura and Delica, and Gerber Folding Sportsman II w/"Flickit" are probably around here.

Somewhere. Maybe cat toys...

Internal soundtrack

I don't know how I let this one slide.  Good thing I stumbled on Tam's response.

So, anyway, Phil @ Random Nuclear Strikes asks the musical question:

You’re about to get eaten by the zombie hordes. You’ve prepared, but there are more than you every possibly imagined. Sorry.
As you load your last mag into your chosen weapon, what song comes up your MP3 player/IPOD?

 Ignoring the fact that I have no MP3 player/Ipod--technically, the Droid can serve, but I have yet to drain the battery that way--the normal soundtrack for my "Bandits* in the wire" fantasys tends to include Golden Earring's "Twilight Zone" and The Ted's "Stranglehold."

However.

Zombies, people...

Too obvious?

***

*I came of age in the 70s.  All my Drill Sergeants were 'Nam vets, as were most of the senior NCOs and Field Grade officers I served under for about the first half of my Army career.  I had to re-write that phrase a dozen times to try and make it slightly PC...

The Latest Thing in Memes

So, we're back from the show--and more about it later--and Mrs. Drang is tucked in with 2/3 of the Feline American contingent, and I now see that Everybody's Doin' It. 

Apparently, "it" was originally National Public Radio's list of the Top 100 Science Fiction and/or Fantasy books/series EVAR!  (Haven't found a link yet to NPR declaring that these are THE BEST, though.)

Perusing the list, I have to consider the source, as there are many I don't consider SF/F, and many others so new I never even heard of the author, let alone the title...
Highlighted titles I've read. I gave myself credit for reading one of more titles in a series.  There may be a few of these I started and didn't finish, but felt like I should get paid by the author for the time I wasted...
I've italicized authors I never heard of, and underlined those I think shouldn't have been on the list.
1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin
6. 1984, by George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore  (IMHO, comic book don't count)
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
25. The Stand, by Stephen King
26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
28. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman  (Graphic novels)
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells
40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings
42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan  (And I believe you mean Connie Willis)
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks  (Oh, puh-lease...)
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy  (BARF!)
64. Jonathan Strange, Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore
74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi
75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde  (Mrs. Drang read some of these, don't think they belong)
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart  (Nothing fantastic about it...)
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan (Doesn't she write Celtic bodice rippers?)
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville 
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

So I think that's 65+/- out of 100.  Some of the "Who?" items, I may have seen on the shelves, and didn't pick up.  More importantly, of course, "That isn't even SF/F!" is subjective, and YMMV.  At a con once I wandered into a debate which had essentially devolved into a question of "Fannish Purity"--who had read more of whom, knew the lyrics to more filk, and other pointless crap--just before it reached the "Chrys knives at Dawn" stage; I beat a hasty retreat.

The Glorious Inevitabliity of BACON! UPDATED

This may not be the first or only BEER brewed with BACON, but it's the only one I know of.

3 Skulls Ales (Seattle, WA) Buccaneer Bacon, a Lager brewed with BACON!

Tasting notes: Lager. With BACON.

Duh.

UPDATE:  Apparently it is not, in fact, the only bacon beer.  Whether it's the first is unknown.

"What's on your nightstand?"

So far as I know, Brigid started it, although I don't think she intended it to be a meme.

• 2 back numbers of QST Magazine and the 2008 ARRL Handbook. (Time to upgrade...)
• Bruce Lancaster's Guns of Burgoyne, in which a Hessian artillery Lieutenant falls afoul of a not-yet-treasonous Benedict Arnold
• Neil Stephenson's Anathem
• McLemore's The Fighting Tomahawk
• The American Handgunner Spring/Summer 2010 Personal Defense Annual (I just picked up the Fall/Winter edition today.)
• Lords of the Sea, by John Hale.  A naval history of ancient Athens, with a weather eye (heh) towards the relationship between the culture of the rowing frame, as it were, and the development of democracy in Athens.

I won't list all the titles (or titles, or titles, or titles, or titles) loaded in my Sony ebook reader...  (Did I mention that Tros of Samothrace is available?)

Note that this is a list of what books are on my nightstand; Mrs. Drang has a library of her own...  (Not to mention that we both have an assortment of flashlights and various devices with which to repel boarders...)

Who?

According to I Write Like,

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

whoever that is. Hmmph.  That sample was based on Calibration.  Let's try a different post...
Ha!  Using  Sleepin' Swimmin' wit da fishes

I write like
Jack London

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

of whom I have at least, heard...
What happens when I dig out some of my old, absolutely unsellable fiction...?

I write like
P. G. Wodehouse

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Really?  Huh.
h/t LawDog.

I didn't know he WAS an "Action Hero"

You Scored as Maximus

After his family was murdered by the evil emperor Commodus, the great Roman general Maximus went into hiding to avoid Commodus's assassins. He became a gladiator, hoping to dominate the colosseum in order to one day get the chance of killing Commodus. Maximus is valiant, courageous, and dedicated. He wants nothing more than the chance to avenge his family, but his temper often gets the better of him.

Maximus

71%

William Wallace

58%

Neo, the "One"

58%

Batman, the Dark Knight

58%

The Amazing Spider-Man

54%

The Terminator

54%

Indiana Jones

50%

Captain Jack Sparrow

50%

El Zorro

46%

Lara Croft

46%

James Bond, Agent 007

42%

Here's the quiz.

Courtesy Brigid: Which Action Hero are You?

I Do Not Either have An accent!

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

hat tip to Phlegmfatale.

"They" say--or used to--the "the average" American accent, the equivalent, I guess of the BBC's "Received Standard English"--except that that accent isn't actually spoken off the telly-- was spoken in Detroit, in the suburb of Livonia, to be precise.

I dunno. But I still refer to "generic carbonated beverages" as "pop." (A "soda" is "pop" with ice cream in it.)

Note: The clue is that all of those words sound differant, except "Mary, merry, marry."