Friday, July 13, 2007

cookin' cat

from here. this is an old but funny as hell usenet post and flame war

How to make Tamales...
A recipie.


How long has it been, since you had a rich, steaming plate of tamales? Remember how delicious tamales are? NO ONE can resist a well-garnished plate of REAL tamales, after all.

Well, no longer will you have to wait around until you can afford to visit an expensive restraunt which serves such a delicasy. I'll share with you the easy recipie for making your own REAL TAMALES, right at home!

The first thing you need, is some real tamale meat. Some folks will tell you to use beef, or chicken - this is a mistake!

RULE ONE - you can't make a REAL tamale,
without catmeat. Cat; it's the
"other" red meat.



This is how to obtain fine tamale meats:

_._
.-'.\ `.
/` ./\__| "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty..."
| ./\~()\()
\ \_ _) (\
\/ //\ //_
_/\ `-/\_ (\(((\
/ \ \ / / \ \___/
/ \/\/\/ \ / /
/ \ /_ \/ /
| | \/ \ / _.-"
| | ; |\___/ __..--' "Meow?"
| | : | __..--""
| |/ : \| /\/\ (
| | : | )oo )_____)
\__|____:___| ="= )
_/ \) | //>>-.//\
\\_ /\_ \ | (/ \) \)\)
(U[_| \ |
\||> | |
|| / |
|| / |
/ / |
/____/|___|
| : :\|: :\
\ ___\ ___| jro
`-.-'`---'

For cat hunting, I reccomend a Webley-Fosbury, naturally. Any common .22 or shotgun will do just swell, however. If you live in some Third World country which doesn't suffer it's population to own firearms, a basic club or rock will suffice...

__..\/
/\ \ \\
/_/\_.___\ "Now, if you are planning a feast,
/\\~()\()~/\ you might need a dozen of these
\_ _) _/ bastards. But they're common, and
\ //\\/ incredibly stupid! A simple call
_/\ __ /\_ will attract them right into your
/ \ \ / / \ killzone, where they can be easily
/ \/\/\/ \ dispatched by a bullet, or a
/ \ /_ \________ mere blow to the head."
| | \/ \ | \\
| | ; |\______|_/|/
| | : | ||
| |/ : \| ||
| | : | / \
\__|____:___| / \
_/ \) | //| |\\
\\_ /\_ | | "" | | ""
(U[_| | | //\/\\
\|| | | /| xx |\
||| | | ""=\_o/=""
||| | | U
| | |
|____|___|
|: :||: :\
\ ___\ ___| jro
`-.-'`---'




__..\/ "A lot of people ask me,
/\ \ \\ 'John, where do you find
/_/\_.___\ all those great cats for
/\\~()\()~/\ tamales?' Well..."
\_ _) _/
\ //\\/
/))) __/\ __ /\__ (((\
/ |/) / \ \ / / \ (\| \
\___/ / \/\/\/ \ \___/
\ \/ \ / \/ /
\ / \/ __\ /
\ /| ; \ /
\__/ | : |\___/
| : |
JRO


"Like most common pests, you can find them just about anywhere. The streets and alleys abound with the things. Sometimes, one may even walk into your own yard. In your neighborhood, there __..\/ may also be people who keep the
/\ \ \\ varmits, as "pets". The trick
/_/\_.___\ here, is to lure the creature
/\~()/()~//\ outside - where you can bag it.
\_ (_ _/ Don't feel bad about doing this;
\ //\\ / /) you will actually be
__/\ __ /\__ (\/((\ doing the "owner" a
/ \ \ / / \ \___/ favor! The beasts
/ \/\/\/ \ / / are known to shed
/ \ / \/ / DISEASES in their feces,
| | \/ __\ / / which small children can
| | ; \ / fall victim to. Since cat
| | : |\___/ owners never clean up a
| | : | cat's droppings, this is
| |/ : \| a serious health problem."
jro

"If you suspect that someone you know may be a cat
__..\/ owner, this can be easily verified.
/\ \ \\ Just visit their home. You may not
/_/\_.___\ SEE the cat, but you will certianly
/\\~()\()~/\ SMELL the cat's fecal material. Do
\_ _) _/ not be surprised if you find some
\ //\\/ of the cat's droppings visible on
__/\ __ /\__ the floor, furniture, beds, and in
/ \ \ / / \ a box which most owners keep in
/ \/\/\/ \ their kitchens, believing the cat
/ \ / \ should be encouraged to relieve
| | \/ __| | itself, there. If you have an
| | ; | | opportunity, take the cat and
| | : | | leave. If this is impractical,
| |/ : \| | keep watch on the owner's house,
jro because sooner or later they
will let it out for a time, and
you can then acquire it's meat."

A good-sized adult cat, when skinned out, should have enough meat on it's bones to make a six or eight tamales. Smaller cats and the immature kittens (often sought for their tenderness), won't yield quite as much meat, so adjust the number you will need, accordingly.
Maybe you have a commerical source of pre-packaged cat. Let me suggest, however, that you kill and butcher your own. Skinning cat isn't as much of an ordeal as you may think. First, lop off the head, and discard it. It contains no usable meat, and the brain of a cat is too small to bother with. Believe me, it would take many, many cats, just to make a small pan of brains and eggs!
(\(\
(\ /)///_
\\_//.-\ )____
|_ / .-'-----'
___ (_)_.-'
=/ o \=
( x_x )
\/ \/

The next thing you want to remove, is the tail. This should also be discarded...
_ __
( ( \
/ / |
/ / /
\ \ \
-./_/ \ _.---._
\ _.-'_.-'-._`-.
| \.-' `-'
______/


Get rid of the feet, next...

\ \
\.--.|
`---'
.---.
.`--'(_
`-.__;;;

You may then make a longitudal incision on the cat's abdomen. Reach into the body cavity, and remove all of the internal organs. Discard them; especially the liver, which is frequently toxic in domestic cats. In any event, it is quite inedible. There are no organ meats in cat.
The Swedish make a practice of eating cat genitalia, and although they may relish these portions, I would not suggest you try it. Mad Cat Disease has definately been linked to the eating of cat reproductive organs.

|____|
/ \
/ _ /
| / \)
\_)) )
( _))_) _ _
_ __ )) (( / / |
\ \ \ (_)-'_) / / /
\ \ \ (_( )) \ \ \
|_| |_ (_(( /_/ \
.' | \`.((_).' \
/ |
`.___________________/

At this point, you can now "skin" the meat. This is accomplished by grabbing the loose skin around where the head was removed, and pulling it back. Use a pair of pliers, if necessary, but try not to resort to using a knife in places where you have trouble. With a little practice, you should be able to peel the cat's skin back, and continue the process until you have rolled it completely off the body.

__..\/
/\ \ \\
/_/\_.___\ "Some gourmets will tell you to start
/\~()/()~//\ skinning from the open abdominal area.
\_ (_ _/ I advise against this; it is the cruder
\ //\\ / method, and you will definately have to
__/\ __ /\__ use your knife at some point to finish up.
/ \ \ / / \ There may be more than one way to skin a
/ \/\/\/ \ cat, but there is only one way to do it
/ \ / \ properly, and elegantly. After you've
| | \/ __| | skinned a few cats my way, I'm certain
| | ; | | you'll agree that it IS the best method.
| | : | |


Now that you have your cat skinned, gutted, and trimmed of extraneous limbs and the head, it's time to wash the meat. If you skinned the cat properly, there should be no hair remaining on the meat. Nevertheless, you should wash it carefully, to make sure there are no stray hairs.

For best results you should soak your cat in salt water, for at least an hour. If you have guests coming and are pressed for time, you can skip over this step. If you add a little extra seasoning to your cat in the cooking process, even a true connosiuer shouldn't be able to recognize that you skipped over the soaking process.


__________
( )
\ /
\ / "Okay, now that we've got that little
|______| chore out of the way, let's START
/_/\_.___\ COOKING!... First, we're going to
/\\~()\()~/\ flense the meat from the bones. We're
/| \_ _) _/ making tamales, remember! If this dish
/ / \ //\\/ was to be baked cat, you could just toss
_/_/ __/\ __ /\__ the beast in the oven at 350 degrees, and
(/.(\ / \__/ / \ sit back and wait for a couple of hours.
(o/_/ / o/ \ But what we need is bone-free cat strips,
\ \/ | \ to toss right into the frying pan..."
\ / | |
\ /| o| | |
\__/ | | | |
| | | |
JRO

_____
.-"" ""-.
.' _.-----._ `.
/ .'. `::,`:`. \_______________________
/ :: ::; `;:' .::' \ (_) \
| .::'.: `:::. :. |_____________________/
| ::. .::':: .:' /|
|\ .:: ::: .::' / | "Fill your frying pan up with the catmeat,
\ `. :;. ::. .' / to which you should add 1 cup of Mexican-
\ `.__________.' / style chili sauce, 2 cloves of garlic, and
`-. .-' 1 tablespoon of crushed cumin seeds. Add
`-.______.-' jro chile powder, and salt and pepper, to taste.
Fry at a medium-high temperature in a little
cooking oil, stirring occasionally. After ten or fifteen minutes, add 1 cup of water, reduce heat, and simmer."

"Meanwhile, place 3 cups of cornmeal in a mixing bowl. Add 1/4 cup of butter, 1/4 cup of lard, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and 1/2 a teaspoon of salt. Mix well.

[A note about lard: Lard tastes much better than vegetable grease, but if you are a disgusting wide-body, you better just use Crisco, or a similar product.]

To this, add one and a half cups of chicken or cat broth. Beat until you have a light, soft dough."



__________
( )
\ / "Now take a small ball of your dough mixture,
\ / and spread it out on a corn husk. Remember
|______| to pre-soak your corn husks for an hour or
/_/\_.___\ two, so they will be soft and easy to roll.
/\\~()\()~/\ If you don't have any corn husks, you can use
\_ _) _/ _ aluminum foil, in 4x4 inch squares."
\ //\\/ _(_)
__/\ __ /\__ /\\\\
/ \__/ / \ |___/
/ o/ \ / /
/ | \/ /
| | | \ /
| | o| |\ /
| | | | `--'
| | | |
JRO

.-'"""""`-. "Spread at least a tablespoon
.-'.-' .-' .-' full of your filling down the
.-' .-' .-'.-' center of your dough. Then roll
.-'.-' .-' .-' the whole thing up, tucking in the
.-' .-'.-'.-' ends of the corn husk, so it stays
.-'.-' .-'.-' together. It should look about like
.-'.-' .-' .-' this."
`-._____.-'






) ( )
( ___ ( "When you have 12 to 18 tamales ready
) ( __(___)__ ( ( to cook, steam them over boiling
__..--"" ""--..__ ) water, for about two hours."
|_________________________| )
| |___________________
( | |__)________________)
)| | )
_\_______________________/_ (
| |
| |__________________
| |__________________)
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
`-._____________________.-'




__________
( ) "Garnish with a little lettuce,
\ / spread a little salsa over the
\ / top, and they're ready to serve!"
|______|
/_/\_.___\
/\\~()\()~/\
\_ _) _/
\ //\\/
__/\ __ /\__
/ \__/ / \
/ o/ \
/ | || \
\ \ |/ /
\ \_...---.../_
_.-"" __________""-.
.' .'.' / / / / / /\ `.`._
`. :: ()()()()()/ / :: `.
`.`. ()()()()()()/ .'.'_.'
`-.______________.-' jro




__..\/
/\ \ \\
/_/\_.___\
/\\~()\()~/\ "BON APPERTITE!"
\_ _) _/
\ //\\/
_/\ __ /\_
/ \ \ / / \
/ \/\/\/ \
/ \ /_ \________
| | \/ \ | \\
| | ; |\______|_/|/
| | : | ||
| |/ : \| ||
| | : | / \
\__|____:___| / \
_/ \) | //| |\\
\\_ /\_ | | "" | | ""
(U[_| | | //\/\\
\|| | | /| xx |\
||| | | ""=\_o/=""
||| | | U
| | |
|____|___| ((\ /\/\.----._
jro |: :||: :\ /)(\ /// ( xx ) `-.___
\ ___\ ___| \\//.-\ )\o_/ \\---\\'----'
`-.-'`---' _| \ .-'--U--' \) (/
`-\__.-'-----./\/\
=/ o\=\ )__\\( xx
( xx ) \\ ///`-U'
\/\/ (/(/|)


--
Jonathon R. Oglesbee
oglesbee@
mail.fullnet.net

Labels:

Thursday, July 12, 2007

tahoe fire sac bee article: it's a good'un

sacbee.com - The online division of The Sacramento Bee

This story is taken from Sacbee / News.
Keeping Tahoe safe
Harold Singer lost his home in the Angora fire. Now, the head of the water district dedicated to keeping Tahoe blue is taking a new look at his agency's rules.
By Chris Bowman - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Monday, July 9, 2007

California's top water quality enforcer at Lake Tahoe, the sapphire of the Sierra, said the recent wildfire that ripped through hundreds of south shore homes should "re-open the book" on environmental rules that call for preserving the lake's clarity above all else.

For decades, "Keep Tahoe Blue" has defined the overarching mission for this region that Congress declared a "national treasure."

Sport-utility vehicles, hybrids and skateboards alike sport the motto on decals. Former President Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore embraced the goal at a lakeside summit that raised nearly $1 billion to halt urban runoff into the lake.

But the destruction from last month's Angora fire has the California official most directly responsible for guarding the holy waters rethinking that priority.

"The biggest tragedy of all of this will be if we don't learn from what happened," said Harold Singer, executive officer of the state Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board.

"I am willing to open up the book on this. If there is something that tells us there is a better way to protect water quality and still allow fire agencies to reduce the fire threat, we will work with them."

To that end, Singer has already opened discussions with federal and state land managers and the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, which includes the devastated Upper Truckee subdivision at the south end of the lake.

Foremost on their minds are the regulations protecting the 64 "stream environment zones" around the lake. Many of these creeks are cluttered with deadwood and flanked with dense stands of white fir and lodge pole pines.

The stream zones, however, are off-limits to conventional logging operations that fire officials say are needed to efficiently reduce fire hazard throughout the heavily forested, 500-square-mile Tahoe basin.

Heavy disturbance could release large slugs of sediment that streams would funnel into the lake, clouding its clarity. Likewise, heavy equipment could compact the spongy wetlands that naturally absorb and filter stormwater runoff.

The lake already is losing about a foot of transparency a year, the result of development disturbing the fragile granite soil and the fallout of air pollutants from traffic ringing the urban playground.

Some fire analysts said Angora Creek became the primary path of the blaze because it is choked with deadwood and because stretches of the creek corridor run southwest to northeast, the predominant direction of the wind-driven fire.

"I know that with the very strong southwesterly winds that day (June 24) and with the alignment of the creek, all that dead material in there contributed to the intensity of the fire -- that and the fact that we had very low relative humidity the previous two days," said Dave Marlow, manager of vegetation, fire and fuels for the U.S. Forest Service's Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.

"It's why we call the stream zones the wicks to the bigger fire," Marlow said. "The fire will tend to follow that untreated, decadent jackstraw pile of vegetation along streams, and then get up to the forest and cause problems. That's partially what happened in the case of the Angora fire."

Singer said the devastation has prompted him to investigate whether the streams could sustain more disturbance for the sake of better fire protection.

"I have called fire officials and they've said that (Angora) stream zone was the primary path of the fire. So it's a problem that we need to deal with. I want to learn from this and see if there is something I am doing that is hampering their fire prevention efforts."

If Singer sounds as though he is taking this personally, it's because he has been publicly blamed for the fire.

In the midst of the blaze, Tim Leslie, who represented the California side of the lake for more than 15 years in the Assembly and Senate, lambasted Singer as an unyielding obstacle to reducing the fire danger at Tahoe.

"Harold Singer ... is the bureaucrat of bureaucrats," Leslie said in a June 27 phone interview with KFBK radio talk show host Tom Sullivan.

"You should have him on the show, but when he comes on, he'll wow everybody, he'll convince everybody he did everything humanly possible, blah, blah, blah. But I tell you that's what it is -- blah, blah. He's the one who says, 'Oh, you can't walk on the ground, you can't cut out those dead trees.' "

Had Sullivan sought out Singer for response, he probably would have had a hard time reaching him. Singer said he was out all that day house hunting with his wife and two children. Their home of 19 years was one of the 254 destroyed in the fire.

They had about 20 minutes to pack and flee.

Singer, 58, dashed for the family documents and computer. His wife, Pam, grabbed the photo albums.

Their young daughter, Regan, 7, clung to "Uni," her stuffed unicorn, while their son, Garrett, ran for the Lionel train set he got for Christmas.

"It's a Santa Fe Chief," Singer said, tears welling. He said, 'Dad, get your Lionel train, too.' "

As Singer pulled a jam-packed Ford Expedition away from their home, Garrett said, "Dad, stop!" The 13-year-old ran back and hugged the house as far as his arms could stretch.

The fire left nothing but memories to embrace upon their return six days later.

Leslie said he didn't know Singer was homeless when he skewered him on air.

"I feel sorry for anyone who lost their home. But that has nothing to do with any of my opinions related to the fire danger around here," Leslie said Friday in an interview with The Bee.

Leslie called Singer's willingness to reconsider the streamside logging restrictions "a pleasant change of attitude" -- but too little, too late.

"He should have realized the danger a long time ago," Leslie said. "Instead of looking for ways to stop thinning, he should have been looking for ways to get around these bureaucratic obstacles."

But Singer and other environment officials in the Tahoe basin have been keen to the fire danger for years.

In 1994, the politically appointed members of the Lahontan water board -- whose region runs the length of the eastern side of the Sierra -- approved Singer's recommendation to allow greater use of controlled burns in stream zones and permit heavy logging in these areas under certain conditions. For example, big trucks and trackers can enter wetlands over the snow in meadows that already have roads.

The following year Singer won an exemption from the state forestry board that made it easier to remove dead and dying trees on the California side of the basin.

Two years ago, with the fire danger reaching the critical stage, the forestry board adopted an "emergency order" exclusively for Tahoe allowing live green trees to be removed along streams without the normally required environmental impact report -- again at Singer's urging.

And last year, the Lahontan water board secured $200,000 in state money with a 50 percent match from up to 80 property owners to pay for the removal of trees and underbrush within 30 feet of homes in the Lake Valley Fire Protection District.

Still, most of the fire clearing along Tahoe streams has been done on foot with chainsaws, with crews carrying out wood by hand, the Forest Service's Marlow said.

Singer said he is open to loggers entering sensitive areas with big rigs that cut costs and time so long as they can show the soil disturbance will be minimal.

The Forest Service is taking up Singer's offer in a fire-prone area threatening Lake Tahoe Community College, on the south shore.

"We are really hoping that we can really be able to do this work without any negative effect on the environment," Marlow said.

Go to: Sacbee / Back to story

This article is protected by copyright and should not be printed or distributed for anything except personal use.
The Sacramento Bee, 2100 Q St., P.O. Box 15779, Sacramento, CA 95852
Phone: (916) 321-1000

Copyright © The Sacramento Bee

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Wednesday, September 27, 2006

The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord

The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord

1. My Legions of Terror will have helmets with clear plexiglass visors, not face-concealing ones.

2. My ventilation ducts will be too small to crawl through.

3. My noble half-brother whose throne I usurped will be killed, not kept anonymously imprisoned in a forgotten cell of my dungeon.

4. Shooting is not too good for my enemies.

5.The artifact which is the source of my power will not be kept on the Mountain of Despair beyond the River of Fire guarded by the Dragons of Eternity. It will be in my safe-deposit box. The same applies to the object which is my one weakness.

6.I will not gloat over my enemies' predicament before killing them.

7. When I've captured my adversary and he says, "Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?" I'll say, "No." and shoot him. No, on second thought I'll shoot him then say "No."

8. After I kidnap the beautiful princess, we will be married immediately in a quiet civil ceremony, not a lavish spectacle in three weeks' time during which the final phase of my plan will be carried out.

9. I will not include a self-destruct mechanism unless absolutely necessary. If it is necessary, it will not be a large red button labelled "Danger: Do Not Push". The big red button marked "Do Not Push" will instead trigger a spray of bullets on anyone stupid enough to disregard it. Similarly, the ON/OFF switch will not clearly be labelled as such.

10. I will not interrogate my enemies in the inner sanctum -- a small hotel well outside my borders will work just as well.

11. I will be secure in my superiority. Therefore, I will feel no need to prove it by leaving clues in the form of riddles or leaving my weaker enemies alive to show they pose no threat.

12. One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation.

13. All slain enemies will be cremated, or at least have several rounds of ammunition emptied into them, not left for dead at the bottom of the cliff. The announcement of their deaths, as well as any accompanying celebration, will be deferred until after the aforementioned disposal.

14. The hero is not entitled to a last kiss, a last cigarette, or any other form of last request.

15. I will never employ any device with a digital countdown. If I find that such a device is absolutely unavoidable, I will set it to activate when the counter reaches 117 and the hero is just putting his plan into operation.

16. I will never utter the sentence "But before I kill you, there's just one thing I want to know."

17. When I employ people as advisors, I will occasionally listen to their advice.

18. I will not have a son. Although his laughably under-planned attempt to usurp power would easily fail, it would provide a fatal distraction at a crucial point in time.

19. I will not have a daughter. She would be as beautiful as she was evil, but one look at the hero's rugged countenance and she'd betray her own father.

20. Despite its proven stress-relieving effect, I will not indulge in maniacal laughter. When so occupied, it's too easy to miss unexpected developments that a more attentive individual could adjust to accordingly.

21. I will hire a talented fashion designer to create original uniforms for my Legions of Terror, as opposed to some cheap knock-offs that make them look like Nazi stormtroopers, Roman footsoldiers, or savage Mongol hordes. All were eventually defeated and I want my troops to have a more positive mind-set.

22. No matter how tempted I am with the prospect of unlimited power, I will not consume any energy field bigger than my head.

23. I will keep a special cache of low-tech weapons and train my troops in their use. That way -- even if the heroes manage to neutralize my power generator and/or render the standard-issue energy weapons useless -- my troops will not be overrun by a handful of savages armed with spears and rocks.

24. I will maintain a realistic assessment of my strengths and weaknesses. Even though this takes some of the fun out of the job, at least I will never utter the line "No, this cannot be! I AM INVINCIBLE!!!" (After that, death is usually instantaneous.)

25. No matter how well it would perform, I will never construct any sort of machinery which is completely indestructible except for one small and virtually inaccessible vulnerable spot.

26. No matter how attractive certain members of the rebellion are, there is probably someone just as attractive who is not desperate to kill me. Therefore, I will think twice before ordering a prisoner sent to my bedchamber.

27. I will never build only one of anything important. All important systems will have redundant control panels and power supplies. For the same reason I will always carry at least two fully loaded weapons at all times.

28. My pet monster will be kept in a secure cage from which it cannot escape and into which I could not accidentally stumble.

29. I will dress in bright and cheery colors, and so throw my enemies into confusion.

30. All bumbling conjurers, clumsy squires, no-talent bards, and cowardly thieves in the land will be preemptively put to death. My foes will surely give up and abandon their quest if they have no source of comic relief.

31. All naive, busty tavern wenches in my realm will be replaced with surly, world-weary waitresses who will provide no unexpected reinforcement and/or romantic subplot for the hero or his sidekick.

32. I will not fly into a rage and kill a messenger who brings me bad news just to illustrate how evil I really am. Good messengers are hard to come by.

33. I won't require high-ranking female members of my organization to wear a stainless-steel bustier. Morale is better with a more casual dress-code. Similarly, outfits made entirely from black leather will be reserved for formal occasions.

34. I will not turn into a snake. It never helps.

35. I will not grow a goatee. In the old days they made you look diabolic. Now they just make you look like a disaffected member of Generation X.

36. I will not imprison members of the same party in the same cell block, let alone the same cell. If they are important prisoners, I will keep the only key to the cell door on my person instead of handing out copies to every bottom-rung guard in the prison.

37. If my trusted lieutenant tells me my Legions of Terror are losing a battle, I will believe him. After all, he's my trusted lieutenant.

38. If an enemy I have just killed has a younger sibling or offspring anywhere, I will find them and have them killed immediately, instead of waiting for them to grow up harboring feelings of vengeance towards me in my old age.

39. If I absolutely must ride into battle, I will certainly not ride at the forefront of my Legions of Terror, nor will I seek out my opposite number among his army.

40. I will be neither chivalrous nor sporting. If I have an unstoppable superweapon, I will use it as early and as often as possible instead of keeping it in reserve.

41. Once my power is secure, I will destroy all those pesky time-travel devices.

42. When I capture the hero, I will make sure I also get his dog, monkey, ferret, or whatever sickeningly cute little animal capable of untying ropes and filching keys happens to follow him around.

43. I will maintain a healthy amount of skepticism when I capture the beautiful rebel and she claims she is attracted to my power and good looks and will gladly betray her companions if I just let her in on my plans.

44. I will only employ bounty hunters who work for money. Those who work for the pleasure of the hunt tend to do dumb things like even the odds to give the other guy a sporting chance.

45. I will make sure I have a clear understanding of who is responsible for what in my organization. For example, if my general screws up I will not draw my weapon, point it at him, say "And here is the price for failure," then suddenly turn and kill some random underling.

46. If an advisor says to me "My liege, he is but one man. What can one man possibly do?", I will reply "This." and kill the advisor.

47. If I learn that a callow youth has begun a quest to destroy me, I will slay him while he is still a callow youth instead of waiting for him to mature.

48. I will treat any beast which I control through magic or technology with respect and kindness. Thus if the control is ever broken, it will not immediately come after me for revenge.

49. If I learn the whereabouts of the one artifact which can destroy me, I will not send all my troops out to seize it. Instead I will send them out to seize something else and quietly put a Want-Ad in the local paper.

50. My main computers will have their own special operating system that will be completely incompatible with standard IBM and Macintosh powerbooks.

51. If one of my dungeon guards begins expressing concern over the conditions in the beautiful princess' cell, I will immediately transfer him to a less people-oriented position.

52. I will hire a team of board-certified architects and surveyors to examine my castle and inform me of any secret passages and abandoned tunnels that I might not know about.

53. If the beautiful princess that I capture says "I'll never marry you! Never, do you hear me, NEVER!!!", I will say "Oh well" and kill her.

54. I will not strike a bargain with a demonic being then attempt to double-cross it simply because I feel like being contrary.

55. The deformed mutants and odd-ball psychotics will have their place in my Legions of Terror. However before I send them out on important covert missions that require tact and subtlety, I will first see if there is anyone else equally qualified who would attract less attention.

56. My Legions of Terror will be trained in basic marksmanship. Any who cannot learn to hit a man-sized target at 10 meters will be used for target practice.

57. Before employing any captured artifacts or machinery, I will carefully read the owner's manual.

58. If it becomes necessary to escape, I will never stop to pose dramatically and toss off a one-liner.

59. I will never build a sentient computer smarter than I am.

60. My five-year-old child advisor will also be asked to decipher any code I am thinking of using. If he breaks the code in under 30 seconds, it will not be used. Note: this also applies to passwords.

61. If my advisors ask "Why are you risking everything on such a mad scheme?", I will not proceed until I have a response that satisfies them.

62. I will design fortress hallways with no alcoves or protruding structural supports which intruders could use for cover in a firefight.

63. Bulk trash will be disposed of in incinerators, not compactors. And they will be kept hot, with none of that nonsense about flames going through accessible tunnels at predictable intervals.

64. I will see a competent psychiatrist and get cured of all extremely unusual phobias and bizarre compulsive habits which could prove to be a disadvantage.

65. If I must have computer systems with publically available terminals, the maps they display of my complex will have a room clearly marked as the Main Control Room. That room will be the Execution Chamber. The actual main control room will be marked as Sewage Overflow Containment.

66. My security keypad will actually be a fingerprint scanner. Anyone who watches someone press a sequence of buttons or dusts the pad for fingerprints then subsequently tries to enter by repeating that sequence will trigger the alarm system.

67. No matter how many shorts we have in the system, my guards will be instructed to treat every surveillance camera malfunction as a full-scale emergency.

68. I will spare someone who saved my life sometime in the past. This is only reasonable as it encourages others to do so. However, the offer is good one time only. If they want me to spare them again, they'd better save my life again.

69. All midwives will be banned from the realm. All babies will be delivered at state-approved hospitals. Orphans will be placed in foster-homes, not abandoned in the woods to be raised by creatures of the wild.

70. When my guards split up to search for intruders, they will always travel in groups of at least two. They will be trained so that if one of them disappears mysteriously while on patrol, the other will immediately initiate an alert and call for backup, instead of quizzically peering around a corner.

71. If I decide to test a lieutenant's loyalty and see if he/she should be made a trusted lieutenant, I will have a crack squad of marksmen standing by in case the answer is no.

72. If all the heroes are standing together around a strange device and begin to taunt me, I will pull out a conventional weapon instead of using my unstoppable superweapon on them.

73. I will not agree to let the heroes go free if they win a rigged contest, even though my advisors assure me it is impossible for them to win.

74. When I create a multimedia presentation of my plan designed so that my five-year-old advisor can easily understand the details, I will not label the disk "Project Overlord" and leave it lying on top of my desk.

75. I will instruct my Legions of Terror to attack the hero en masse, instead of standing around waiting while members break off and attack one or two at a time.

76. If the hero runs up to my roof, I will not run up after him and struggle with him in an attempt to push him over the edge. I will also not engage him at the edge of a cliff. (In the middle of a rope-bridge over a river of molten lava is not even worth considering.)

77. If I have a fit of temporary insanity and decide to give the hero the chance to reject a job as my trusted lieutentant, I will retain enough sanity to wait until my current trusted lieutenant is out of earshot before making the offer.

78. I will not tell my Legions of Terror "And he must be taken alive!" The command will be "And try to take him alive if it is reasonably practical."

79. If my doomsday device happens to come with a reverse switch, as soon as it has been employed it will be melted down and made into limited-edition commemorative coins.

80. If my weakest troops fail to eliminate a hero, I will send out my best troops instead of wasting time with progressively stronger ones as he gets closer and closer to my fortress.

81. If I am fighting with the hero atop a moving platform, have disarmed him, and am about to finish him off and he glances behind me and drops flat, I too will drop flat instead of quizzically turning around to find out what he saw.

82. I will not shoot at any of my enemies if they are standing in front of the crucial support beam to a heavy, dangerous, unbalanced structure.

83. If I'm eating dinner with the hero, put poison in his goblet, then have to leave the table for any reason, I will order new drinks for both of us instead of trying to decide whether or not to switch with him.

84. I will not have captives of one sex guarded by members of the opposite sex.

85. I will not use any plan in which the final step is horribly complicated, e.g. "Align the 12 Stones of Power on the sacred altar then activate the medallion at the moment of total eclipse." Instead it will be more along the lines of "Push the button."

86. I will make sure that my doomsday device is up to code and properly grounded.

87. My vats of hazardous chemicals will be covered when not in use. Also, I will not construct walkways above them.

88. If a group of henchmen fail miserably at a task, I will not berate them for incompetence then send the same group out to try the task again.

89. After I captures the hero's superweapon, I will not immediately disband my legions and relax my guard because I believe whoever holds the weapon is unstoppable. After all, the hero held the weapon and I took it from him.

90. I will not design my Main Control Room so that every workstation is facing away from the door.

91. I will not ignore the messenger that stumbles in exhausted and obviously agitated until my personal grooming or current entertainment is finished. It might actually be important.

92. If I ever talk to the hero on the phone, I will not taunt him. Instead I will say this his dogged perseverance has given me new insight on the futility of my evil ways and that if he leaves me alone for a few months of quiet contemplation I will likely return to the path of righteousness. (Heroes are incredibly gullible in this regard.)

93. If I decide to hold a double execution of the hero and an underling who failed or betrayed me, I will see to it that the hero is scheduled to go first.

94. When arresting prisoners, my guards will not allow them to stop and grab a useless trinket of purely sentimental value.

95. My dungeon will have its own qualified medical staff complete with bodyguards. That way if a prisoner becomes sick and his cellmate tells the guard it's an emergency, the guard will fetch a trauma team instead of opening up the cell for a look.

96. My door mechanisms will be designed so that blasting the control panel on the outside seals the door and blasting the control panel on the inside opens the door, not vice versa.

97. My dungeon cells will not be furnished with objects that contain reflective surfaces or anything that can be unravelled.

98. If an attractive young couple enters my realm, I will carefully monitor their activities. If I find they are happy and affectionate, I will ignore them. However if circumstance have forced them together against their will and they spend all their time bickering and criticizing each other except during the intermittent occasions when they are saving each others' lives at which point there are hints of sexual tension, I will immediately order their execution.

99. Any data file of crucial importance will be padded to 1.45Mb in size.

And Finally...

100. Finally, to keep my subjects permanently locked in a mindless trance, I will provide each of them with free unlimited Internet access.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

thanks for all the email warnings

got this in the email today. yeah, what he said


so true... especially the very last statement..

Remember all those Email Warnings and Pleas for help...


I must send my thanks to whoever sent me the one about rat poop in the glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet towel with every envelope that needs sealing.

Also, now I have to scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason.

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Penny Brown) who is about to die in the hospital for the 1,387,258th time.

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program.

I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me, and St. Theresa's novena has granted my every wish.

I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.

Thanks to you, I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I forward an email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

Because of your concern I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains.

I no longer can buy gasoline without taking a man along to watch the car so a serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas.

I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put "Under God" on their cans.

I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.

And thanks for letting me know I can't boil a cup water in the microwave anymore because it will blow up in my face...disfiguring me for life.

I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS.

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.

I no longer receive packages from UPS or FedEx since they are actually Al Qaeda in disguise.

I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our American troops or the Salvation Army.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan.

I no longer have any sneakers -- but that will change once I receive my free replacement pair from Nike.

I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.

Thanks to you, I can't use anyone's toilet but mine because a big
brown African spider is lurking under the seat to cause me instant death when it bites my butt.

Thank you too for all the endless advice Andy Rooney has given us. I can live a better life now because he's told us how to fix everything.

And thanks to your great advice, I can't ever pick up $5.00 I dropped in the parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting underneath my car to grab my leg. Oh, and don't forget this one either!

I can no longer drive my car because I can't buy gas from certain gas companies!

If you don't send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 70 minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 PM this afternoon and the fleas from 12 camels will infest your back, causing you to grow a hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's second husband's cousin's beautician...


Have a wonderful day....
--------------------------------------------------------------------
New Study

A South American scientist from Argentina, after a lengthy study, has
discovered that people with insufficient brain and sexual activity
read their e-mail with their hand on the mouse.

Don't bother taking it off now, it's too late.

Friday, June 02, 2006

airplane jokes

text of latest email with airplane humor. i like airplane humor. some funny people fly those planes.

These are great humor! Pilot Folklore In his book, "Sled Driver", SR-71 Blackbird pilot Brian Shul writes: "I'll always remember a certain radio exchange that occurred one day as Walt (my back-seater) and I were screaming across Southern California 13 miles high. We were monitoring various radio transmissions from other aircraft as we entered Los Angeles airspace. Though they didn't really control us, they did monitor our movement across their scope. I heard a Cessna ask for a readout of its ground speed. "90 knots" Center replied. Moments later, a Twin Beech required the same. "120 knots," Center answered. We weren't the only ones proud of our ground speed that day as almost instantly an F-18 smugly transmitted, "Ah, Center, Dusty 52 requests ground speed readout." There was a slight pause, then the response, "525 knots on the ground, Dusty." Another silent pause. As I was thinking to myself how ripe a situation this was, I heard a familiar click of a radio transmi! ssion coming from my back-seater. It was at that precise moment I realized Walt and I had become a real crew, for we were both thinking in unison. "Center, Aspen 20, you got a ground speed readout for us?" There was a longer than normal pa use.... "Aspen, I show 1,742 knots" (That's about 2004.658 mph for those who don't know) No further inquiries were heard on that frequency.
--------------------------------------------------
In another famous SR-71 story, Los Angeles Center reported receiving a request for clearance to FL 600 (60,000 ft). The incredulous controller, with some disdain in his voice, asked, "How do you plan to get up to
60,000 feet? The pilot (obviously a sled driver), responded, "We don't plan to go up to it; we plan to go down to it." He was cleared.
-------------------------------------
The pilot was sitting in his seat and pulled out a 38 revolver. He placed it on top of the instrument panel, and then asked the navigator, "Do you know w! hat I use this for?" The navigator replied timidly, "No, what's it for ?" The pilot responded, "I use this on navigators who get me lost!" The navigator proceeded to pull out a .45 and place it on his cart table. The pilot asked, "What's that for?" "To be honest sir," the navigator replied, "I'll know we're lost before you will."
--------------------------------------------
When Hillary Clinton visited Iraq last month the Army Blackhawk helicopter used to transport the Senator was given the call sign "broomstick one". And they say the Army has no sense of humor!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tower: "Delta 351, you have traffic at 10 o'clock, 6 miles!" Delta
351:"Give us another hint! We have digital watches!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------
One day the pilot of a Cherokee 180 was told by the tower to hold short of the runway while a MD80 landed. The MD80 landed, rolled out, turned around, and taxied back past the Cherokee. Some quick-witted ! comedian in the MD80 crew got on the radio and said, "What a cute little plane. Did you make it all by yourself?" Our hero the Cherokee pilot, not about to let the insult go by, came back with: "I made it out of MD80 parts. Another landing like that and I'll have enough parts for another one."
-------------------------------------------------
There's a story about the military pilot calling for a priority landing because his single-engine jet fighter was running "a bit peaked." Air Traffic Control told the fighter jock that he was number two behind a B-52 that had one engine shut down. "Ah," the pilot remarked, "the dreaded seven-engine approach."
----------------------------------------------
A student became lost during a solo cross-country flight. While attempting to locate the aircraft on radar, ATC asked, "What was your last known position?" Student: "When I was number one for takeoff."
--------------------------------------------------
Taxiing down the tarmac, the 757 abruptly stopped, turned around and returned to the gate. After an hour-long wait, it finally took off. A concerned passenger asked the flight attendant, "What was the problem?" "The pilot was bothered by a noise he heard in the engine," explained the flight attendant," and it took us a while to find a new pilot."
--------------------------------------------------
"Flight 2341, for noise abatement turn right 45 degrees." "But Center, we are at 35,000 feet. How much noise can we make up here?" "Sir, have you ever heard the noise a 747 makes when it hits a 727?

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

you might be a gun nut if:

"You Might Be A Gun Nut If" :

-If You've ever dabbed a little Hoppe's on your neck before going on a date...
-If you bought checkering tools, checkered all your gunstocks and are now starting on the bedposts...
-If you cannot really recall just how many guns you own...
-Surplus ammunition suppliers call you to see if there was anything you were looking for...
-If you bought a gun from a gunshop, only to realize you used to own it years ago...
-If you've ever shot out a 1911 barrel.........
-If you save brass and have a case tumbler, but don't reload...
-If you ever stripped the paint off of your car and then blued it
-If you've ever bought ammo for a caliber you didn,t shoot, thinking that someday you might own a gun in that caliber...
-If your computer passwords are gun related...
-If your five-year-old can detail strip and fully reassemble an M-1 Garand............
-If you take your guns out of the safe and handle them, just so you can wipe them down before going to bed...
-If your local gunsmith calls you for obsolete parts...
-If you home-school and use ballistic tables for math lessons...
-If your gun safe is bigger than your refrigerator...
-If the speedometer on your car is in both m.p.h. and fps...
-If you call Brownells and they recognize your voice...
-If you own reloading dies for calibers that you do not shoot...
-If you understand Smith and Wesson's model numbers...
-If you ever bought two different brands of the same bullet just to see which one "shot better"...
-If you've ever had to explain "that it's not the same gun it's a variant!"...
-If watching the Lion King gives you the itch for a .470 Nitro...
-If you cut out your best groups and carry them in your wallet like photos...
-If you've ever gone to a gun show three times in one month, and were excited every time...
-If you feel that a golf course is a willful and deliberate misuse of a perfectly good rifle range...
-If you ever accidentally seasoned a steak with FFFFg black powder...
-If your brass tumbler used to be a small cement mixers.
-If you identify the gun on the cover of Dillon's Blue Press before you notice the girl...
-If you make $30/hr at work and spent 35 min- on your knees at the range looking for that last piece of .40 brass...
-If you have guns in your safes that you can't for the life of you remember how you came by...
-If the FBI asks you to identify firearms they can't...
-If ammo manufacturers had to layoff workers when you went to Europe for a month's vacation...
-If you know the range of every tree in the neighborhood...
-if you can tell the caliber of any spent casing just by feel...
-If you plead with the gun shop to hold a rifle/shotgun until you have space for it...
-If you can't figure out why your non-shooting friends laugh when you say "Bushmaster"...
-If you didn't get that last one because you don't have any "non-shooting" friends...
-If you driver's license says "must wear night vision goggles."
-If your shoulder is callused...
-If manufactures ask you how their rifles hold up.
-If you get misty eyed evey time you sell a gun..
-If you alternate Silvertips, Hydra-Shoks and Black Talons in your magazines because they look prettier that way..........
-If you guess windage and range every time you look at a road sign...
-If you went out to the range this weekend to shoot up ammo, just so you'd have some brass to reload...
-RCBS answers your phone calls, "What have YOU dreamed up this time?"..............
-if you can name the parts of your post-ban rifle you had to (or want to) swap out to make a legal semi auto AW
-if someone asks about the president and you think they're talking about charlton heston
-if you know the model numbers of your glocks, how many and what size mags you have, and which are loaded, but have no idea when your anniversary is.
-if you've ever had to explain why you need armor piercing rounds to someone
-if you don't know that there is a difference between "the Internet" and "Glock Talk"
-if you have ever run out of gas in your car, but have never run out of ammo before
-if you know the serial numbers of your guns, but still get your kids' names mixed up.
-if you hold a firearms related record in Guiness book of world records.
-if you go to gun shows with a grocery buggy (painted camo of course)
-if you had to explain to someone what a "SHTF scenerio" is
-if the National Guard calls you when things get a little too hot
-if you had a gun rack on your bike when you were a kid
-if you know why 30-06 is pronounced "thirty alt six"
-if you buy all of your clothes at wal-mart but own some of the most expensive holsters known to man
-if your name is on California's AW ban
-if you walk up on a conversation about horses and as soon as you hear "colt", you are immediately interested.
-if your favorite saint is John Moses Browning.
-if your favorite paint color is "gun metal grey".
-if you break off on a dissertation on how badly congress screwed Bill Ruger.
-if you anticipate another shooting session AS you are putting your guns away at the range.
-if you look at Shotgun News the way teenagers look at playboy
-if every street sign within 5 miles of your house looks like it came from chechnya
-if you went to college, but owned more gun manuals than text books
-if the national guard armory has your phone number on "call block" because you keep making bids on their WWII artillary piece sitting out front
-if you carry a backup gun in case the backup for your backup fails.
-if you carry concealed at the beach
-if third world arms dealers consider you to be the largest gun runner in the world (but you keep all the stuff for yourself)
-if you were arrested/questioned about the sniper shootings
-if you've filled out more "yellow forms" than income tax forms
-if you have your own VIP parking spot at gun shows.
-if you hear someone say "it's about 9:45" and you think to yourself "good grief, the 9mm/.45 debate will never end!"
-if you sit through a violent movie and aren't bothered by gorey violence, but flinch when someone drops a firearm (might scratch it)
-if the above has ever brought tears to your eyes
-if you have been banned from a movie theater because you always stand up in the middle of the movie and tell everyone you can't fire 30 rounds from a revolver without reloading.
-if you ever took apart your Nintendo zapper and installed custom trigger,laser sight, scope, etc. for Duck Hunt
-if you have more firearms than friends
-if you have insurance covering your guns, but not you
-if hillary clinton makes your skin crawl.
-if you slide your paddle holster on to check your mail.
-if you slide your paddle holster on to take out the garbage.
-if you find yourself rapidly disassembling/re-assembling your handgun....in the dark.....on the toilet.
-if you drive to work with a $1500 Kimber in a $500 pick-up.
-if you've spent more than twenty minutes writing "you might be a gun nut if's.
-if your guns are named names usually reserved for people
-if you designed your own caliber and built a firearm to fire it
-if you grew up with loaded guns all around you, but it never crossed your mind to shoot up your school.
-if you've read the Constitution
-if you know the second amendment by heart
-if you know the second amendment translated into more than 3 laguages
-if you used to have a hill as a backstop, but now it has become a 30 foot high mound of pure lead.
-if you make your own reloading tools
-if you make your own powder
-if you don't label your reloading powder, because you can hear the difference when shaking the can
-if you have ever read an article in the crime section of the newspaper and read "the suspect had over 200 rounds of ammunition", then assumed it was a misprint. who in his right mind would get down to only 200 rounds???
-if your CCW is a shotgun
-if your CCW is a .50
-if your CCW is a LAW
- if you find yourself doing trigger and muzzle control on the bottle of your wife's glass cleaner
- if your girlfriend/wife is jealous of the time you spend with your guns
- if your wishlist on midwayusa totals up to the price of a new car
- if that new car would be a bentley
- if your already thinking about your next gun while your filling out the paperwork on the one you're buying.
- if the guys at the local gun shop send you a christmas card
- if you own a guns you haven't shot yet
- if you have a room in your house dedicated to guns
- if when someone says "but what if you don't have a gun with you?" and after 15 minutes you still can comprehend how that would be possible.
- if the sound of full auto gun fire makes you feel all warm and fuzzy
-if you shook the presents under your tree, and one fired a round out of it.
-if you've spent more money at Midway USA, Brownell's, and Cabela's than the companies are worth.
-if your will specifies your favorite firearm(s) to be buried with you.
-if the glock talk logo is burned into your monitor.
-if you have had a friend who thought knives were soooo cool and dangerous, then you showed him your AK-47 collection
-if you wonder why you must renew your CCW license every year, but your marriage license won't expire.
-if someone asks how many guns you have, and the answer begins with "about" (i.e. "about 50 or so").
-if you took an ink blot test, and your answers were things like "an AR-15 sear", "bolt release from ruger 10-22", "firing pin from M1911", etc.
-if you know you carry 45 caliber 230 grain full metal jacketed hydra-shock hollow points from Federal, but don't know the color of your wife's eyes.
-if you have ever shot a hole in something on accident
-if that something was your TV during a Bush/Gore debate
-if you buy Hoppe's solvent in 50 gallon drums because your howitzer "likes" it
-if the gun show owners let you in free.
-if you named a dog after a gun.
-if you name your kids after your guns.
-if you time yourself each time you fill out one of those yellow forms, and you're down to a minute flat.
-if NICS put your favorite gun dealer on call block.
-if you're only dating/marrying a girl so you can shoot her gun collection.
-if the wallpaper on your desktop is firearm related
-if the wallpaper in a room of your house is firearm related
-if you have no wallpaper or house, but live in a dug-out underground bunker to keep your guns safe
-if CNN does a report on gun control and shows a table of guns from a gun show, and one of them has your name engraved on the side.
-if you carry pictures of your guns in your wallet
-if you ever heard gun shots outside your house late at night, but fell into a state of sheer panic because you couldn't decide which gun to grab.
-if your favorites in the computer only have one folder, "guns."
-when your wife have .357 sig brass as earings
-at the tupperware party you show them your Glock
-your gold tooth is made of melted brass
-you get arrested for possesion of a gram of black powder
-your kids have Glock as middle names
-your kids bike is on a bipod
-you go out with bird watchers with a 3-9 scope
-your walkman is made by Peltor
-your kids vocabulary consists; ballistics, trajectory, clusters, magnums, parallax
-Your wife loves to shop at Glockstore, Glockmeister, Topglock etc.
-You shower the bride and groom with brass
-You double tap when knocking on doors
-You get excited when you see the Target store logo
-You buy your kids a book each and buy yourself five gun magazines
-Your tennis attire has Glock logos
-Your Golf bag has a gun compartment
-You lubricate your kid's bikes with Hoppe's
-Your banana holds 40 rounds
-Your car is coated with tennifer
-You light your charcoal with gun powder
-Your kids would rather go to a gun show than Kings Dominion or Disney World
-You are the only one with a vest without a camera
- If your apartment complex cites -you- as the reason they don't need on-site security.
- If someone you've never met comes to your door and says, "I was given your name. Can you help me while I get my stuff out of my boyfriend's/husband's apartment?"
- If the person who gave your name is a local Police Officer.
- If your local Police Department makes a point of calling you at home to tell you about the sex-offender/felon who just moved into your area.
- If you've been in a local gun shop and had a sales clerk ask you a question about a firearm, because no one else in the shop knows the answer.
- If the above occurs so they can make a sale.
- If one of your local gun shops asks you to come work for them, because you've shown more knowledge than their employees.
- If the above occurs at a shop you don't normally frequent.
- If your local Police Department asks you what you think about the new handgun they're thinking about issuing.
- If you've ever been asked by your local Police Department to bring in one or more of your weapons for them to show off, because they're "Better than this crap we're carrying."
- If you've ever gotten out of a ticket by offering to take the Officer shooting.
- If you've ever been pulled over by a Police Officer so she can ask you to take her shooting.
- If you've ever been pulled over by a local Police Department just so they can ask you a question about one of your weapons, or your ammunition.
- If you've ever had people fly into the state, or country, just to fire some of your weapons.
- If you've ever talked about your latest acquisition and heard the words, "How the hell'd you get your hands on that?"
- If your name has ever been given to a new recruit at your local Police Department along with the words, "Don't bother asking, he's going to have a gun on him somewhere."
- If your boss has ever given you a box of ammunition as a reward for a 'Job Well Done', and you don't work in a firearms friendly place.
- If you've ever taken the day off work to go shooting, hunting, to the smith, or to purchase a new handgun, and yet you refuse to call in sick.
- If your primary requirement for a soft-side briefcase, for work, is how well it can carry one of your preferred sidearms.

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

reach out, reach out and touch someone posted 11/23/04

military humor


yeah, i know. i didn' take this picture, but i like it, and it's my blog.

the horrors of aging posted 11/17/04

i was doing some minor packing in the garage. we're getting ready to pull up tentpegs here in napa, and are moving to vacaville in a couple of weeks. hence the packing. i came across some old photos from my young sailor days. i scanned one in, and thought i'd share what 27 years, a couple of kids, 50% overtime, and a hell of a lot of fun will get you. for those squeamish viewers, please avert your eyes.
young bo the nook, (5'10", 180 pounds, 4% bodyweight measured by the doctor) attending school in hawaii, 1977. we used to joke that you could always tell if a fast attack submariner had been to school, because he was the only one on board that didn't look like he'd seen a ghost, what with a great tan and all. what's really scary is my kids are older than i was when this picture was taken. edit: just looked at this picture, and the bigger version hidden underneath it, and it really looks orange. doesn't look that way on my monitor at home. oh well.


bo the nook (5'something, 270 pounds, and the body weight percentage meter pegged), 27 years and countless pizzas, ribs, and other goodies later. taken this summer while working on my rental. scary. really scary

remember the story about the young girl posted 11/10/04

and the mud puddle?

well, here is a picture of her landing. sorry, the res sux, but it was with a cheapy disposable camera. she's the yellow thing inside the oval.


and here she is post splash. note mom's rather critical look regarding her daughter's current state of cleanliness. i would like to point out that this young lady landed in a big assed mud puddle, and yet she was relatively clean. comes from years of softball, sliding into second base, according to her dad!


and one last shot of me and some of my many many kid visitors during field trips. "Hey kids, when we get back, you get to go out in the field and pick a pumpkin the size of your head."


and here's what a traffic jam on the farm looks like. that's my brother-in-law Doug behind the wheel. some days we had as many as 1200 kids, and an indeterminate number of parents/teachers/aunties/etc that came along for the ride. we had 4 tractors and trailers running non-stop from 0900 until around 1300 on the busy days

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

drivin' the deere posted 11/4/04

click on pix to see a larger view.


ever notice now some cameras seem to put on a wheelbarrow of middle when you get your picture taken? me too. i don't know what it is about these modern cameras, but they all have a screwy lens on them


adding this just because i liked it. the kids love exploring and playing at the patch

latest photos from the patch posted 11/2/04

ok, i know there is only a limited sized pipe for some folks, so i've thumbnailed all the images and made them clickable to go to the full sized 600x450 pixel images. actually, even those are "shrunk" due to constraints imposed by photobucket. i am not complaining, because the service is free. just letting you know if you want a higher res/bigger image shot, email me and i'll see what i can do for ya.

so here goes:

how cool is it that we had a total lunar eclipse just days before halloween?


the evening colors were often spectacular. i don't know how to describe the sense of peace i feel out there in the evening, so i'll just let the pictures tell my story.


a couple of samples for the imagination challenged


a couple of varieties of pumpkins pops grew this year


uncle john, pops, and yours truly


a couple of pictures from pop's fruit stand: Perry's Organics Fresh Farm Produce


man, i can hardly wait for next year. this year was a mud filled, crappy weather affair, and i still had a blast.

sky and sun pictures posted 10/14/04

i don't know if the fires burning around the napa valley and the sierra foothills are in the national news, but so far there are something like 60000 acres that have burned in the last couple of days. as you can imagine, the air quality and color is just a tad bit off. the following pictures are not manipulated at all, except to resize for use in the blog. way ugly out there

this is what the sun and sky looked like, towards the east at about 1000 this morning. this was taken in front of my workplace in sacramento.



this is looking east at noon. see the gradations of smoke? the whole place smelled like a campfire gone horribly wrong



this is the evening sky in napa, looking west. it's about 1700 in this picture, and it should be bright out. the sun is so occluded that you can look directly at it. actually the sun has the appearance of a total eclipse. very muted and red/pink. it's quite eerie to tell the truth.

it was another fun weekend at the pumpkin patch posted 10/12/04

finished downloading and editing a couple of pictures from this weekend. sorry alan, no pix of me on the tractor yet. but i do have some good shots.

click for larger image
here's a view of the front 40 from behind the melons towards the pumpkin patch, with the corn maze to the left.


click for larger image
here are three of the tractors we're using for the rides. the little guy in the front is a 50+ year old john deere model A. i smashed my fingers one year installing a power steering unit on this dude, and it works like a champ. leaks oil around the power steering seals, but hell, it is OLD after all. all of the tractors are used on the farm. no barn queens (except for the other two old deeres. haven't got the bugs worked out enough to make them reliable to give rides this year. too bad)


click for larger image
another view of the tractors and the trailers.



well, here i am, bothenook in my sunburned glory.



my lady love, the nook's long suffering wife Diane. yup, i married the farmer's daughter



a couple of wagon loads of hardy explorers. pretty funny, i told them that i've had my picture taken about 50000 times by folks on rides, and now it was fair turnabout. i warned everyone that if they had a criminal past, or needed to remain incognito, they should turn their heads!

that's a bummer posted 10/9/04

went to get in my car this morning, and found the driver's side front window laying in about a bazillion pieces in my front seat. looks like a bunch of high school kids pumped up on "spirit week" were roaming the streets by my in-laws home in fremont. called the cops. guess what? they don't even respond anymore. sent me to a website, where i entered the info. that's it. cost me $249.52 to replace the window, since there was only one place open that did on site repairs. one frickin' window, $249.52. i'm in the wrong business. i'll post pictures once i'm back in napa, and download them. it would have been better money-wise if they just slashed a couple of tires. i'm so bummed.

edit: here's a picture of what i found

fuzzy tailed rats posted 10/7/04

so we have this walnut tree in the back yard. and a pear tree too, but that's another story. because we are a veritable smorgasborg for rodenta, i get to listen to the little buggers squawking and husking and cracking walnuts from the time the walnuts ripen until the next year, when the walnuts ripen. in otherwords, these little buggers are noisy. and destructive. i've had the phone lines (that means my DSL line, most importantly) replaced because these critters ate the insulation off the wires. i was internet free for 6 agonizing days until the phone company figured out what the problem was, and then another 5 days until someone actually came out to fix the problem. i don't like these little dudes. but i do have to admit they have a certain "cute" factor in their favor. much cuter than the 'possums that raid the cat's food. about even on cuteness with the raccoons. but at least the squirrels don't rear up and challenge me when i catch them in the garage like the 30 pounder i interrupted breaking into the cat food storage container. that was interesting. anyway, here's a shot of one of the fuzzy tailed rats in my back yard, chowing down on a walnut.


click on picture for the whole shot, critter in situ in the yard.
damn squirrels. only thing they are good for is target practice with the bb gun, and my neighbor calls the cops every time she hears me cock the old red ryder daisy.

more pictures from the farm posted 10/5/04

please pardon the big space. blogspot has some weird defaults that i can't figure my way around












click on thumbnail for larger image

pumpkins 2004 first photos posted 10/5/04


so, here are a couple of pix. as always, click on the picture for a larger (about 250kbyte) version.


the sign says it all. all are welcome, and the patch is a place to wander around, look at pumpkins, and let the kids run their backsides off. i love playing farmer's helper for a month.



well, there he is, the man himself. my father-in-law has been farming his whole life. and now that he's in his 70's, he only puts in 15 hour days, instead of 20 hour days, like he did for the first 50 or so years he worked the farm. this is Farmer Joe, and he is an icon in the Fremont area. we get 4 or 5 generations that come out the pumpkin patch, and they all have memories of Perry Farms pumpkins from their youth. it is just amazing. i've been a gypsy most of my life. i can hardly believe listening to pop and his cronies talking about what happened to such and such one day when they were all in the first grade together, some 66 years ago.



we seperated out some of the bigger pumpkins to make it easier for the customers/us to load. these guys run the gamut from about 30 pounds up to 120 or 130 pounds. i carried one out sunday that had to weigh at least 150 pounds. guess i'm getting a tad older, because i had a little difficulty getting my arms around that darned pumpkin, pick it up, and chuck it onto my shoulder. getting it the 150 yards or so out the the truck was a little easier. i would have loved to be at her house when hubby came home and found out he had a HUGE pumpkin to get out of the back of momma's SUV. hehe.



and i couldn't finish this photo essay without at least one picture of the flower bouquets we make up from statice and straw flowers, grown and harvested right there on the farm. hell, even the flowers are certified as organic produce, with their own organic labels and everything. dried properly, these flowers last until you get tired of looking at them