Guard Dog

Very cool story

Pretty spot on from my experiences there as well. Even so, I keep coming back. Everyone is always welcome.... mostly... by most folks anyway.

Irish journalist spends a year traveling the US. He posted about 17 things that surprised him or he didn't like about life in the US. It's criticism with more than a touch of humor. I got a chuckle out of t. Can't say I disagree with him on most of them https://www.businessinsider.com/17-cultural-clashes-this-european-had-in-america-2017-6

Apparently obesity is becoming a problem in the US armed forces. https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/military-culture/2018/10/03/a-staggering-number-of-troops-are-fat-and-tired-report-says/ I have to tell you I have a hard time believing this one. I can't speak for the other services but in the Marines you run a PFT twice a year and get uniform inspections frequently. Usually once or twice a month. Unit PT is three times a week and individual PT is highly encouraged. And in fact can even get you out of some unpleasant tasks. If you start failing PFTs or even looking overweight they are going to start f-----g with you until you are back in line. Of course that was 20 years ago. Maybe it is different now. I can't see it though. I was never around the Army or AF much and the Navy had different standards than we did. I saw no fat Gunnery Sergeants but I did see some fat Chief's (Chief Petty Officer, Navy rank E-7 or better). But in the US Navy a Chief was untouchable for the most part. You had it made if you got that far.

That was a very clever way to interfere with the throw to 2nd without looking like interference.

Excellent, comrade. I take it we'll be seeing you at the next committee session, then? Will there be beer & pizza? My politics can be flexible if properly incentivized.

If you are not watching the Rockies - Cubs game you are missing out. This one has been a classic!

Justice is a relative term. IMO justice is benefiting from the fruits of your hard labor, investments, and sound decisions. Having those curtailed to the benefit of people who did none of those things strikes me as an injustice. But I am 100% certain anyone who might even be a little bit of an SJW will have a completely different and opposing definition of justice.

Dean Koontz is another one like King that churns out tons of horror/suspense novels. Most of is pulpy trash but like King every now and then he comes up with a really good one. Watchers and The Bad Place come to mind as some of his best work.

I read a book a long time ago that was a fantasy-ish setting that described the story of a rebellion in the form of dispatches and letters between political figures like kings, military leaders and soldiers. The story reminds me a little of the Skyrim civil war. It may even have been one of their inspirations. There are tons of literary Easter eggs in ES games. Can't remember who wrote it or the title. This was back in the '80's

I expect self driving cars will work if there is a traffic control system that guides them in urban areas. Something each vehicle interfaces with that acts as a cross between a traffic cop and air traffic controller. The amount of decisions to be made every second while driving with no data on the other moving parts around each vehicle will overwhelm any AI. With all the moving parts networked together it might work. I would imagine such a system only existing in the core of urban areas. Once you get to the outskirts the human driver takes back over. Let's face it, the worst part about driving is dealing with traffic. I think most folks would love to give that part up and keep the rest. The thing is though, for that networked approach to work it could not be optional.

I received an offer on my townhouse. Pretty close to the asking price so I'm very pleased with that. Still a long way between now and closing though.

You hit the nail on the head here. There is a serious deficit of skilled labor around where I live. HVAC mechanics make better money that I do. There is a serious demand for them because let's face it, Memphis in August with no AC? You'll be trying your own noose with a smile on your face thinking "At least hell will be cooler"!

They got him. I knew they would. The Kardashian Curse has driven another man mad! THEY - MUST - BE - STOPPED! Edit: So he wants to abolish the 13th Amendment AND eliminate outsourcing. sounds like he has figured out a fix for labor costs. But that will suck for someone!

That was supposed to be just for a chuckle. Since it's the Democrats who are determined to take everyone's firearms away (except the government's and their bodyguards of course) I found it a little funny. It wasn't really intended to segue into a gun rights conversation. Of course if that's where you guys want to go, by all means. Don't let me stop you. Seems like we've plowed that field a few times but what's one more?

*AHEM* From article: “The main driver of its near extinction was human activity and habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation,” The article doesn't mention why the particular area is no longer suitable for the frogs particular needs, so, we don't know how much land management practices and climate change are to blame, but habitat fragmentation doesn't help either. However, I'd agree that they shouldn't rely on just one charischerestic to define potential habitats (how many other places have 'ephermeral ponds'? Deserts by their very nature can have 'ephemeral ponds', but these aren't desert dwellers) and as the climate changes, they're going to need flexibility as habitat disappears and new habitat appears elsewhere. But since when is the government flexible, right? That is the main diver of it's endangerment but it has nothing to do with the ecological changes to the piece of land that is the subject of the lawsuit. You are taking a big issue and conflating it with a little one. This suit is only about the disposition of a single piece of land that is no longer ecologically suitable to the frogs. That the land is unsuitable is not in question. It isn't. That much is stipulated. The question is can the FWC still bar the owner from using the land despite that fact. The government says it can because "F--k You. We are the government and we f-----g own you!

Speaking of the 4th Amendment next week the Supreme Court will start hearing cases again. This is the first one up: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/theyre-great-little-animals-the-dusky-gopher-frog-goes-before-the-supreme-court/2018/09/29/b928b9b4-bc4f-11e8-8792-78719177250f_story.html?utm_term=.243d7dcc4ecf The short stokes of this are: The FWC has determined that privately owned land in Mississippi is critical habitat for a frog that is no longer found on that land due to ecological changes. Natural changes not man made. So the owner of the land is suing to remove the designation. Th FWC, being a part of the government, never ever gives anything back once it has taken it away. Now, ordinarily this challenge would be DOA because the the "Chevron Deference" doctrine. In the 1980's the SCOTUS decided that unelected agencies with no oversight or accountability to anyone are our Gods and masters and whatever they say goes because they are above the law. The pendulum is swinging the other way now thanks to Roberts, Thomas, Goresuch, Sotomayor and Kennedy. From what I saw of Kavanaugh he's more likely to side on the infallibility of the almighty State. Hopefully he will not be on the court when this one is decided. I'm betting this goes 5-3 for the Weyerhaeuser Co. and the Chevron Deference moves one step closer to the dustbin of history where it belongs.

I have done nothing but mock and ridicule this whole confirmation process. But the truth is I don't give a crap how much beer he drank of how many women he didn't rape in high school. When he said the NSA's data collection program was "entirely consistent" with the 4th Amendment he was a firm "no" from me. There is one thing the Republicans and Democrats both agree on. The federal government they are fighting each other for control of is all powerful and can take, kill, or lock up whatever or whomever it pleases. When Kavanaugh answered that question they all had a little wood.

Well, I AM a religious man. But God doesn't do a lot of smiting despite what folks thought 4000 years ago. But then I tend to mix my Christianity with a healthy dose of Deism. The nice thing about religion is you can accept or reject as much of, any of, it as you choose. You can read the Bible, Torah, Koran, Book of Enoch. Book of Mormon, etc. any or all of them and draw your own conclusions. That might sound heretical to many if not all the religions of the earth. But if you accept there is a God then it's not by accident you have a brain that can reason and do not have to rely on what other people told you is true. You can draw your own conclusions. If you use that noodle and conclude there is no God, and there actually is I wouldn't worry too much about it. If God gave you a brain and you used it to a wrong conclusion he can hardly get down on you for that. Besides, God does not cease to exist because you've decided he does not. Sort of like aliens. There is no evidence aliens exist but if they do they don't cease to exist because you followed the evidence to a conclusion. Besides, if God is good He won't love you any less for using your brain and if He's not good who cares what He thinks? Personally I find Atheism faulty reasoning. Asserting a thing is categorically so is the same as asserting that we know everything there is to know and nothing outside of that knowledge can possibly exist.

James what you don't realize is there is only ONE team of rat. The fight like savages when the public is watching. When they are alone its: Don't vote for rats!

Exclusive photo of the meeting of the senate judiciary committee:

Thought this was funny