Guard Dog

No transgender people in the military, not sure they were so much of a distraction to affect the combat performance. I think t was more of a cost savings move since gender reassignment surgery was becoming a covered benefit. As much as I abhor discrimination of any stripe the military is a different animal than the rest of society and the rules that apply are different. But I suspect the pols will make much more of this than the story deserves. I believe I read there were less than 10 "transgendered" service members in all four branches.

I completed my part of a major study at work last night. I just zipped up and e-mailed all the data just now. We have a meeting at 1 PM today for discussion and then my role in it ends. Being low on the totem pole has it's advantages sometimes but it also means being left behind when things start to get interesting. But starting tomorrow I'm finally going to take that vacation I put off when Tommy got sick. It won't feel right without him though. I was going to take the pups to Cedar Key in Florida back then but now, I don't know where we're going. Maybe we'll load up the truck, drive north and see where we end up.

I love this picture. It's looking south from the rim of Endeavor Crater on Mars. Click the link for the hi res version. The detail is amazing. https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia20749.jpg

Where has this John McCain been the last 20 years? https://youtu.be/Nyy6SPmbqJo

If anyone has any interest. I donated $40 http://www.foxnews.com/health/2017/07/24/veteran-makes-bucket-list-for-service-dogs-final-weeks.html

I bet Nixon rolled over in his grave when Trump dropped the possibility of a self pardon. "Why didn't I think of that?" For the last two weeks I've paid 0 attention to politics, or even national news for that matter. Yes it's because I had something else on my mind but still. I must admit... I didn't miss it. And it appears I didn't miss much either.

Nooooo! Don't do it! Don't ruin our relationships with our dogs! http://www.express.co.uk/news/science/832487/dog-cat-amazon-pet-translator-north-arizona-university Not good! Our dogs know things about us we would not want getting out! The potential for blackmail is tremendous. Can you imagine you dog being compelled to testify against you? I'd be in trouble. Over the years they have known everything. Of course if dogs could testify OJ would have been convicted back in the '90s. So there is that. Actually in all seriousness I would be very surprised if this story is on the level. If those prairie dogs (which are rodents, not canines) even could differentiate clothing color it would not be a fact they would find relevant enough to comment on to each other. It sounds like male bovine night soil to me. Anyone who pays attention to their dogs (real or prairie) can learn to communicate with them real quick. Because they are definitely paying attention to YOU.

Wait, hold on a minute. 65k-150k for roughly 10 meters of stairs? What were they going to make the stairs out of? Platinum? Well it's $10k for the actual cost of the stairs. Then there is a little something off the top for the contractor and subs. The city inspector gets a little cut and the rest is divided up among the city council member who approved the project in the form of campaign fund donations paid (in name at least) as individual donations from all the employees of the company who built the stairs. Each unaware of their "generosity" or that the kickback ever happened. How do you think career politicians retire millionaires on relatively modest salaries? All paid by the tax payer. Canada is nearly as bad as we are.

Actually Jon is related to everyone the fans want to see him matched up with so even if it happens there is an ick factor to it.

"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." Ramsay Snow

So ends the whole Dorne thing which is important and interesting in the books but a total throwaway in the TV show. On another note it was awfully nice of Nymeria to save the CGI budget by opting not to follow Arya. I guess even if she did she would be hanging out with Ghost (remember him?) wherever the hell he's been since the third episode of last season. The direwolves were another important thing from the book and a throwaway on the TV show. Speaking of the CGI budget I wonder where the dragons got off to? Air support might have been a big help when sailing blind in waters you have no intelligence on. Just a thought. Prediction: next week Theon gets picked up by a bearded and skinny Gendry still rowing in circles trying for find Kings Landing after 3 years.

I hope Rickon gets a better part in the books than he got in the show. Although the name of his Direworlf seems to indicate he won't:

OK, last night I was flipping through A Storm of Swords, book 3 of A Song of Ice & Fire. If you only watch the TV show stop reading here. Nothing that follows applies to the Game of Thrones show. The most interesting character in the books to me is Petyr Baelish. The book Petyr is much more complex and smarter than TV Petyr. He is one of the prime movers of the plot. So, in the last Alayne chapter of A Feast For Crows he explains to Sansa who Harrold Hardying and why he is important. He is Robert Arryn's heir because he is descended from John Arryn's younger brother who married a Waynwood daughter. Fine. Now go back to the last Caetlyn chapter in A Storm of Swords before the Red Wedding and you find a discussion between her and Robb about who his heir should be until Jeyene Westerling can give him a son. She is trying to convince Rob not to legitimize Jon and name him Robb's heir. Caetlyn tells her son that Ned's grandfather had a sister who married into House Royce in the vale. They had three daughters one of whom married a Waynwood and had another daughter who married an Arryn. That means Harrold Hardying might not just be the heir to the Vale, he might also be the heir to the North since Bran & Rickon are believed to be dead. That makes him a pretty important charcter and no wonder Baelish wanted Sansa to seduce and marry him. Am I the only one who noticed this?

That is very cool.

If Clinton won, with the exception of who is on the Supreme Court, nothing would be different. There would still be scandal and dysfunction and talk of impeachment. The ACA would still be the law of the land, The people in Syria and elsewhere would still be killing each other by the hundreds. North Korea would still be doing it's thing and Russia and China theirs and we would still be doing ours. It really is astonishing that so many people emotionally invested so much in the outcome of one election that families and friendships broke over it. And yet the choice really was of such little consequence after all is said and done.

I don't like this concept much: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/game-thrones-showrunners-set-drama-series-confederate-at-hbo-1022631 Alternate history might be fun to speculate about but it has to be plausible. There is a 0% chance slavery would or could exist in North America had the CSA manage to win the US Civil War. If the insistence of the European powers that would not do business with a slave nation did not end it the industrial revolution would have. Civil Rights in the CSA would be a God-awful mess and the history of Mexico and Latin America would have been different given the notions some Confederate politicians had of annexing Mexico. But this concept? Don't think it's going to do much more than be controversial for the sake of being so.

The definition of Civil Asset Forfeiture from Wikipedia: Civil forfeiture in the United States, also called civil asset forfeiture or civil judicial forfeiture[1] or occasionally civil seizure, is a controversial legal process in which law enforcement officers take assets from persons suspected of involvement with crime or illegal activity without necessarily charging the owners with wrongdoing. While civil procedure, as opposed to criminal procedure, generally involves a dispute between two private citizens, civil forfeiture involves a dispute between law enforcement and property such as a pile of cash or a house or a boat, such that the thing is suspected of being involved in a crime. To get back the seized property, owners must prove it was not involved in criminal activity. ​​In all other aspects of our jurisprudence the citizen is innocent until proven guilty. Until it comes to that one thing the goddamned government loves above all other things: money. So they just made themselves this little exception to the 4th Amendment and told us to go f--k ourselves if we don't like it. Both the Democrats AND the Republicans love this. In fact only one political party in all the land of the free has fought against this legalized theft: http://www.lp.org

Now reading this: and this: The former might be of interest if you practice archery. I'm finding it interesting at least in terms of how to focus the mind on the target rather than the mechanics of stance, draw, release point, etc. The latter was recommended by a friend and I and definitely recommending it to anyone who has ever wondered where the hell Greenville Mississippi is or wondered what the hell the Pascagoula Run is (hint it does not involve running or the Jimmy Buffet Song) it's a pretty good read. I lived in Florida for many years. Most of my life in fact. My cell phone still has a 954 area code. I thought Florida was the weirdest and quirkiest place in the US. It may well be but Mississippi runs a close second.

When people ask me why I refuse to vote Republican anymore this is #2 on the growing list of reasons I give. Civil Asset forfeiture. Why are we not fighting a civil war over this despicable practice right this moment?

Now this is cool: http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2017/07/21/243498884/fort-wayne-tincaps-fan-catches-foul-ball-in-beer

You didn't miss by much

I guess you're not alone there. It has the fifth highest homicide rate the country.

I've been working up at Moss Island most of the week. Was planning on working from home today to begin collating all the data collected. But I got up this morning and instead of making coffee opted for hair of the dog. The first one led to a second one and now my motivation to be productive (such as it was) is shot. I picked up a bottle of Jack Daniels Red Dog Saloon special edition (it's their 125th anniversary edition). I don't know why I keep trying JD, even the special editions as though I'm going to like them. It's not that JD is bad, it's just not good. It has no taste to speak of. No character. Good whiskey should have a very identifiable and complex taste. Jack Daniels just does not have that. Even the "special editions". I don't know if it's a flaw in their recipe or just what happens with mass produced, blended whiskey. I guess I'm spoiled by drinking single barrel products. Allow me to impart of word of advice to all of you. There are things in life that you may sacrifice quality for price without later regret. But when it comes to computers, firearms, and whiskey get the best you can find even if it costs more. Take that to heart and all the time you've spent reading this post will not have been ill-spent. Now then, I do believe I will have a light breakfast and spend the remainder of the day sitting on my porch listening to the radio and getting rid of the rest of this Jack Daniels crap. Yeah, it may not taste as good as I'd like but it's valur as an anesthetic cannot be debated.