Fri. Jan. 16, 2026 – take out the paper and the trash, or you don’t get no spending cash

By on January 16th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Cold. I think it will be cold today. Yesterday stayed jacket weather all day. Even with the sun out, I was chilly in just a t shirt and an overshirt. At least it was sunny. I don’t need SAD on top of the chilly willy.

Spent the morning doing auction and domestic bliss. Spent the afternoon punching holes in paper. Not a bad day at all.

I will say that it took me some time to get my cordless hole puncher out of its secure storage. The keypad batteries died. And then somehow recharged enough that the code was reset to factory default. Once I guessed that, the solenoid had just one more “open” in it. Test and replace your batteries! If I’d needed it in a hurry, I couldn’t have gotten it. None of my accessible override keys worked either. I need to find that key.

I did spend a little time working on some different things at the range based on seeing some of the violence out there, thinking about actually deploying a gub to end a situation, and what the common wisdom has been. I like to start and end with a headshot at 20 yards, supported by leaning against a wall, and aimed.

In the past, I have just walked up, aimed, and fired to see what my quick, very fast aim, and shoot would get me. It’s kind of a ‘cold open’. After that I work on aimed fire, unsupported single hand, weak hand, mag swaps, transitioning, etc.

Back when I started learning, instinctive point and shoot was the new shiny thing. I still like it. If you have time, or it’s a technically difficult shot, by all means, aim, think about sights, where your thumbs are, elbows, etc. But I think you better be able to draw and fire and hit at least COM… because that’s what 90%+ needs to be.

I was working transitions too. Working with the 9 dot target, I went left to right, 5 shot groups, and then again with single shots. “Hurried” aiming. Working with the silhouette, I tried COM, head, single quick shots, repeat until mag swap… I do a lot of mag swapping, usually only loading 5 rounds per mag. It slows down the day, and stretches ammo while working a vital skill.

Every range day I try to do some ‘lift the gub and shoot’ work. I don’t worry about stance, or weight distribution, or grip, or posture. I think it’s a bit more realistic based on the videos I’ve watched of real gub uses. I even ended up shooting a mag while “teacupping”. Yeah, I’m old school.

Since I’m hitting what I want, I figure I’m doing ok. I wish I could get more training time in, but I figure if your technique won’t give you results if you don’t train much, it’s not going to be useful when you need it.

Yeah, I’m the opposite of an expert, and I’m describing the opposite of current fads. Don’t take my account here as advice, other than – find something that gives you results.

Considering how shaky and sore and tired I was yesterday, I’m very pleased with my performance.
—–
Today I’ll do the stuff I didn’t get to yesterday.

Train. Learn. Stack.

nick

67 Comments and discussion on "Fri. Jan. 16, 2026 – take out the paper and the trash, or you don’t get no spending cash"

  1. Denis says:

    find something that gives you results.

    Wise words, not just about gubs.

    I tend to agree, and I have taught hundreds of people to shoot. There are certain basic techniques that everyone needs to learn and internalise, but after that, it is very much a matter of what works for you. It can’t be any other way, as you are the one who has got to do it.

    Speaking of techniques, Mas Ayoob, on his “Facts and Firearms” YT channel has recently been uploading some really good information about handgun techniques, including things that today are a bit arcane, such as weak-side reloading a revolver.

    He is giving away knowledge that he used to charge for, and others still do. Definitely not to be missed.

    I regret to say that I suspect Mr Ayoob, who is getting on in years, has decided to share his know-how publicly while he still can. Great respect is due to him for doing so, and I hope his health permits him to keep it up for a long time. I would love to take some of his MAG courses… I never made it to Cooper Gunsite either, though I did write to the Colonel a couple of times.

  2. Denis says:

    Friday. Hooray! Good morning!!

    BOL is now cosy and warm. W1 is content.

    I must chase the boiler manufacturer about the disappearing time and date. I will also investigate putting the gas supply solenoid on a UPS to at least bridge over brief bobbles in the electricity supply, which are not infrequent in this rural area. I put a UPS on the corresponding valve at home, and it works very well. The setup here is a bit different, so I will first need to take the covers off and poke about with a Fluke.

    New fancy sofas are being delivered today. The truck driver just called with an ETA. Looking forward to a comfy centre seat for listening to music on the big Teufel speakers!!! Watch out, neighbours.

  3. Greg Norton says:

    “New York Governor Hochul plans to pursue “the most ambitious development of nuclear power in America, setting a new goal to build five gigawatts of new nuclear capacity”.  While I believe that nuclear power is the best option to reduce electric system GHG emissions, this announcement represents another New York politician meddling in energy policy. This summarizes a more detailed post at Caiazza’s blog.”

    This reminds me of the ultrafast train flop in Kakafornia.

    Cue Phil Hartman.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSoa1b-yBUY

  4. Greg Norton says:

    Is that the Alan Rickman one with Sigourney Weaver en déshabille? Wonderbra probably got the award for “supporting best actress”.

    Another part of the satire. The bras were padded on “The Next Generation”.

    “Galaxy Quest” stops just short of being hard satire, however, since the creative people obviously loved “Star Trek” and were concerned about the franchise’s direction at the time.

    “Voyager” is high art compared to what is on the air now.

  5. drwilliams says:

    Meta Does It Right With Nuclear Power

    For years, Virginia enjoyed bipartisan enthusiasm for data centers. A third of the nation’s data centers are in the Commonwealth, and every politician relishes ribbon cutting photos and self-congratulatory press releases promoting “investment” and “jobs” and “tax revenue.”

    What do I see? I see my farm’s electric bill 40% higher than it was in 2020 with a projected 14% increase this year. For all of the historic revenue, my tax burden remains the same (or higher). From my perspective, data centers are a burden.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/15/meta-does-it-right-with-nuclear-power/

    Meta and most of the corporations in the U.S. have been on the green weinie bandwagon for years and are partially responsible for the increased cost of electricity as the green energy scam has brought expensive and intermittent boutique power to the grid. Where’s the concern about deadly “carbon” now, you hypocrites?

    The response to proposals for private power generation for data centers should be two-fold: 

    • require interconnects that can be activated to switch the power to the public grid when needed
    • tax them for revenue and for being dumb flocks in the past and hypocrites now

    Woke billionaires should have wind turbine blades shoved up their backsides so they get reminded every time they try to sit.

  6. drwilliams says:

    This Iranian Bank With Reported Deep Military and IRGC Ties Is on the Verge of Collapse

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2026/01/16/this-iranian-bank-with-reported-deep-military-and-irgc-ties-is-on-the-verge-of-collapse-n2669423

    Couldn’t be connected to reports that the Iranian dictators are sending hard currency out of the country as fast as possible?

    When the Iranian government collapses the  U.S. needs to demand immediate repatriation of those funds to the Iranian people, and immediate extradition of fleeing “leaders: so they can be tried for mass murder and summarily executed.

  7. Greg Norton says:

    This link at ZeroHedge caught my eye even though it is a “members only” article.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/the-market-ear/they-seek-it-here-they-seek-it-there

    Now cue Anthony Andrews.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01i19qog8Pw

    Sadly out of print. Used copies go for $30.

  8. Nick Flandrey says:

    46F this morning.   Looks like it might be clear when the sun comes up.

    Coffee is delicious this morning.

    Back is not sharply sore, just a bit of ache, so that is an improvement.

    —-

    I was chatting with someone yesterday about shooting and I couldn’t remember the name of a book and author who is widely quoted but I think is completely full of semi-digested food.   Today it popped into my head “On Killing

    https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › On_Killing

    On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society -by Dave Grossman.

    His results might have been applicable to the population he studied during the timeframe he studied, but applying them widely (the idea that people needed to be taught to kill and were naturally VERY reluctant to do so) is clearly contra to facts.  This was a widely held idea in gun culture 1.0.  I hold it up as an example of the sort of wrong myth that permeates shooting training, and the invisible beliefs that are ‘baked in’ to a lot of training.   

    I’m old enough to have seen a whole bunch of fads sweep thru the shooting and training communities, and I regard the current training as just as susceptible to later modification and derision as previous techniques.  Supporting your gub like a ‘teacup’ is just the example that came to mind yesterday.   It worked for them, when my grip fell into that configuration yesterday, it worked for me.  3″-6″ groups at 20ft in rapid fire are perfectly acceptable for defensive use.

    Currently, most training is actually about OFFENSIVE gub use, not defensive.   But that’s another post.

    n

  9. Nick Flandrey says:

     U.S. needs to demand immediate repatriation of those funds to the Iranian people 

    – aren’t we still holding the Iranian peoples’ funds in seized bank accounts from decades ago?

    n

  10. Greg Norton says:

    Currently, most training is actually about OFFENSIVE gub use, not defensive.   But that’s another post.

    People on both sides think that they want something to happen, but they have no idea about how that would be.

    The genie will not easily go back into the bottle once unleashed.

  11. Denis says:

    the idea that people needed to be taught to kill and were naturally VERY reluctant to do so…

    Is a data point, but the question is to what intended activity is that point relevant. There is interesting footage somewhere on YT of British Army or Marines training in the 1970s-80s that covered bayonet work, and the idea there was that the squaddies needed to be actively and intensively indoctrinated to want to use a bayonet on another human being. The chant was “What makes the grass green? BLOOD makes the grass green!” I think it was an old documentary film about Sandhurst.

    That was about turning normal people (for some value of “normal”) into on-command killing machines. I think the issue of self-defence is different – to defend oneself from an attack (or to flee or freeze) is more or less an innate mammalian response. Of course there is an element of needing to be mentally prepared to do so, and to accept the eventuality of using a weapon in self-defence, but that is not reaching the point of becoming a killing automaton.

  12. Denis says:

    The new sofas arrived. There was a bit of a struggle getting one through a narrow internal door, but all is well. The delivery guys earned their tip.

    W1 is happy and I am pleased. The units are sized right for the room, and our choice of upholstery fabric from a sample book (always a bit fraught) turns out to have been a good one – the colour and texture complement the space.

    Looking forward to having a Friday evening post-work beer on them presently…

  13. drwilliams says:

    “– aren’t we still holding the Iranian peoples’ funds in seized bank accounts from decades ago?”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_frozen_assets

  14. SteveF says:

    There was a bit of a struggle getting one through a narrow internal door

    If you assembled all of your furniture from flatpacks, you wouldn’t have that problem. #FollowMeForMoreLifeHacks

  15. drwilliams says:

    Reality must reign as Supreme Court weighs trans sports fight

    Only a small number of people are personally affected by transgender athletes in sports — in fact, Pepper-Jackson’s lawyers say their client is the only person affected by the law in the entire state of West Virginia.

    https://nypost.com/2026/01/13/opinion/reality-must-reign-in-supreme-courts-trans-sports-fight/

    Incorrect. Every female athlete who stood one step lower on the podium than she should have because Pepper-Jackson wanted to use the physiological advantages that he possesses by virtue of being born male is affected. Negatively affected, with reduced prospects for scholarships, and college admissions. The teams that they play on have one less female athlete on the roster, with the result that some female athletes lose the opportunity to play entirely and others lose valuable playing time that also translates into  reduced prospects for scholarships, and college admissions.

  16. drwilliams says:

    There was a bit of a struggle getting one through a narrow internal door

    “If you assembled all of your furniture from flatpacks, you wouldn’t have that problem. #FollowMeForMoreLifeHacks”

    Every room in the house should have an exterior French door to provide easy access, with landscaping planned to allow a cherry picker to simply insert large furniture to within a few inches of the ultimate position.

    5
    1
  17. Lynn says:

    “Voyager” is high art compared to what is on the air now.

    Voyager was awesome.  Deep Space Nine was not so bad either.  

    Today’s stuff, except Picard, is dreck.

  18. Lynn says:

    Proof that the Houston Astros do not want to win anymore:

        https://x.com/JeffPassan/status/2012016927326290232

    Full details on Kyle Tucker’s Dodgers contract, per ESPN sources:

    – 4 years, $240 million guaranteed
    – Opt-outs after Years 2 and 3
    – $64M signing bonus
    – $30M deferred
    – $57.1M a year in net present value after factoring in deferrals — a record by $6M+

    A staggering deal.

    Hat tip to:

       https://www.chron.com/sports/astros/article/kyle-tucker-240-million-dodgers-deal-21298120.php

  19. Greg Norton says:

    Today’s stuff, except Picard, is dreck
     

    “Lower Decks” has its moments and is the only “canon” show of the Bad Robot/Secret Hideout era.

    Even “Picard“ is non canon.

    “Picard“ Season Two is awful.

  20. drwilliams says:

    Too Good(?) to Check: Minneapolis Police Department Bleeding Officers—Again

    Minnesota just implemented a 12-week, few-question-asked paid leave program that apparently a lot of officers are taking advantage of. As in, perhaps, as many as 100 of the 600 or so officers on staff. 

    https://hotair.com/david-strom/2026/01/16/too-good-to-check-minneapolis-police-department-bleeding-officers-n3810934

    The Dems passed the new law knowing full well that it would be overwhelmingly utilized by the Somali scammers. Now they are hoist by their own petard. If they try to implement one tiny bit of oversight on Minneapolis police officers applying for the program, they will get a lawsuit from the police officers union that will end up establishing standards that will either apply to all applicants–hopefully shutting down much of the scamming–or provide the basis for claims of discrimination.

  21. drwilliams says:

    What is to be done?

    Robby Starbuck formulates an answer to the Leninist question What is to be done?. It is the question that is naturally raised by the resistance of Minnesota’s state and local authorities to federal law enforcement. In the X post below Starbuck responds to the Leninist question:

    • Invoke the insurrection act
    • Military arrests rioters and politicians
    • ICE triples presence and deports maximum # of illegals while DHS denaturalizes anyone who committed immigration fraud and deports them too
    • Not one apology from the right for anything

    This must be put down so thoroughly that the far left extremists can’t effectively recruit people in other left wing cities to replicate the chaos and criminal behavior. Draw a clear line. Now.

    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/01/what-is-to-be-done-12.php

    A detail:

    Military takes over security at all public buildings. Makes it clear to protesters that their constitutional rights will be protected, including their right to enter public buildings and exercise their constitutional right to protest. Likewise admit homeless people looking for shelter from the sub-zero cold–yes, some of them have a history of violence, but what can the judges who released them back on the streets say? Or the politicians who are on record for “their people”? 

    the far left extremists can’t effectively recruit people in other left wing cities to replicate the chaos and criminal behavior

    the far left extremists can’t effectively recruit people in other left wing cities to replicate the chaos and criminal behavior

    Yeah, well, I’ve contended for years that many professional protesters are brought in from outside. Past time to figure it out and publicize it. 

  22. Greg Norton says:

    “Picard“ Season Two is awful,

    And I am one of Eugene Bradford’s most ardent supporters.

    Fortunately, the “Picard” producers corrected their mistake of killing Q when they had Eugene and Ed Speelers in the building at the same time, but Season Two will be out there until the last DVD goes to the landfill.

    Eugene lives, and he will be needed for the next reboot as much as he was 40 years ago.

  23. drwilliams says:

    Time to pull out the old “dream sequence” playbook?

  24. Greg Norton says:

    Time to pull out the old “dream sequence” playbook?
     

    No. The finale of “Lower Decks” applied a fix, but Paramount has one more season of “Statfleet Academy” to complete before Bad Robot/secret Hideout are given their walking papers.

  25. Lynn says:

    “20% Of Q4 Buyers Are Making Over $1,000 Car Payments”

        https://www.carpro.com/blog/20-of-q4-buyers-are-making-over-1000-car-payments

    Wow.   Wow.   Wow.

  26. Lynn says:

    “Stellantis Kills ALL Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles”

       https://www.carpro.com/blog/stellantis-kills-all-plug-in-hybrid-vehicles

    “Stellantis has quietly but decisively ended the plug-in hybrid chapter for Jeep and Chrysler in the U.S., confirming that every PHEV model from the two brands has been discontinued. The move closes the book on a strategy that once positioned plug-in hybrids as a bridge between internal combustion engines and fully electric vehicles, and it signals another recalibration in an industry still struggling to match electrification plans with real-world demand.”

    “The company confirmed to me that production of the Jeep Wrangler 4xe, Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe and Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid has ended, with no direct replacements planned for the 2026 model year. While the vehicles had already disappeared from online configurators, Stellantis said the decision is final rather than a temporary pause tied to recalls or inventory issues.”

    Huh.  I thought that plug-in hybrids with a small battery was the way to go.  Something else is going on.

  27. Lynn says:

    “Gold”

       https://areaocho.com/gold-2/

    I read Peter and Aesop’s pieces on gold and inflation. Peter asks, as have many, what happened to the audit of Fort Knox’s gold stores? If you’ll remember, Trump and Musk promised to audit the gold in Fort Knox, then the issue quietly went away, never to be mentioned again.”

    “The nation’s gold is stored in Fort Knox, West Point, and the Denver mint. All of the gold is controlled by the US military. Fort Knox and West Point are military bases. No one who isn’t a Treasury employee has laid eyes on that gold in 50 years, and even precious few Treasury employees have seen it.”

    “Trump and Musk insisted they were going to audit the gold. Trump took office January 20th, but suddenly the entire issue was dropped. After February 26th, Trump never mentioned it again. Musk stopped talking about it on April 6th. Three weeks later, Elon stepped back from his duties with DOGE.”

    “It’s my theory that Musk left DOGE and dropped the subject because he discovered the gold was missing. I asked Chatgpt what Musk would do if he found out the gold was gone. This was the answer:”

    “If someone learned that U.S. gold reserves were gone:”

    • Talking publicly would:
      • Crash markets
      • Trigger bank runs
      • Collapse trust in the dollar
      • Make the messenger a global liability

    “So the first move would be:”

    • No public statements
    • No hints
    • No jokes
    • No “cryptic tweets”
    • Compartmentalize the knowledge tightly

    “Silence is safety.”

    So the USA’s gold is gone.  Did Obama or Biden take it ?

  28. Lynn says:

    “What happened to my Start menu?” — why Windows 11 users are waking up to a desktop they don’t recognize”

       https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/windows-11/what-happened-to-my-start-menu-why-windows-11-users-are-waking-up-to-a-desktop-they-dont-recognize

    “Microsoft is rolling out a massive Start menu overhaul that changes how apps are organized, but dislike the change.”

    Welcome to having your software made in India.  They constantly change stuff that does not matter.

  29. Greg Norton says:

    Huh.  I thought that plug-in hybrids with a small battery was the way to go.  Something else is going on.
     

    Warranty service.

    The Wranger 4xe has a cr*ptastic Fiat four which goes splody well within the 6-7 year loan terms. They must have seen a bunch in warranty repairs earlier which the company couldn’t nitpick the claim.

  30. lpdbw says:

    Starfleet Academy

    I saw it renamed “Melrose Space”

  31. Lynn says:

    ““I drank filtered swamp water””

        https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/lifestraw-escape-water-purifier-review/

    “I Drank Filtered Swamp Water to See If the LifeStraw Escape Water Purifier Works”

    “The LifeStraw Escape gives you that option. Reminiscent of a sidelines water cooler, this high-capacity water filter virtually eliminates bacteria and viruses — the cause of the boil-water orders that often accompany disasters. And it neutralizes many contaminants, like pesticides and benzene, that get into water supplies during floods and wildfires. It does not require electrical power or plumbing: You just fill it from any available water source and pump it by hand.”

    $330 at Big River.

       https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FJZYLV8R?tag=ttgnet-20/

  32. drwilliams says:

    WTAF!!!

    Lifestraw Escape:

    Description:

    LONG-LASTING AND LOW MAINTENANCE: Membrane ultrafilter lasts 18,000L – enough to support a household of 4 for up to 5 years in a survival situation. Activated carbon + ion exchange filter lasts 600L

    Comments:

    Jason H.

    2.0 out of 5 stars No Replacement Carbon Filter!!

    Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2026

    Verified Purchase

    Had I known that you cannot get a replacement carbon filter for this product I would not have purchased it. Once it is used up, good luck.

  33. Lynn says:

    Had I known that you cannot get a replacement carbon filter for this product I would not have purchased it.

    The replacement carbon filter is in the replacement unit that you buy for $330.

  34. Lynn says:

    “Primal (Lee Harden Series (The Remaining Universe))” by DJ Molles
       https://www.amazon.com/Primal-Lee-Harden-Remaining-Universe/dp/1700512226?tag=ttgnet-20/

    Book number eleven of a eighteen book apocalyptic science fiction series. The series is segmented into eight books (two of the books are novellas), six books, and four books. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback published by D. J. Molles Books in 2019 that I purchased new in 2025 from Amazon. I own book twelve in the series and will read it soon.

    Captain Lee Harden of the US Army is a member of the US Special Forces. His duty is to live in his remote US Army built home with a steel and lead concrete bunker underneath it. Any time the US government gets nervous, he goes down into his bunker with his dog and locks the vault door. He then talks with his supervisor daily over the internet until released by his supervisor to leave the bunker. His duty is to stay in the bunker during any event and come out thirty days after he has zero contact with his supervisor. Then it is his duty to find groups of people to restore order in his portion of the USA.

    Then one day, Captain Harden has been sitting in his bunker for a couple of weeks and his supervisor does not call. A plague has been sweeping the planet and things are getting more dire by the day. Apparently the infected do not die but their brains are mostly wiped out. Zombies. A month later, Captain Harden and his dog emerge from their bunker to find a total disaster with infected roaming the countryside.

    Captain Harden’s home and bunker were burned out after everything to eat or shoot was stolen by a gang of bad guys. But he has a secret, he has ten bunkers built by the U.S. Army strategically located around South Carolina. And only he can open the bunkers. But the bad guys are chasing Captain Harden to get the rest of the food and ammo from him. And nobody trusts anybody.

    “They’re called Mr. No One and Mr. Nobody, and wherever they go, death follows.”

    Captain Harden and Abe survived the attempt to shut down the power plant making fuel for the fake USA President. But not many of their friends survived. So it is time for revenge.

    The author has a website at:
       https://djmolles.com/blog/the-remaining-universe-reading-order

    My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
    Amazon rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (1,344 reviews)

    Lynn

  35. Lynn says:

    The hammering on the roof is about to drive me nuts.  They are almost finished with the large office new roof.  They will do the small office and well house roofs tomorrow.

    BTW, they are hammering the four nails in.  They do not use nail guns as my roofer (this roof #4 he has done for me) as those tear up the singles if you are not careful.

  36. MrAtoz says:

    Ha, ha:

    Not Laughing Now, Are Ya’? German Chancellor Laments the Nation’s Abandonment of Nuclear Power

    Go woke, go, uh, well, powerless in the cold, cold, Winter.

  37. drwilliams says:

    “The replacement carbon filter is in the replacement unit that you buy for $330.”

    If you tote a 5-gallon water purifier and a 5-gallon jug to dip into the lake to fill it up, you have room to take 10-gallons of water. If you need more water, take beer.

    The landed cost of that Chinese-made unit is probably less than $30. And I’m perfectly confident that the Chinese-made plastic doesn’t have any heavy metal, plasticizers that migrate, or other additives that would grow tits on a bull.

  38. MrAtoz says:

    Az from HeelVsBabyface on YT has the most hilarious review of Starfleet Academy E02. Az and the rest of the comic book nerds on YT called the demise of “Batwoman” and now the reviews of ST:SA are WORSE! I suffered through ST:Discovery (absolutely horrible) because I love ST and will finish ST:SNW* (which has gone down the toilet).

    Batwoman was so bad that the movie was shelved after completion, never to be shown. I hope ad revenue is so poor that a 2nd season of Academy is shelved.

    *Making Captain Pike the biggest pussy in Starfleet was so out of character from the TV and movies that I can’t wait for him to be burned to a crisp as is canon. It would not surprise me if the writers just skip that part.

  39. MrAtoz says:

    Fortunately, the “Picard” producers corrected their mistake of killing Q when they had Eugene and Ed Speelers in the building at the same time, but Season Two will be out there until the last DVD goes to the landfill.

    Picard started out so good with old man Picard. After Q, Wesley Crusher, and, fuck, Picard turned into an android but still old feeble and bald, I just gave up. They should have just let Picard die and put an end to it.

  40. MrAtoz says:

    So the USA’s gold is gone.  Did Obama or Biden take it ?

    All those Somali gold teeth had to come from somewhere.

  41. Greg Norton says:

    *Making Captain Pike the biggest pussy in Starfleet was so out of character from the TV and movies that I can’t wait for him to be burned to a crisp as is canon. It would not surprise me if the writers just skip that part.

    My guess is that “Mirror Mirror” universe Pike gets crispy.

    Frakes already fudged the timeline in the introduction of the holodeck with his last episode of “Strange New Worlds”, and his character, Riker, was the first to make a comment about the “new” technology in the “Next Generation” pilot.

  42. Greg Norton says:

    Batwoman was so bad that the movie was shelved after completion, never to be shown. I hope ad revenue is so poor that a 2nd season of Academy is shelved.

    If you are referring to “Batgirl”, that film had the last appearance of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, which would be a bigger problem for woke Warner post-Gaza than simply losing money.

    Netflix uses “Madame Web” as a loss leader to get subscribers to sign up for higher tiers to see “Anyone But You”. “Batgirl” could have worked the same way.

    BTW, “Anyone But You” is now the highest grossing Shakespeare film adaptation of all time.

  43. drwilliams says:

    ST:SNW?

    If that stands for South by Northwest, that would be about right.

  44. MrAtoz says:

    If you are referring to “Batgirl”,

    Yes, but the shit-series was Batwoman wokeness. Can’t have ‘girl’ in the title if she’s a dyke.

  45. drwilliams says:

    Watch Tim Walz Make a Fool Out of Himself Yet Again

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/jeff-charles/2026/01/16/watch-tim-walz-make-a-fool-out-of-himself-again-n2669603

    Let’s see: Feed the days headlines to an AI with past TT videos and request a new video titled “Tim Walz Makes a Fool Out of Himself Yet Again”. Spice it up with footage of the driveby “retard” shouters and more news reports, like the tampon dispenser story. 

  46. Greg Norton says:

    “Microsoft is rolling out a massive Start menu overhaul that changes how apps are organized, but dislike the change.”

    Welcome to having your software made in India.  They constantly change stuff that does not matter.

    I had my first Windows 11 crash on the new laptop this evening.

    I need to install Linux and run my usual burn-in -toys.

  47. Greg Norton says:

    If you are referring to “Batgirl”,

    Yes, but the shit-series was Batwoman wokeness. Can’t have ‘girl’ in the title if she’s a dyke.

    The damage to the DC franchise from “Batwoman” was limited to a TV series. Or that’s what I thought.

    I know Warner made a “Batgirl” movie. Michael Keaton talked about it since he put in some time as Batman before the cameras.

  48. nick flandrey says:

    So the USA’s gold is gone.  Did Obama or Biden take it ? 

    – It was gone before they hit the office.    Probably left to ‘make whole’ a few friends when we went off the gold standard. 

    ——-

    Home from my errands.   Didn’t make the HEB or pickup  my resized hat.  I’ll do that tomorrow.   

    Most of my pickups were for the BOL.  Another solar panel.  Marine VHF radio.  Tools and supplies.

    And I stopped by the auctioneer that sells for me to see if he had a check, or a time for me to bring more consignments.  No.  and no.

    Cooking dinner for D2, W is at the BOL, D1 is out with friends.   House is quiet.

    n

  49. Lynn says:

    “Hawley DESTROYS Woke Doc: “Can Men Get Pregnant?” – She REFUSES to Answer!”

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qqL77-SsDg

    “In this fiery segment from The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show, Clay and Buck dive into Senator Josh Hawley’s intense questioning of Dr. Nisha Verma during a Senate hearing on abortion pill regulations. Watch as Hawley repeatedly asks the Democrat-called expert witness if biological men can get pregnant – and she dodges the simple yes-or-no question, claiming it’s “polarizing” and complex while emphasizing her care for patients with various identities. The hosts break down how this exchange exposes the left’s denial of basic biology, especially in the context of men potentially obtaining abortion pills to coerce women.Clay and Buck also flash back to the iconic 2022 Supreme Court confirmation hearing where Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson famously responded to Senator Marsha Blackburn’s question – “Can you provide a definition for the word ‘woman’?” – with “I’m not a biologist.” They connect the dots on how these moments highlight the ongoing cultural battle over gender ideology, science, and reality.Don’t miss this no-holds-barred discussion packed with analysis, humor, and hard-hitting commentary. Subscribe for more from Clay & Buck, and hit the bell for notifications on the latest political breakdowns!”

    This woman doctor is the peak of absurd.  I would not send my female dog to her for treatment.

  50. nick flandrey says:

    Lifestraw says the carbon filter is replaceable, and their video even shows you how to do it.  

    Dunno where to actually get one, but it’s easy enough to run the output thru a brita filter to “improve taste” with a carbon filter…

    n

  51. Greg Norton says:

    This woman doctor is peak of absurd.  I would not send my female dog to her for treatment.

    The doctor’s page disappeared from Emory Health’s web site.

    A quick check with State of Georgia shows an active license but no details about eduction.

    Another web site shows UNC undergrad and medical school.

  52. nick flandrey says:

    Mengele was a real doctor too.

    n

  53. lpdbw says:

    Fauci was a real doctor, too.

    Mengele only killed about 400,000.

    Between AIDS, Covid, and Remdisivir, Fauci easily doubled that.

  54. lpdbw says:

    The memes keep coming.

    “Starfleet Learing Academy”

  55. Greg Norton says:

    Between AIDS, Covid, and Remdisivir, Fauci easily doubled that.

    Fauci’s death toll will be in the millions.

    Not that I believe that Control is only 10%, but that’s the official number from the Feds.

  56. drwilliams says:

    Boy (7) strikes it lucky by finding one of the world’s rarest minerals near his home in Cork

    Around lunchtime on March 1st, 2024, Patrick Roycroft, geology curator at the National Museum of Ireland, was given a piece of mineral, about the size of a Creme Egg, by a seven-year-old boy called Ben O’Driscoll. Just a few weeks earlier, in mid-February, Ben had returned home after soccer practice one Saturday morning and had decided to explore a field near his home in Rockforest East, near Mallow in Co Cork.

    He knew from his grandfather’s stories that something unusual might lie beneath the fields and he was encouraged to go searching. That day, as he ran out to a freshly ploughed field, Ben spotted something in the mud. When he showed his mother, Melanie, what he’d found, she sensed he’d struck it lucky. She got in touch with Roycroft, packed the family into the car and drove up to Dublin through the snow, with the small, pearly stone in tow to find out more.

    Roycroft knew exactly what he was looking for. Within seconds, he realised what he had in his palm was genuine: a true cotterite, one of the rarest forms of quartz in the world. It had a very characteristic optical effect – a silvery lustre – which is not seen in any other quartz. What Ben had found was the first discovery of cotterite in 150 years.

    To label cotterite as “rare” – implying it exists in small numbers, but might still turn up somewhere, some time again – is almost misleading. There are about three dozen known authentic cotterite specimens, which are held by museums in Cork, Dublin, London and even the Smithsonian in Washington. They were all found within a few months of each other and derive from a single horizontal vein of calcite, quartz and ferruginous mud cut through carboniferous limestone in Rockforest. It was formed in a single geological event under conditions so specific that, as far as scientists know, they have never been repeated anywhere else in the world since.

    https://www.irishtimes.com/environment/2026/01/10/boy-7-strikes-it-lucky-by-finding-one-of-the-worlds-rarest-minerals-near-his-home-in-cork/

    Be interesting to see if that field yields up more.

    Much rarer than diamonds. Rarer than moon rocks on earth.

    Cotterite – The World’s Rarest form of Quartz

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGQtDe60pXg

  57. MrAtoz says:

    Ha, ha “peaceful protesters” “observers”:

    ICE agents are ordered NOT to retaliate against protesters or stop drivers in the streets during chaotic Minnesota operations

    A Minnesota district court judge ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents cannot detain or tear gas peaceful protesters. 
    Judge Kate Menendez, a Joe Biden appointee, noted that people observing the agents - as Renee Nicole Good and her wife allegedly were - are also not allowed to be detained. 

    A MN judge can’t order anything restricting the Feds legally executing their duties. When you block traffic or interfere with the Feds you are no longer “peaceful”.  Good was in the street blocking the Feds. Even the LSM is admitting Good and “wife” were agitators. ICE is not gassing or detaining protesters. Grab at a gun and get a pepper ball in your face.

    Jebbus, SCOTUS rein in these judges.

    11
  58. Ken Mitchell says:

    Jebbus, SCOTUS rein in these judges.

    It won’t happen, because the Dims have something on him to keep John Roberts in line. 

  59. Lynn says:

    You know, one of the problems with having a long beard is when you suddenly realize that you are chewing your side beard with your food.

    11
  60. nick flandrey says:

    chewing your side beard with your food. 

    – I am re-growing my chin beard and ‘stache after shaving in November.   I decided to let the ends of the ’stache grow and maybe I’ll do the insufferable waxed curl before I trim it.    It’s at the point now where the ends end up in the corner of my mouth…

    —————-

    Time to sit out with a book and tiny little fire.  If I time it right, D1 should still find me there sitting in front of the door when she gets home before her curfew…

    60F so not bad, W says it might get down to 32F at the BOL tonight.

    n

  61. nick flandrey says:

    But first, I stopped at my secondary to get a dvi cable, but they were buried.  No way I could get to the box. 

    So I just went on amazon.   I can get an adapter or two and use my existing HDMI cable, ~$5/ each, but need $25 total to get it here tomorrow, OR I can get a cable for ~$7.50 and it ships overnight free.

    Yeah, I went with the cable.  

    n

  62. drwilliams says:

    “You know, one of the problems with having a long beard is when you suddenly realize that you are chewing your side beard with your food.”

    Don’t want to do that!

    Might pull out a mouse by accident!

  63. Lynn says:

    chewing your side beard with your food. 

    – I am re-growing my chin beard and ‘stache after shaving in November.   I decided to let the ends of the ’stache grow and maybe I’ll do the insufferable waxed curl before I trim it.    It’s at the point now where the ends end up in the corner of my mouth…

    I have not shaved my face since Sept 1, 2025.  I shave my neck almost every day.  My beard is about 4 inches long.  I do trim occasionally around my mouth.  My wife says she likes it and that is all I need to know.

  64. Lynn says:

    “Starlink begins taking your data to train its AI models.”

        https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/1qezdhd/starlink_begins_taking_your_data_to_train_its_ai/

    “By default everyone is enrolled in this program. To opt-out you have to go to your account profile and uncheck the box at the bottom that reads “share personal data with Starlink’s trusted collaborators to train AI models”.”

    “Here is an article detailing this news and screen shots of its existence:”

    https://www.pcmag.com/news/starlink-wants-your-data-for-ai-model-training-how-to-opt-out

    Sigh, Big Brother just showed up.

  65. nick flandrey says:

    All the DNS providers and your internet providers are already mining your traffic for whatever they can sell.

    ———

    It got pretty chilly sitting out, but I was engrossed in the book, “Mickey7”.

    Shower and bed now, and an early morning to get kid 2 to school for her thing.  Then probably a nap.

    n

  66. EdH says:

    “U.S. — In its ongoing effort to make watching football as difficult as possible, the National Football League announced today that each quarter of the playoff games will be exclusively streamed on a different streaming network.”

    From the Bee, of course.

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