Because its getting harder and harder to roll scandal free during the day...

Is your PC's clock accurate? The US Naval observatory clock is an authoritative reference...and its online.

The mechanism for how cat allergies work has been discovered. Formulating a treatment seems within reach.

What is this "militia" thing gun grabbers like to whine vacuously about anyway? Now you know what actual Federal law says it is...and its VERY SEXIST.

...of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 10:16 PM | Comments (113)
Post contains 168 words, total size 2 kb.

BBQ Is But a Tool of the Patriarchy

In which a bien-pensant Guardian-reading Sensitive Man can't even enjoy a cookout on the grill without finding the diabolical tentacles of the Patriarchy everywhere and the air heavy with the aroma of unrepentant sexism. Let the brow-beating and ostentatious guilt-emoting begin:

All across Britain, the whiff of charred, low-quality sausage meat is hanging in the summer haze. And with it, floating almost indistinguishably in the grease-filled air across the garden fences, is blokey barbecue chat. If there is anything less compelling but more oppressively penetrating than the conversation of four suburban men discussing how to light and then operate a barbecue, I have yet to hear it.

...What really drains the joy from the summer breeze is the assumption, and the practice, that this is Man's Work. All over the UK, probably the world, the barbecue is now one of the last places where even normal blokes become sexist.

The mythology of meat is well marbled with machismo. But, as several thousand years have passed since men had to kill our protein, make a fire, cook it and eat it, why is barbecuing seen as something women don't or can't - or, more accurately, shouldn't - do? How - and why - do men continue to claim this sacred fire-space as a male-owned sanctuary where women are not permitted?

...So no, it's time to call time on the blokey barbecue huddle, that sizzling scrum, this grim last resort of acceptable sexism. Women of the world, unite. Burn their aprons, light the flames and cook. And men, drop the Bear Grylls pretensions and make a bloody salad.

And here's how the Sexist Ritual of Meat and Fire evolved into the All American BBQ. And why the great divide between pork and beef appeared.

Unlike cows, which required large amounts of feed and enclosed spaces, pigs could be set loose in forests to eat when food supplies were running low. The pigs, left to fend for themselves in the wild, were much leaner upon slaughter, leading Southerns to use the slow-and-low nature of barbecue to tenderize the meat. And use it they did. During the pre-Civil War years, Southerners ate an average of five pounds of pork for every one pound of cattle. Their dependence on this cheap food supply eventually became a point of patriotism, and Southerners took greater care raising their pigs, refusing to export their meat to the northern states. By this time, however, the relationship between the barbecue and pork had been deeply forged.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:33 PM | Comments (673)
Post contains 1106 words, total size 12 kb.

Happy Thursday.

Oh, yes. Obamacare is gonna be a helluva problem for Democrats. The latest GAO report shows that in most states and for most people insurance rates are going to be much more than they were before the Democrats decided that ramming through unread legislation in the middle of the night was a good idea.

National Journal's Josh Kraushaar has a noteworthy piece on how far Obama got sidetracked by his progressive fantasies. I noticed it because libtard journos were objecting on twitter. Josh is a good follow, btw.

Politico says it has NO FREAKIN' IDEA what pervert Anthony Weiner was talking about when he promised one of his sext partners a job at Politico.

The sex scandal in Southern California continues to blossom. An interesting question arose yesterday: is this San Diego or Saudi Arabia?

Some . . . interesting . . . thoughts on income inequality at the Washington Free Beacon. I am notoriously bad with crowds, so this type of thing is of interest to me. Yes, I'd pay more money to escape them. Is it "inequality" if I do so? Or is it "inequality" only if they're aware that I did?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:30 AM | Comments (170)
Post contains 204 words, total size 2 kb.

And it's just really, really sweet. George HW Bush holding the son of one of the members of his Secret Service detail, 2 year old Patrick. Patrick is being treated for leukemia, and has lost his hair.

Patrick is the son of a Secret Service agent, Jon, who is assigned to BushÂ’s security detail in Kennebunkport, Maine. (Their last names were withheld at the familyÂ’s request.)

Recently, other members of the security unit started to bare their domes in support of Patrick, and they started to raise money for his treatment.

There is also a website set up to help with Patrick's medical bills.

All the bald headed men below the fold.. more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 04:08 PM | Comments (372)
Post contains 124 words, total size 1 kb.

She wanted to discuss the problem of violence in military families.

He wanted to discuss her bewitching eyes (the headline is a quote), and how he would refuse to move away from her, that he wouldn't get out of her physical space, until she had kissed him.

Rose states that Congressman Filner stood up, walked over to her side and sat down next to her and wanted to kiss her.

“He tried to move my face towards his to kiss me on the mouth,” Rose said. She turned away from him and remembers negotiating for him to stop.

“Would you please go back so we can continue this meeting? This is an important topic,” she said.

According to Rose, Congressman Filner said he would not move until “you kiss me.”

Rose alleges Congressman Filner tried to kiss her four separate times.

This one isn't exactly a violation, but... a guy who tries four times is a problem. That's not a guy who made a pass. Making a pass is legal and, I guess, socially acceptable, even if it's turned down.

But when you get to the fourth pass in a single night, you're... I don't know what you are. You're demented. At the fourth shot-down pass you officially have some sexual disorder in which you get off on making women extremely uncomfortable.

And I guess I shouldn't forget -- apparently all of this asshole's "legislative business" is really just an pretext for making passes at women. So he agrees to hear this woman out about her cause... but it's a lie. He has no intention of listening to anything. He wants his creepy kiss, and that's the only reason he's there.

Kind of makes you wonder about what pitches he went for -- and why. Did a certain number of lobbyists, perhaps, either give in to his advances, or hire some callgirls to act as their "aides," giving Filner something to grope? Did he essentially engage in bribery by sex?

more...

Posted by: Ace at 03:42 PM | Comments (185)
Post contains 350 words, total size 2 kb.

There are a couple of real howlers in here.

Here is Obama on Obama at a gathering Monday night of Organizing for America staff and volunteers: “As we’ve learned, I’ve given some pretty good speeches before. And then things still get stuck here in Washington, which is why I’m going to need your help.”

I don’t know if Obama considers his 2011 Labor Day speech in Detroit “pretty good,” but it is, at minimum, illustrative of the gap between rhetoric and reality there and in other parts of the nation.

So, how about all those Detroit successes you were talking up two short years ago?

Obama referenced "tough choices" made to bail out GM and Fiat-Chrysler and also hailed the birth of a new wave of high-tech employment. "We said American workers could manufacture the best products in the world. So we invested in high-tech manufacturing and we invested in clean energy," he said. "And right now, there's an advanced-battery industry taking root here in Michigan that barely existed before."

The biggest factory in this supposed new trend, Massachusetts-based A123 Systems, had plans to employ 5,900 workers nationwide to build lithium-ion batteries. In Detroit, A123 Systems never employed more than 1,000. The Energy Department awarded A123 Systems a $249 million grant to boost production. It filed for bankruptcy in 2012 and was still receiving DOE largesse. A judge approved the bankruptcy in 2013.

In other words, the Detroit-area advanced-battery industry Obama said "barely existed before" his 2011 speech now Â… barely exists.

Obama also saluted the White House decision to make Detroit one of its six pilot cities in the "Strong Cities, Strong Communities" program.

"We're teaming up with everybody—mayors, local officials, you name it—boosting economic development, rebuilding your communities the best way," Obama said. "This is a city where the great American industry has come back to life and the industries of tomorrow are taking root."

The biggest accomplishment of this program in Detroit is the demolition of a public housing project.

Read the whole thing.

Posted by: JohnE. at 02:42 PM | Comments (237)
Post contains 415 words, total size 3 kb.

A guy proposed to his gal on bended knee. He'd hoped for a memento that would last a lifetime, but a guy walked right in front of the shot at the key moment:

So he put the picture online, saying, "tried to get a photo of our proposalÂ…nailed it!" The picture went viral-ish.

The Meme-Generating Community has taken the In the Way Guy to be the next The Tourist Guy, and is doing all sorts of funny photoshops. More here.

And Late Afternoon Open Thread. I've got a migraine and the computer screen is hurting my eyes and head. I should be back but would like to take a break.

Posted by: Ace at 01:31 PM | Comments (247)
Post contains 126 words, total size 1 kb.

I'm sure you never expected that. Well, of course you expected it. But maybe you didn't think it would happen so soon.

First up, "scientists" scramble to explain why the temperature, which all of their Sacred Scrolls, I mean computer models, said would continuing going up year-after-year is now flatlined in a long hiatus.

Meanwhile, many heretics have thought that the Sun's cycles of growing and fading sunspots are more likely the reason for the small amount of observed warming between the 70s and 1998. And now those sunspots are predicting a long cold spell... which, ironically, carbon-fueled global warming, if it exists to any significant degree, would help amelioriate.

It was an astonishing discovery, our sun can change. There was something different about the sun back then. Between 1645 and 1715, sunspots were rare. About 50 were observed. There should have been 50,000. Ever since the sunspot cycle was discovered, researchers have looked for its rhythm superimposed on the earthÂ’s climate. In some cases, it is there but usually at low levels. But there was something strange about the time when the sunspots disappeared that left scientists to ponder if the sunÂ’s unusual behaviour could have something to do with the fact that the 17th century was also a time when the earthÂ’s northern hemisphere chilled with devastating consequences.

Scientists call that event the Little Ice Age and it affected Europe at just the wrong time. In response to the more benign climate of the earlier medieval warm period, Europe’s population may have doubled. But in the mid-17th century, demographic growth stopped and in some areas fell – in part due to the reduced crop yields caused by climate change. Bread prices doubled and then quintupled and hunger weakened the population.

The English preacher John King wrote: “Our years are turned upside down, our summers are no summers; our harvests, no harvests.”

...

The key point is that looking back through the sunspot record reveals many periods when the sun’s activity was high and low – and in general they are related to warm and cool climatic periods. For example, as well as the Little Ice Age there was the weak sun and the cold Iron Age, the active sun and the warm Bronze Age. Scientists cannot readily explain how the sun’s activity affects the earth but it is an observational correlation that the sun’s moods have a climatic effect on the planet.

The big question is what will happen in the future. Cycle 24 is weak with few sunspots. Could it be that our sun is behaving like it did in the 17th century? Could we be on the verge of a new Little Ice Age?

Thanks to @comradearthur.

Posted by: Ace at 12:40 PM | Comments (364)
Post contains 463 words, total size 3 kb.

First of all, via Twitchy and Brit Hume, the UK Sun goes bananas over the royal birth, while the tabloid Private Eye is less overwhelmed.

Via @andylevy, but corrected by me because I'm awesome, the young prince's name seems to be a tribute to the character George Costanza on Seinfeld.

The kid's name is -- and everything I'm about to say is true -- "George Alexander Louis."

Okay, so. George, from George Costanza. Alexander, from Jason Alexander, the man who plays him.

And Louis? Well, George Costanza's middle name is actually Louis. And that's not even just some weird behind-the-scenes factoid you get from a series bible or something; that was mentioned on the show multiple times.

What does this mean?

It means he'll be be the best king ever. more...

Posted by: Ace at 11:48 AM | Comments (306)
Post contains 166 words, total size 1 kb.

Just a few details:

1. The man wasn't an "attacker" so much as an attacker, in as much as he attacked her, with a knife.

2. The white woman is in fact black, or as the media calls it, "White Hispanblack."

I suppose it is required to pretend that we're all upset that a life has been lost. Well, this particular individual was a menacing lunatic, first sexually pestering her, then advancing on her with a knife, then lunging at her with the knife (she dodged away, which was only possible because he was slow, most likely due to being inebriated or stoned).

He lunged at her while she was holding a rifle which was pointed at his gut.

So he wanted to die, and she obliged him. He valued his life as worth less than a nickel, and so valued her life as worth slightly less. She accepted his valuation of his own life as the authoritative estimate, while disputing his evaluation of her own life.

To call it a tragedy would be to disrespect those who actually suffer tragedy. We don't need to talk about helping this poor man. The rifle-wielding woman helped him all he needed to be helped.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 11:03 AM | Comments (300)
Post contains 232 words, total size 2 kb.