For all of your non-space needs, here's an open thread, brought to you by the wonder of Rob Ford:

While you were celebrating, Rob Ford hurt his groin running into a hydrant #robford #gold @nationalpost pic.twitter.com/W46lX60GsS

— Darren Calabrese (@DBCalabrese) February 23, 2014

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We Politely Request That All Off-Topic or Political Comments Be Directed to the Thread Directly Below This One, Which Will Serve Officially as the Current "Active Conversation" Thread for All Discussions Not Related To This Topic.

Notice I didn't say crock-pot meals. That's because I don't have one, and have been blissfully unaware of their supposed utility for most of my life. But a heavy Dutch oven or similarly constructed pot will allow you to make all sorts of great stuff without having to attend to multiple pots and pans, and time everything for that magical (and nonexistent) point on the space/time continuum when everything is ready at the same moment. more...

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“The danger to America is not Barack Obama, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary
common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools, such as those who made him their President.”

From (as far as I can tell): theabundantgift.blogspot.com

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:59 AM | Comments (102)
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Happy 5.56mm day

Retired Liberal Wishcasts A New Constitution

I presume John Paul Stevens doesn't see a need to revisit lifetime judicial appointments, but he'd like to tweak the 2nd Amendment a bit. His version would read:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms when serving in the militia shall not be infringed.

I'm sure the left is oohing and ahhing over this, but Stevens' suggestion is pretty funny when you bump it up against the existing U.S. code.

(a) The militia of the United States consists 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.

(b) The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

Looks like John Paul Stevens wants to disarm women who aren't in the National Guard, transgendered folk and oldsters to me. Teh H8R!!

Now about that lifetime appointment ...

More really stupid people: How “Crazy Eddy” Markey Intends to Destroy the Entire U.S. Handgun Market, The Carrie Nation of the Gun Prohibitionist Movement lies to America. Again. Still.

Detective that claimed “we don’t have time for this” before killing 90-pound teen is indicted for voluntary manslaughter

These judge+jury+executioner incidents seem to be happening more often these days, but the cops always seem to get away with little or no punishment. There appears to be at least a slim chance for justice in this case.

Related: Man Charged With Killing Burleson County Deputy No Billed by Grand Jury

Gun Of The Week

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[We Politely Request That All Off-Topic or Political Comments Be Directed to the Open Thread down page, Which Will Serve Officially as the Current "Active Conversation" Thread for All Discussions Not Related To This Topic. Enjoy!]

Welcome again to the Spaced-Out Challenge! Whether you have a question about equipment, a new astronomical discovery you want to expand on, or just want to kick back and enjoy the cosmos above, come one come all on our weekly astronomical journey.

March is my favorite month of the year. Beyond having a birthday and St. Patrick's Day back-to-back, it marks a time of great transition, as winter yields to spring. It also presents the only opportunity to see the whole year's night sky in a single evening, and 2014 is extra special: the weekend of March 1st-2nd and the 29th-30th feature new moons! My friends to the North should stick with the month's end, but those of you blessed to live at my latitude (35N) can pick either for the greatest scavenger hunt in the sky: the Messier Marathon!

This week's edition is very, very, very, very, very big, as such the margins have been slightly tweaked for moar oohs and embiggenments. From general maps to custom planning guides, fabulous astrosketches and photography to our comprehensive fifty-state dark sky directory, everything you need to tackle the marathon is right here. So set your eyes to the sky, and let's go! more...

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This thread sponsored by weird travel gadgets:

Good day, traveling morons! Time for another thread to chat about travel and leisure.

April may be the cruelest month, but there’s little doubt that for those of us in colder climes, February is a close second. Holidays are behind us, football is long over, it’s really too cold to do much in our yards, and the kids are still in school so the parents among us are not going much of anywhere any time soon. As an added joy, the warm days that we DO get usually result in snow melt and the invariable “mud season.” (I’ve completely given up on keeping my floors clean thanks to the pitter-patter of eight collie feet!)

So today I thought IÂ’d cover some leisure activities that we CAN do during these slow months at the end of winter and beginning of Spring. This will be short because, frankly, itÂ’s a beautiful sunny day here at the Wasatch Front, so the mister and I are headed out for a drive in a little while.
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BUMPED due to rain delay

Bring your race talk here, y'all.

The Chase is on!

The race is airing on the Fox network at 1:00 EST but coverage began at noon. If your cable provider is an authorized provider, you can also live-stream it via Fox Sports Go

I don't really have a dog in the fight but have become more interested this year and will tune in today.

Is Jimmy Johnson still considered a jackass?

Will Dale Jr. ever live up to legacy his dad left behind?

Are there any rookies you're keeping an eye on?

Speaking of Dillon, ESPN has penned an open letter.

Best of luck to them all and may they safe out there on the oval.

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Sadly, it doesn't look like any of these Olympic sports will provide Dave in Texas with pointy elbows to show you later.

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This morning's open thread for non-book-related discussions is brought to you by the dismal science: more...

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Manly Men Doing Manly Things

Good morning morons and moronettes and welcome to AoSHQ's prestigious Sunday Morning Book Thread.

More Manly Poets

This is a topic I've touched on before, but it's always worth a revisit. Moron commenter 'Taro Tsujimoto' enjoys reading manly poetry written by manly men, poems with, as he says, "big brass huevos", and submitted a few of his favorites.

Dulce et Decorum Est, by Wilfred Owen (one of my personal favorites) is probably one of the most beautiful anti-war poems you'll ever read, and by "beautiful" I mean "intensely horrific". It's a description of a poison gas attack on a small group of soldiers, and one of them doesn't get his mask on in time. You should really read it out loud to get the feel and rhythm of the words.

According to Owen's bio at poets.org, he was wounded in battle in 1917. But

Owen rejoined his regiment in Scarborough, June 1918, and in August returned to France. He was awarded the Military Cross for bravery at Amiens. He was killed on November 4 of that year while attempting to lead his men across the Sambre canal at Ors. He was 25 years old. The news reached his parents on November 11, the day of the Armistice.

Dude hated the war, yet tried to do his duty in combat even though it cost him his life. You can't get much more manly than that.

WWI was a good war to be "anti-" about.

And some poems really do need to be read aloud to get the full effect. For example, Free Fall by Greg Ferguson is a modern retelling of man's temptation and fall from grace based on Genesis 3. But listening to this dramatic reading in the short film video at this link is, in my opinion, a lot better than just reading the text.

WWI (or the aftermath) was also the inspiration for The Second Coming, by W. B. Yeats, written in 1919. This is the poem that contains that famous line "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity" which comes to mind in this age's political and cultural battles every time one on our side betrays us, chickens out, or sells us down the river. Which, as we all know, occurs with depressing regularity.

But it's a thoroughly creepy poem, and it helps to read it in a dimly-lit room with bad weather going on outside.

I remember Simon and Garfunkle's musical version of Edwin Arlington Robinson's poem Richard Cory from their Sounds of Silence album. The whole poem is nothing but a set-up for the last line, which Taro call "the greatest sucker punch in literature." He also says he would love to hear suggestion from other morons on "manly-man kickass poems."

I have a couple of manly poem candidates: Ice Handler by Carl Sandburg (flannel shirts and fisticuffs), and High Flight by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. Magee, the son of far east missionaries, enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1940. He was killed in a training flight accident at age 19.

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