That’s More Like It

Instead of cheap tickets to poxy New York and -Jersey, I got this offer:

I will admit that I’ve never been to Greece — no special reason, it just never came up in any of my travel dreams.  I’m not really big on visiting ancient buildings and old ruins, because my experience in Western Europe has been largely negative:  hucksters trying to separate the stupid American from his dollars in various ways — e.g. Rome’s Colosseum, which pretty much put me off this kind of thing for life.

And sunbathing in the Greek Isles?  Forget that shit — not just in Greece, but anywhere.

However, this I could get into:

Athens, Greece – November 6, 2015: Scenes from Plaka, also called “Neighbourhood of the Gods”, the old district of Athens at the foot of the Acropolis with labyrinthine streets and neoclassical architecture.
March 31st, 2019, Greece Athens. Greek restaurant taverna at Plaka area, blackboard with daily menu, empty tables and chairs, sunny day

…and I just LOVE Greek food:

…and I even drink retsina, the Greek wine that tastes like Pine-Sol, but which complements Greek food really well.  (My Dad, a seasoned traveler, always recommended drinking what the locals drink, advice which has served me well just about everywhere.  But I draw the line at ouzo.)

I think the only problem I have going to Greece is that I can’t speak a word of it — literally — and of course, as they have that strange alphabet, I can’t read it either.  I’m not afraid of venturing into the complete unknown — at least they have a Western culture (I know I know, they started it all blah blah blah) — but I hate being a total foreigner, if you get my drift, which is not the case in Germany, France, Holland, Belgium and even Italy or Spain.

But I can’t help thinking that I’m missing something by never having been there.  (New Wife has done it, and speaks glowingly of both Athens and the islands, so there’s that.)

All thoughts, experiences and suggestions are of course welcome in Comments.

Aaaargh Speedbumps

I’ve got three gripes today.  The first is from Gun Digest, who seem to have succumbed to the “let SpelChek do the editing”, with this gem:

At the bear minimum, it’s novel.

…and no, it wasn’t a pun, because the gun under discussion was a .22 Mag rifle.  B-A-R-E.  And in the same article, by the way, we find for a bonus:

Also, it’s receiver is drilled an tapped.

I-T-S nofuckinghyphenapostrophe, and if you’re going to get all folksy and elide the conjunction, it would read “…drilled an’ tapped” (perhaps move the offending hyphen from “it’s” and just put it after the an?).  Otherwise, despite SpelChek giving it the okay, it is spelled A-N-D.

Next up is the Daily Mail, (a.k.a. Illiteracy Central) and it’s a classic case of turning a noun into a verb (a.k.a. “verbing”):

“Summited”?  Seriously?

There are actually two quibbles about this silliness.  FIrstly, “summit” has been egregiously and unnecessarily turned into a verb.  Secondly, even if you’re going to “verb” this noun, at least recognize that as spelled, it would be pronounced “sum-my-ted” — to shorten the letter “i” requires a double consonant afterwards, e.g. “submitted”, “admitted”, etc.

Right.  After pouring myself a second breakfast gin, I promptly spat it all over the keyboard when an old foe reared its horrible head.  This came from Steve Kruiser at PJMedia (who really should know better):

“I’m not concussed, I’m not hallucinating, I just tend to look at most things differently than other people.”

One more time:  it’s “differently FROM other people”, FFS.  “From” is what’s known as tadaa!  a differentiator — e.g. one house differs FROM another in that it has a green roof, not a red one.  (Try saying the previous sentence using “than” instead of “from”, and see how ridiculous it sounds.  Welcome to my world.)

The word “than” is comparative — taller than, longer than, sillier than, etc.

I know it can be confusing.  Here’s another example to help show the concept:

“Michael Phelps differs from Danny DeVito in that he’s much taller than the diminutive actor.”

Note how using the phrase “differs from” makes it a far more elegant expression than (see what I did there?) “Michael Phelps is different from Danny DeVito…”

It’s really quite simple, like most grammar rules.  Which is why when they’re broken, I want to reach for the 1911 and ventilate the screen.  Or the writer.

Interesting, If True

Like many a denizen of a MAGA Red Trump State, I’ve been apprehensive about the hordes of Californicators, Noo Yokkers and similar refugees from their respective hellholes pouring into Texas.  It seems, however, that my fears (and that of others of my ilk) of Bluestaters turning our state purple if not Blue may be a little too pessimistic.  Here are some numbers:

The results of the 2020 census are in, and the Democrats are looking very nervous. It turns out that red states are growing and blue states are shrinking. Red States are gaining three congressional seats while blue states are losing three. In fact, California will lose a seat for the first time ever. Legislative and Electoral College power is shifting in favor of the Republicans.
But the propaganda ministry is trying to convince us that this is all good news for the crime family that calls itself the Democrats. The narrative is that liberals are moving from blue states to red states and will eventually turn them blue. But as we’ve learned, if the talking heads are talking, they’re most likely lying. So, let’s examine what they’re saying.

He looks at his (new) home state of Idaho:

Between 2013 and 2019, the percentage of voters who registered as Republican went from 32.4% to 50.8%.  Democrats added 52,300 voters to their rolls, but Republicans added a whopping 200,000 to theirs!  Idahoans are becoming more engaged in politics, and their political proclivity is clearly conservative.

His conclusion?

The reality is that conservative states are becoming more conservative, and they are gaining political clout at the same time.  The people moving about the country aren’t missionaries going forth to spread socialism, any more than those fleeing Cuba in the last century were trying to bring communism to Florida.  They’re escaping the blue states in search of the America of their youth.

To paraphrase the title of this post:  I sure damn hope it’s true, and all this isn’t wishful thinking.

From another American Thinker article, here’s what happened in Texas recently:

Back on Election Day 2020, the Democrats were convinced that it was their year.  After all, didn’t Beto O’Rourke break the ice when he got 48% against Senator Cruz?  On the Friday before the election, a poll had Biden up and Senator John Cornyn in a tie.  As you know, President Trump carried Texas, and Senator Cornyn had a landslide re-election.  Wonder if anyone asked for a refund from that pollster?
It was going to be their year until they counted the votes.  Then suddenly it was good old Red Texas all over again.  The Democrats went 0-10 in congressional districts despite putting lots of resources and TV ads into tying every candidate to President Trump.  In the end, the TV ads tying Democrats to “defund the police” turned out to be more persuasive.

And:

First, the Democrats are finding out that a growing Hispanic population does not necessarily mean more Democrats elected.  President Trump did well in South Texas in large part because Hispanics like a strong economy and do not believe that the border should be open.  After all, most of those Hispanics were born here or respected the law to come in.  They don’t understand why other people cannot do the same thing.
Second, the Democrats have a San Francisco message that does not play well in Texas.  From “abortion on demand” to gun control, the Democrat message is not turning on voters.  The abortion issue (the new heartbeat law) will be a problem for Democrats with Hispanic women.  As a Hispanic lady said to me: “How can you abort a heart beating?”  My guess is that most Hispanic women agree with that.
So what do you do when your voters don’t turn out or your jingle doesn’t get clicks?  You blame the other side for “suppressing” the vote.

I’m not so sure that the Socialists are going to do that well with their precious Black voters, either.  At least, if this guy is at all representative.  (Loud, epic video)

And if you don’t break out in giggles like a ticklish schoolgirl, I don’t wanna talk to you no more.

Not Even

LOL:

Sorry, but no.  (Actually, I’m not sorry.  Poxy fucking states, both New York AND New Jersey.  Feel free to list your own hatreds thereof in Comments.)

Amazing Coincidence

First, Iran’s largest ship mysteriously catches fire and is destroyed, and then a large oil refinery near Teheran mysteriously catches fire.

[T]he head of the company in charge of the refinery reportedly told Iranian state TV the possibility of sabotage had been ruled out.

He put it down to a “technical” issue. No doubt, the same technical issue which blew up their frigate.  And yeah, rather admit to a technical issue than saying it was sabotage.

If I were a paranoid Iranian mullah, however, I’d suspect that the Izzies have been up to their old tricks.

We’ll know that’s the case when President Braindead or his lickspittle State Department condemns the “accidents” for no apparent reason.