Bad Reichenall, Germany 2004
Yeah, it was that cold.
Author: Kim du Toit
The Last
In Comments about watches yesterday I alluded to some of the things I’d get to keep me company in my dotage, courtesy of Powerball. Call it the Self-Indulgent Bucket List, if you will, because whatever would happen to them after I croak, I care not.
Here are the current front-runners:
Restomod Land Rover 110 (note the engine replacement)
Grulla Royal (pair)
(For those who don’t know these Spanish guns, I think Grulla are the absolute best value for money today. They make actions for several other shotgun companies — like Holland & Holland — and they’re absolutely gorgeous to boot.)
More to come, as I think of them.
Why Only Now?
The headline refers to this action by DJT:
President Donald Trump will launch a strategic critical minerals stockpile with $12 billion in funding as part of an effort to protect American manufacturers from supply shocks as the Trump administration seeks to cut reliance on Chinese rare earths.
Formally known as Project Vault, the project would take $1.67 billion in private capital and $10 billion as part of a loan from the Export-Import Bank to obtain and store minerals for automakers, tech firms, and other companies that need access to rare earths.
Reports have compared the idea to the country’s emergency oil stockpile. Project Vault would obtain rare earth elements such as gallium and cobalt, which is used in iPhones, batteries, and jet engines.
So… anyone have any ideas why this hasn’t existed since, say, the appearance of the PC and digital phones in the market?
Given that our defense systems — aircraft to tanks to ships — have relied on computer chips since, oh, the 1980s, it astonishes me that no Administration since the 1980s had established this already. Then again: Clinton, Obama, Biden — that’s seventeen twenty years of Presidency that essentially hated the whole concept of a Defense Department because they’re all either overt or quasi-Marxists.
Explicable, but still inexcusable.
Wait… No Backup?
Executive summary: Dude robs a Brink’s truck, sets off speeding, gets his tires whacked by a spike strip, runs into a house to take hostages. Hero cop hurtles into action, kicks down the door, empties his high-cap mag into the choirboy. End of story.
No calls for backup, no dithering, just takes action and the story ends.
Frigging hero.
Random Totty
Today, a brief look at Mumsy and her little girl:
(I should point out that Sophia had a baby recently, turning Karren from MILF into GILF)
I know what you’re thinking. Stop that.
Relapse
Went out for dinner on Sunday night with Doc and Mrs. Russia, and a good time was had by all, as always.
Yesterday morning: woke up as sick as a dog, all the symptoms from my earlier plague having returned — pink-eye, sore throat, cough, congestion etc. etc. etc.
Only this time they’d all disappeared by the end of the day, save for the pink-eye, and even that had got better by this morning. All without any meds.
My fucking body needs to get its shit together, because I’m getting sick [sic] of it.