Splendid Isolation

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Gratuitous Gun Pic: Tactical Solutions OWYHEE Take-Down (.22 WMR)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

I haven’t heard of Tactical Solutions (Boise ID) before, but this is kind of an interesting concept (via Collectors):

Everyone’s heard me ranting about the cost of .22 Magnum (WMR) before, so I’m not going to repeat it here.  Fortunately, this is softened somewhat by the fact that this little boltie accepts the Ruger 10/22 magnum 9-round magazine, which is (surprisingly) still available despite Ruger’s idiotic decision to discontinue their 10/22 rifle in this chambering.  (Oh, how I regret selling mine… it was a sweetie.)

I have no idea what this rifle’s trigger is like, but at its price point ($1,200 – $1,300!) it had better be faultless.  (Typical rifle prices in this chambering run about $250 – $550, but as far as I can see, the Tac-Sol is the only takedown available.)

Interesting, and definitely worth a look, especially for hikers and backpackers.  Here’s TacSol’s website.

All that said, however, I’d be more tempted by a regular bolt-action rifle such as this Savage Mark II, dressed with this fine Boyd’s “Minimalist” laminate stock:

…priced at Sportsman’s for $340.

No Need For Revisitation

Architecture

Here’s a piece at Modern Thinker  which revisits Modernism:

The forerunners of modernism were a mixture of eccentrics and revolutionaries. They agreed on the break with tradition — and the abominated institutions of the bourgeoisie, including classical architecture. Regrettably, several of the rebellious architects were also willing to renounce their integrity and enter the service of the totalitarians.

Several?  Try “almost all” and you’ll be closer to the truth.

Longtime — and maybe even Recent — Readers will know all about my opinion of Modernist architecture (just follow this link if memories need refreshing).

So while the above article is an interesting read, the executive summary is that modernism sucks, sucks green donkey dicks in fact, and is a blight on the landscape everywhere it is perpetrated.

As the title of this post suggests, there is no need to “revisit” modernism, unless it is to be used as a guideline which says, “Not that.  Anything but that.”

“The Name’s Backless; Green Backless”

Corporate Fuckery, Technology

As the totalitarians / utilitarians / technology-worshipers in our midst try to push us evermore towards a cashless society, we see situations like this occur, this time in Britishland:

The IT meltdowns suffered by Sainsbury’s and Tesco highlight the dangers of relying on cashless payments which puts our society ‘at risk’, experts have warned.

On Saturday morning, Sainsbury’s experienced a ‘technical issue’ which created chaos for thousands of people on one of the busiest shopping days of the week.

The supermarket chain cancelled online orders and couldn’t accept contactless payments – so shoppers either had to pay in cash, or scramble to try and remember their PIN.

While people desperately queued to use nearby ATMs, the dramatic uptick in cash withdrawal meant many of the machines ran out.

Many loyal shoppers turned to rival chain Tesco – it also experienced issues with online orders, with a small proportion being cancelled.

By the way, you don’t have to be an “expert” to see the inherent dangers of over-reliance on technology;  you just have to be aware of the old maxim that to err is human, but to really fuck things up you need a computer.  And we’ve all been there.

Nor am I a conspiracy theorist, but at the same time the odds of a “technology meltdown” occurring in the UK’s two largest supermarket chains at the same time are, wouldn’t you say, rather alarming.

In another context, if the flight guidance systems malfunctioned simultaneously in both United Airlines and Air France — two unrelated corporations — there’d be all sorts of alarm and governmental enquiry commissions, not to mention screaming panic in the headlines.

Nor would the scenario of malignant agency be simply dismissed as paranoia — but here we are, where people can’t buy food for their families because of a “meltdown”.

You’d think that we’d have learned this little lesson during the previous lockdown, where all sorts of nonsense happened because “everyday life” was dislocated.

But we haven’t.

Just wait till Ford and Mercedes together experience “system failure” in their driverless car fleets…

Technology can be our friend, and often is.  But over-reliance on technology means it often isn’t.  Remember, the acronym MTBF (mean time between failures) is often used for reassurance, but it also presupposes the existence of failure.

Like what happened at Sainsbury and Tesco — simultaneously.

Update:  And now Greggs, too.

Double Entry

Men & Women

No, this isn’t about bookkeeping.  It’s about a woman who has a condition known as “uterus didelphys”, which in layman’s [sic]  terms means she has a twofer in terms of her reproductive organs:  two uteruses, two sets of Fallopian tubes and yes, two vaginas.  (For the language puristi, note that I wrote “uteruses” and not “uteri”, or else I’d have had to write “vaginae” instead of “vaginas”.  I’m striving for consistency, here.)

Anyway, she uses her didelphism to justify the fact that while she has two boyfriends, she allows each one to penetrate only “their” specific vagina and therefore technically she is “not cheating” on them.  As she so charmingly puts it:

“They both have their own vagina, so they only have sex with that one.”

(As an aside, I am driven to wonder how she handles that separation when it comes to cunnilingus, and also whether each vagina also has its own little “man-in-the-boat”, but let’s not be diverted.)

Given how often womyns call foul on men who cheat on them by saying, “she means nothing to me, it’s only sex”, I am led to wonder whether our little strumpet is in love with one of her tame penises (not “penes”, see above) and is just using the other for sex;  or (more likely) whether she’s just using both for sex and/or getting an income from two streams, so to speak.

I report, you decide.

Or, if you’re like me, you can go and throw up now, while wondering — and not for the first time — when the fuck [sic]  topics like this became part of the public discourse.

Hold Back

Bad News, Gummint, Taxes and Theft

From Reader Mike L. comes this piece of good news:

A Pennsylvania man says he is celebrating his Mega Millions win by getting engaged.  The man, who didn’t release his identity to the public, reportedly won a $1 million Mega Millions prize in New Jersey with a ticket he ordered using the Jackpocket app.  Representatives with the lottery app said the lucky winner decided to purchase the winning ticket while on a break from work.

First things first:  I hope he had the foresight to hold back $450k in taxes from that million, otherwise his friendly local neighborhood IRS agent is going to give it to him good, as will the poxy New Jersey tax enforcers.

Second thing:  yes, his luck was good, but not that good.  Why?

The winning ticket matched all five white balls, just missing the gold Mega Ball.

Had he got the Mega Ball, his winnings would have been about $120 million, in which case he could have got engaged in a cabana at the Four Seasons in the Seychelles:

As it is, his $550k is a lovely windfall, but after buying a decent house, an engagement ring and paying for the wedding, he’ll still have to keep on working.

Being a millionaire isn’t what it used to be…