Your suggestions in Comments.
Latest Posts
A Whole New Word
I see this development with something approaching satisfaction:
Women are wearing ‘safety layers’ over their outfits to deter ‘creepy’ men – with many labeling it ‘sad but necessary’.
Let me get all the stipulations out of the way, first.
Yes, I agree that womyns should be able to wear what they want. Yes, I agree that womyns should be “body proud” to bolster their self-esteem. Yes, I agree that (in this respect anyway) Men Are Pigs and shouldn’t respond to scantily-clad womyns with catcalls, wolf whistles and overt sexual behavior (groping, etc.), not to mention trying to sneak some “upskirt pics” (which is really unacceptable).
However:
If womyns are going to dress like prostitutes, please understand that while men like myself can simply appreciate the female form as an object of beauty, Not All Men Are Like That and some may regard displays of flesh and the female form as sex objects. Yes, their behavior is to be deplored.
But, in the words of some wise man, and according to sound marketing principle:
If the goods aren’t for sale, don’t put them in the window.
I hate to sound old-fashioned, but there’s this word… wait, it’ll come to me… give me a moment, what was it again? Oh yeah:
Now I know that the word has been abused, most notably by the radical religionists (Puritans, Muslims an other assholes of that ilk), and if applied to its extreme, you get shunning, niqabs, mercy killings and so on. All bad things.
But can we at least agree that somewhere between this:
and this:
…there lies an expansive area wherein womyns can dress in a non-provocative fashion that is still… sexy, without being overly provocative?
I often use Brit-TV hottie and uber-MILF Charlotte Hawkins as an example of stylishness and sexiness, because she is most often seen in public dressed, ummm stylishly and sexily. This does not means she can’t go deep, so to speak:
…but only when the occasion calls for it, i.e. when display is called for, in a secure environment so to speak.
I know, all this is Not Fair To Women etc., but can we at least try to live in the real world, and not in some ur-feminist fantasy?
Modesty works, ladies, and you need to dial Teh Sexeh back a tad when you’re out in the public eye.
Entry Level
So you’re a young-ish man or woman, and you want to get into the wonderful world of Hunting / Target Shooting, Rifle Division. But when you start looking at what’s out there, you’re bowled over by the prices.
You might saunter over to Collectors, and snatch up this one, for only $600:
Here’s the checklist, all answered in the positive:
- well-known brand
- good, adjustable trigger
- bull barrel which won’t start to wilt after only three rounds fired
- popular cartridge, relatively cheap for practice, not horrible recoil
- includes an acceptable Nikon scope (for hunting; for greater distances, buy something more powerful)
- lightweight stock
Caveats:
- it’s consignment, which means Collectors hasn’t tested it for function (as they do when they buy guns from individuals)
- the bolt may be stiff and clunky to operate (common fault of Savage rifles that haven’t been worked on
Honestly, it’s a dandy for an entry-level shooter. Me, I think the positives outweigh the potential negatives, bigly.
Scraping
It can’t be simple coincidence. After my post about coolers the other day (wherein I lashed out at over-priced Yeti), I got this message (flagged as junk mail):
Of course, clicking on either of the links doesn’t do anything except register your email addy as belonging to a sucker. Whoever created this bullshit then spoofs your email address and starts sending you dozens of spam messages per day — so it looks as though you’re receiving emails from yourself but worst of all, you can’t flag your own address as spam or junk so you can’t stop the fucking things. (Ask me, I’ve tried.) Here would be my solution to these assholes:
Clickbait Hoars
I read Breitbart News every day, sometimes more than once, to get an idea of what’s going on out there. So it pains me when these guys piss in the soup by, in this case, treating a fucking commercial as a news item, viz. (don’t bother clicking on it, it’s just a screen grab):
Most of the comments are scornful of BN, saying things like “As sponsored by…” and so on.
Here’s the news: nobody cares if you carry ads, or even advertorials. But you have to tell people that they are just that and not actual news reports, like this example from, of all places, the Daily Mirror:
Otherwise you could (justifiably) be accused of abusing the trust of your customers, which in this case, you are.
Even the “mainstream” news has followed this principle, although they too have succumbed to clickbait bullshit recently.
I thought Breitbart News was different. Clearly, I was mistaken. They just did a Bud Light.
Dumb shits.
It’s as though my Readers were to discover that all these years I’ve been paid by Springfield Armory to say all those horrible things about Glock. (Relax, I haven’t.)
And I’m just a little blog, tucked away in the corner of the Internet. If you’re in the Big Media Playground — and especially in the roped-off conservative area — trust is your only coin: fuck that up, and you’re dead. Ask Dan Rather.
No, I’m not going to stop reading Breitbart News, but I’m going to be a lot more skeptical about their reporting in future.
See how that works?
Bravo Scuderia
Finally, a ray of hope amidst all the gloom of Global Warming Climate Cooling Change:
Legendary Italian car maker Ferrari has no intention of phasing out combustion engines and going fully electric or hybrid anytime soon, promising Sunday to keep making the eight and 12-cylinder engines it has made its trademark at least until the end of the 2030s.
The chief of the Italian manufacturer told the BBC in an interview it would be “arrogant” to dictate to customers what they can buy while at the same time walking away from the company’s heritage.
Ferrari instead wants to honor its history of high performance cars using traditional methods of propulsion.
Of course, they’re dealing from a position of strength because they can’t make enough Ferraris to satisfy the huge market of people with more money than sense and no resistance to brand snob appeal.
That said, their 296 hybrid is pretty sexy:
…albeit still overpriced, like all Ferraris.
But let me not be too grumpy about this because they are to be congratulated for not capitulating to the Watermelons, and keeping their Rosso where it belongs: on the outside.