When you do a Playboy spread [sic] at age 37, and Penthouse at age 40, as Barbara Bouchet did, then let’s just say that your beauty is undeniable:
And about those spreads:
No words, just… wonderful.
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Minor Leagues
As Loyal Readers know, when it comes to auto racing I’m a devotee of Formula 1, with only the occasional branch line into Le Mans and WEC.
Therefore I have been unaware of the kind of driver in the “lesser” racing formats, and have therefore missed a couple of good ones.
First up, let’s look at Lindsey Brewer:
Then we have Toni Breidinger:
Finally, the “old lady” (b. 1989) of this genre, Shannon McIntosh:
I need to stop being so closed-minded about this racing thing, and broaden my horizons a little, so to speak.
Manufacturing
Am I the last man to discover the excellent War Factories series on the Eeeewww Choob?
If you haven’t watched it, kiss your weekend goodbye, as I did last weekend.
You can thank me later.
There’s also the sulky-looking and acerbic Alexandra Churchill to be seen occasionally. She really, really hates the Nazis from the 1940s — and who can blame her?
Oh, and she’s definitely not related to WSC:
If this is the New Breed of Lady Historians, bring it on.
Rifle Conundrum
So having taken care of my carry gun problem, I turn now to the Boomershoot 2023 ULD situation. Unfortunately, this leads me to another fork in the road.
But first, let me take care of the easy stuff.
Rifle type (bench vs. hunting): Almost everyone said they had the “hunting” thing taken care of. What they wanted was a bench-type rifle. Check.
Caliber: a vast majority of ticket holders wanted the thing in .308 Win, and almost nobody wanted .30-06 or 6.5 Creedmoor. Also check.
Readers who recall my experiences with the Howa HCR 1500 from last year may recall that I loved the rifle. (Cliff Notes: more accurate than anyone (let alone I) could shoot it, outstanding trigger — just about the perfect rifle at that price point, or indeed at almost any price point.)
So just for the hell of it, I looked at doing the Howa again, and found this situation:
And here’s where the problem comes in. The two rifles pictures have the same silky bolt action, the same astounding trigger, and the same hammer-forged heavy barrel — in other words, mechanically they are identical.
Where they differ, of course, is in the stock setup — the Hogue is free-floated but not “chassis” based, whereas the Oryx is a true bench rifle. (As pictured, the Hogue weighs in at about 8lbs, whereas the Oryx weighs just over 10lbs — the latter being irrelevant as it’s being fired from a bench, and heavier weight is actually a positive attribute.)
That $270 price difference, however, sticks in my craw. (Oh, and the Hogue is available immediately, but the Oryx is on backorder at five different outlets, where I’ve put myself on a notification list, just in case.)
What say you, O My Readers?
Silly Question
I absolutely ruled in the late 1970s… the first few years, not so much because I was still figuring out which end was up and what all these things were to be used for. If you know what I mean. But by 1975… hubba hubba.
My old VW panel van wasn’t pimped up like the above, but it worked just fine all the same. (I had a bumper sticker on the back which read “Go ahead and laugh — your daughter may be inside”.) It looked like this, but was more of a bamboo color:
And then there was the music… even the bad ones are better than the crap we hear today.
I carried a Colt Combat Commander, my .22 pistol was a Beretta Model 75, my .22 rifle was a Winchester 63, and my hunting rifle was the old Israeli Mauser in 7.62mm NATO:
…… 
Simpler times, easier life. I miss the 70s, a lot.
Caption Competition #264
Your suggestions in Comments.