Last week’s Competition was #200 in this weekly posting — that’s nearly two years’ worth of strange pictures — and I need to have a quick poll just to see if it’s getting old, and my Readers would prefer that we Move On (to what, I don’t know).
Tell me how you feel, in Comments or by email.
Here’s an interesting piece of news coming from Seffrica:
Members of the the South African men’s cricket team competing at the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates have been ordered to “take the knee” before every match. A directive issued by the Cricket South Africa (CSA) Board late Monday night outlined the new requirement.
The move follows the team’s T20 World Cup opener against Australia on the weekend when players were seen variously standing, kneeling or raising a fist during the statutory pre-match BLM protest.
And then this subsequent situation:
South African cricket star Quinton de Kock withdrew from a major international competition Tuesday rather than follow a new policy requiring players to kneel for the country’s national anthem in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
De Kock, who was named South Africa’s “Cricketer of the Year” in 2020, and who has served as the team’s captain, made himself unavailable for the team’s T20 World Cup match against the West Indies on Tuesday, rather than be forced to kneel.
I know that few Readers on this here back porch would be familiar with the game and players of cricket, so let me tell you: this is a big fucking deal. Quinton de Kock is one of the best cricketers in the world — ask anyone who follows international cricket — and as he’s the team’s wicket-keeper (catcher, in baseball terms) and a first-class batter who has more than once won games all by his own efforts, his loss to the SA team will be incalculable.
That said, Cricket South Africa is more of a political institution than a sports governing body, so they’re not going to make an exception — CSA is the bunch of fools who mandated that all SA cricket teams have to consist of x number of White players, y number of Black players, and z number of “other races”, regardless of talent. So the teams are picked almost exclusively by color.
Anyway, De Kock has decided not to follow this BLM kneeling bullshit, and good for him. His courage in putting it all on the line for his beliefs will not be forgotten.
With FN/Browning no longer making the wonderful P35 / High Power, there is a vacuum in the Force as we know it. (In modern terminology, that’s known as a “gap in the market”.)
Step forward Springfield Armory, who not only took over the 1911 from Colt many years back, but (thanks to Reader Simon M, who told me about it) now has manufacturing set up for the High Power.
From their sales spiel:
Made in the U.S.A., the SA-35 features rugged forged steel parts for strength and durability, improved ergonomics and enhanced controls, modern sights, an improved feed ramp design, and an increased 15-round capacity. Configured without a magazine disconnect for a drop free magazine the SA-35 features a factory-tuned trigger with a smooth pull and crisp, clean break.
If all that’s true, I cannot find a single thing wrong with this resurrected phenomenon.
My only quibble is the “matte blue” finish:
…instead of the gleaming, shiny blue of its predecessor:
But that’s just my preference; others may vary. Whatever:
Daughter has been eyeing my High Power for years…
And the P35 is WAY too good a pistol — better still than so many others on the market — for it to disappear,
… that happen when you’re getting old and confused, and make a shopping list to help you remember why you’re out driving your car.
Don’t even ask me what happens when you read “Coke”…
This getting old thing ain’t for the faint of heart, lemme tell ya.
Manchester United were thrashed by Liverpool 5-0 over the weekend, leading to brilliant jokes like this one:
It;s not often I burst into uncontrollable laughter when reading SOTI, but this one made me do it.
For my Murkin Readers who don’t get the joke, here are some links:
Alex Ferguson — Sarah Ferguson — Black-Eyed Peas