Friday, November 27, 2009

The Carcass of the Beast

They no longer haunt the kitchen. Indeed nothing remains but the bloated happy bellies and lingering fond memory.
Success.


Thursday, November 26, 2009

Get Cookin' Boys

Alright... get off your lazy ass and get to work. There's meat to cook dammit.

So what's on the menu at Nate's? Glad ya asked. Today I'm responsible for 3 things: fried turkey, fried boston butt, and fried green beans.

So... Ever fried a boston butt? That's a big ass ham for them what don't know by the way. Ain't to difficult really. Here's how it works:

Inject your ham with cajun garlic and marinade it for about an hour or so. Then drop her in the deep frier at 350. Mind the oil temp... it dips when the ham goes in. Plus don't be gettin' to rushed... she pops pretty good when ya put her in. I use peanut oil. Should take about 8 minutes a pound... could be a little more. Tastey!

The turkey is very similar excepting of course you have to rub bacon grease all over it after you inject it. Turkey goes faster to... about 3 minutes a pound.

And the green beans?

I don't share that.

Sorry.

ok.. so how about you? What's the menu at your place?

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The Savings Glut

Just in case you didn't realize how incredibly stupid the modern economic talking heads are... allow me to quote Nobel Prize winner... Paul Krugman:

"If you want to know where the came from, then, think of it this way: We're looking at the revenge of the glut.

And the savings glut is still out there. In fact, its bigger than ever, now that suddenly impoverished consumers have rediscovered the virtues of thrift and the worldwide property boom, which provided an outlet for all excessive savings, has turned into a worldwide bust."

So setting aside the fact that a man just asserted that there is even such a thing as excessive savings... let us first start with the facts before we bother refuting the theory. That is to say... before we can blame the crisis on a savings glut... we must show that a savings glut actually exists.




Ummm...

So see? We don't have to bother refuting the silly theory that excessive saving caused the crisis... because there are no savings... excessive or otherwise.

Krugman's arguement isn't just built on sand... its built on the pretense of sand.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Where Do Pumpkin Pies Come From?





yes I know its an old one... but its classic.
A Busy Mornin'

So I was downstairs helping Eli with one of his Nintendo DS games... Jeb and Elkan were upstairs playing MarioKarts. Yes... Elkan plays MarioKarts. All was well until I heard Jeb yell from upstairs.

"Daddy. Elkan called the lady on the phone and she says now the police have to come to our house."

...

...


!


So of course I assume I didn't hear what I obviously heard and run upstairs hoping I was mistook.

"What's going on buddy?"

"Well... Elkan called the lady and he's talking to her and she said now the police have to come to our house. ***sigh*** little brothers..."

It was at this point that I heard Elkan still chattering away in his bedroom. I rushed in there and found him giving some poor woman a very stern lecture about something that was clearly extremely important. I grabbed the phone... hoping no one was there.

"hello?"

"Oh hi! This is Julie and the ER. Your baby called us and he's just been talking up a storm."

"... ummm.."

"We didn't know what was going on so we had to call the police to come check."

"... errr... sorry?"

"Oh its ok.. he's adorable. I can't believe he dialed this number though."

"I can't either. So he didn't dial 911 then?"

"No this is the unpublished ER number."

"What?"

"I know. I don't know how he managed it!"

Well... I eventually got off the phone with her. Turns out Julie had been on call and got paged to the ER a couple days before and Elkan had simply pressed redial.

At least the cops took their time showing up. The local chief of police, a buddy of mine named Brian, showed up about 30 minutes later. "Havin' a good mornin' Nate?"

"Its great Brian. Thanks."

"hehehe.. I told 'em everything was ok... That baby just tryin' to find his mama."


Its a good thing we live in Mayberry.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Good Riddance

I'm frequently told that we're not in the midst of an epic economic collapse because conditions today aren't as bad as they were in the Great Depression. I think the people of Detroit would disagree.

Consider this... In Detroit proper, the unemployment rate is now higher than it was in the peak of the Great Depression there. Not only that... but back then the numbers were figured far more strictly counting for people down to age 16.

Not only that... the city can no longer afford to bury its dead.

As is the case with most areas... if a family claims a body there and cannot afford to bury it, the city will bury the body in a plain pine casket in a nearby cemetary with a marker. So far... there are 55 bodies sitting in a freezer in the central morgue because the families can't afford to bury them, and the city is broke.

Whole areas of the city are abandoned... and are slowly turning back into wilderness. It looks like some place you'd find in Fallout.

As the city dies this slow agonizing death... I can only chuckle. A more wretched hell hole has likely never existed on this continent. Perhaps every major metropolitan area of the United States will suffer this same indignant death.

We should be so lucky.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Dollar Down

The dollar's downward spirl continues... as I'm sure you've noticed. I mean its hard to pay 7 bucks for a gallon of milk and think there's anything other than inflation going on.














That chart shows the dollar heading to the 2008 low of 71. Now compare it to the gold chart...











So the dollar is heading to the 2008 low, and simulteneously Gold's target is 1300 in the next two months. Now if you've read Vox Day's book, the Return of the Great Depression, you know that he said if Gold was to reach 1500 per ounce by the end of 2010 then the hyper inflationist scenario he calls "Whiskey Zulu" would possibly be in play.

Not only will we see $1500 gold before the end of 2010... we'll probably see it before summer.

and of course... if the percentage holds... a gallon of milk will be 9 bucks or so.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Tactical Pistol: Thoughts Unthunk... Usually

I'm inclined to ask... is it wise for a man to get into a gunfight without giving thought to the possibility of getting shot?

With that in mind... how much time have you spent drilling one handed? Lets say you're shot in your weak arm and can't use it. Can you draw and fire one handed? Can you reload a magazine one handed? Can you clear a jam one handed?

And don't we all practice shooting while standing still?

Have you ever played a first person shooter where people stand still and shoot? While first person shooters are in no way definitive when it comes to tactics in this case they are dead right. Gun fights are not static affairs. Move while you shoot. Shoot as you move.

In an armed confrontation always move in a rotation that keeps your own site on the enemy... while moving you towards his strong side. If he's shooting right-handed... you rotate around him to your left.

And how about reloading one handed? If you carry a full sized backup and cover ain't available... this is a good time to drop your primary and pull it. If you can find cover, drop the empty mag... put the pistol between your knees with the empty grip pointing towards the front of your body. Grab your new mag, put it in the grip... pop it once to seat it... bring the weapon back to ready position and hit the slide release. This should take just a few seconds.

If you have a jam... most can be cured by simply racking the slide. Use the offending case to catch on your belt and push down until the slide racks and ejects the bastard. If ya can't do this... drop the useless weapon and pull your backup.

And yes... you should always have a backup.

I practice these drills quite a bit. I hope you do the same.

Friday, November 13, 2009

ATF: The Gourds - Gin and Juice

Say boys!

Its hard to have a little ATF without a sound track... so I opted for an old favorite. The finest cover ever.

Now.. onto the more imporant matters... Like...

A: So julie brought me a bottle of Mezcal home from mexico. 3 worm tequila boys. 3 worms in the bottle. Big bastards to. Good for molotav cocktails... I don't know about drinkin' it.

T: Can someone tell me why it is that cigars dry up so fast and pipe tobacco can somehow remain moist for decades in a damned jar? I don't get it.

F: What would you have to do to make a glock cool? What if ya had a milled steel frame? And... what if you put a .50GI conversion kit on it? Then of course we'd have to put a decent trigger on the thing... but hey... at least it would be a real weapon. So there ya go... for an additonal 1200 bucks...you could make your Glock cool.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Setting Fashion Trends...



... at a military funeral.

Great job Michelle. Classy as always.

Taurus Thunderbolts

Several years ago Taurus started offering quality reproductions of the classic winchester pump action rifles. I've lusted for one of the plinkers ever since... but now loins have been stirred to the point of out right burning lust.



Now they're offering the same classic rifles in .357 mag and .45acp. Oh my...




I already have a matched caliber handgun/rifle set... a vaquero and a winchester 94 both in .44 mag. As nice as that is... I believe a pump action .357 rifle to match my .357 tracker would be even more useful. Plus... you can shoot the more economical .38specials for plinking.





All I want for Christmas...

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

iGlock




Every girl should have one.





Sorry to one up you, JAC.

Monday, November 02, 2009

Lynyrd Skynyrd - God and Guns

Check it out boys! We can now officially forgive Skynyrd for that stupid Saturday Night Special song.