Guns, guns, GUNS!

I'm not one of the NRA folks, just wanted to get something for plinking, recreation, and learning about the joys of gun ownership. With all the talk of guns everywhere, in every home and in every hand, I went to the Gun show running this weekend at the county fair grounds. I learned sooo much!

First I learned guns aren't cheap. The only way the Ghetto bangers are getting guns are through theft and black market because they are-NOT-cheap. WOW! They are not cheap. Even the small hide in your hand tiny little squirt gun sized guns are over $350. This is a gun show and I've read that prices are cheaper than stores! Goodness Gracious, I took what I thought was enough cash ($300), and found I could afford maybe four guns in the entire show.

Demographics were interesting too. There were at least 300 people walking the aisles and all were Caucasian. ALL. There were no other colored people there. Not yellow, brown or black. Many were over weight and if they had to run a mile, I think paramedics would have been needed. Not too many women, but more than a few kids (looked 8-11 years of age) carrying their new .22 rifles that their Dad's bought them. Oh but there were some interesting guns there.

Want an AK47? Several examples. Want a Thompson sub machine gun like you saw in the untouchables? At least five that I saw. Several several examples of assault rifles (M16s and so forth). Lots of pistols from Ruger styles, to the 007 James Bond variants and the service 45s called 1911, and revolvers from tiny to Dirty Harry Magnums. All were $$$$ Made me wonder where all the guns in the ghetto come from, but we know where, don't we.

Entrance fee was $5. The building was full of vendors, and enough eye candy to keep you looking for over an hour. Some knives and swords also carried premium prices. I had read about gun shows circumventing gun registration, but all the sales I saw came with a bunch of paperwork that got filled out on the spot. I'll keep looking for a second hand Ruger 10-22 plinker (.22 caliber 10 shot semi auto rifle), but I now know I won't be one of these guys with an arsenal in my home. Gosh but that sort of hobby ties up a LOT of cash, and I don't have it for toys I won't be using that often.

The absolute coolest rifle I saw there had a $5k price. It was a sniper rifle in .50 caliber. I've read about them in my Sci-fi books, but never had an idea just how big a cannon they were. Impressive. No way could I even hold one and aim it. Definitely a rifle you put on a supporting bipod. If you're in the market or just want to see what it's all about, the gun show continues through tomorrow. If you aim to buy, take a lot of money. A LOT of money.

Blogger Down

The last couple of days have been harrowing indeed! Never mind the fact that today is Friday the 13th when the good luck ends. Blogger has been down since Thursday morning into mid day today. I could read the blogs, but I couldn't post any comments, sign in, nor much of anything else-just read... Any click of the the mouse directed me to an error message and/or Blogger not available page. Thinking the problem my be at my end, I had cleaned my computer out, taking viral scans. No change.

I'm aware of Blogger shutting down for maintenance issues from time to time, but NEVER for this long. As the hours passed, I began to wonder if my computer was really starting to freak out. Just to be sure if anyone else was having this issue, I called Lizardmom to ask her if she was having any problems. Sure enough, she was... At least my computer was fine.

As I sat vigil over the computer waiting for Blogger to fix their problem, I began to notice the situation was getting worse. Blogs posts and comments were starting disappear-like a virus spending throughout the system. I began to worry if this was the end for Blogger. My mind raced-what will happen to the JTI? How I be able to recover my blog? All those years of hard work gone!

That ray of hope shown through mid day today when Blogger was finally restored. As I surveyed the damage, I noticed that the blog posts that had disappeared, returned. I had lost some unfinished blog posts that I had planned. Many comments remained missing.

Blogger never gave a logical reason to what the problem was, but issued a statement. Hopefully, they'll be able to finish the loose ends of this madness up soon.

At least I can breathe again...

"A Supermarket in California"

What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for
I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache
self-conscious looking at the full moon.
          In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went
into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!
          What peaches and what penumbras!  Whole families
shopping at night!  Aisles full of husbands!  Wives in the
avocados, babies in the tomatoes!--and you, Garcia Lorca, what
were you doing down by the watermelons?

          I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber,
poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery
boys.
          I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the
pork chops?  What price bananas?  Are you my Angel?
          I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans
following you, and followed in my imagination by the store
detective.
          We strode down the open corridors together in our
solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen
delicacy, and never passing the cashier.

          Where are we going, Walt Whitman?  The doors close in
an hour.  Which way does your beard point tonight?
          (I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the
supermarket and feel absurd.)
          Will we walk all night through solitary streets?  The
trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we'll both be
lonely.

          Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love
past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage?
          Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher,
what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and
you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat
disappear on the black waters of Lethe?

Berkeley, 1955

--Allen Ginsberg

Walt Whitman was the subject of a previous Poetry Blog.

"Irwin Allen Ginsberg ( /ˈɡɪnzbərɡ/; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet who vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression. In the 1950s, Ginsberg was a leading figure of the Beat Generation. Ginsberg's epic poem "Howl", in which he celebrates his fellow "angel-headed hipsters" and excoriates what he saw as the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity in the United States, is one of the classic poems of the Beat Generation.^[1] The poem, dedicated to writer Carl Solomon, has the opening:

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by
madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn
looking for an angry fix...^[2]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Ginsberg

Gotta be the same Accountant

Madison

Cost to repair the Capital building after the demonstrators tore it up was estimated at $7.5 million dollars. The real cost was $270,00, a long ways from $7.5 mil.

Capitol Damage TMJ-4

Now the cost of security is estimated at $7.8 million...WTF

I took 500 officers at $25.00 an hour, 40 hours at straight time, 10 at time and half and 10 at double time, comes to $3.6 million.

You cannot add dispatcher’s wages because they are there whether or not there is a protest, but if they added some for the protests you could use their wages.

Then there is gas for the cars, maintenance for the vehicles and a few more incidentals, but not $3.2 million worth of them.

Leads me to believe it has to be the same account hung up on the $7.5 million figure.

Capitol security costs total $7.81 million

I would love to see this report!!!

WW II

Two old buddies from WW II are sitting on a bench talking.

One of them ask the other, "Hey Bill, you remember back in the big war to end all wars, they gave us those saltpeter pills to make us forget about sex?"

"Yeah, I remember, Joe, what about em?"

"I think mine is starting to work!"

Open Blog - Friday

Be careful out there!

Morning Planets

Just a quick post. May features four morning planets. I managed to see three of them this morning. Jupiter is the highest, Venus to its lower right, and Mercury still farther to the lower right. Here are two pics: first a wide angle shot then a close up taken with a 300mm zoom lens.

Mars is below and to the left, but I got up too late to see it this morning. Mars is not as bright and was overwhelmed by the approaching sunrise.

This morning gathering of planets is better seen from the southern hemisphere. I briefly discussed the reason for this in my previous post. The gathering continues for the next couple of weeks for early risers. Now to see if I can drag myself out of bed even earlier to catch Mars before it gets too bright!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my rowdy robins! How are you? Things are finally warming up outdoors, but we have to dodge raindrops. The smell of freshly cut grass is something that I forget each year until May aromatically reminds me. Have you noticed how long the days are getting? I so love the sun. At least, I love it as long as the temperature remains below 80. I’m no fan of sunstroke or mid-August heat waves. Moderation in everything, my dears.

I think I might have caught a bit of that spring cleaning bug from Lizardmom. I don’t have a full blown case, but I suddenly find myself cleaning up little sections of the house one at a time. Before I know it, I’ll have the whole place done. Well, except for Junior’s room. That, I believe, is beyond cleaning. Demolition is more like it.

I’d like to point out that under Local News in the sidebar, the JTI now has a link to the Journal Times Events Calendar, which is a very handy place to find out what’s going on and what’s coming up in the area. Thank you, Journal Times.

And thank you, Racine Uncovered, for your ongoing efforts to keep our Mayor and City Hall on the up and up. I’ve been working on Mr. Mayor’s mojo and some cracks are showing. I will keep applying my powers to this until the spell is broken. Racine Uncovered is like our political Mother Teresa, tirelessly giving of herself for the betterment of her fellow citizens. Thank you, again.

And thank you, Mother Nature, for the splendiferous show. Most trees are budding in now and a green canopy awaits us on many streets. I see flowering trees and shrubs everywhere. Tulips and daffodils abound. Soon people will plant their annuals and the colors will be a dazzling array. Such beauty! I just love spring.

And I just love you for stopping by to read my blog. Thank you so much, my dear, dear Irregulars. Thank you for having the JTI and thank you for having me as a part of it. You are a wonderful group of people and I bless you all.

Send your spring bouquets to: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

Have a great week, each and every one of you. I look forward to our next get-together. Senor Zanza and I may have an important announcement to make at that time. Be mindful of all the other people walking, running, skating, driving, and riding out there. A lot of them will be on cell phones or texting. Stay alert. Oikofugic!

Open Blog - Wednesday

That looks delicious.

Bin Laden Informant

The Pentagon just released a photo of the Pakistani man who gave the
CIA credible information that led them to Osama bin Laden.

He is eligible to get the $25M reward the US Gov't was offering.

learn something every day

Riding in the VA transportation we drove past a farm of condos. As we passed this song came to my mind. Oddly as I was doing the research to post this, I found out it's a Weeds song. Theme song? I don't know, I don't hear these days so it might be. Anyway, if you don't watch Weeds, you may not have heard this song in some time.

And from the Silent But Deadly department

Seeing as how we have gone to the bottom today, for your reading enjoyment is a rather long thread from a Bass Guitar forum I frequent. If your not left with tears streaming down your face you dont have funny bone.

Farting at a Show Thread

Speaking of Farts....

A fart is a pleasant thing,
It gives the belly ease,
It warms the bed in winter,
And suffocates the fleas.

A fart can occur
In a number of places,
And leave everyone there,
With strange looks on their faces .
From wide-open prairie,
To small elevators,
A fart will find all of
Us sooner or later.

But farts are all bad,
Is simply not true-
We must never forget.......
Sweet old farts like you!

Authur Unknown

I've been inspired...

I got inspired by Orbs and his farting preacher, made me think of this.. I heard this many years ago but it did leave an impression on me that I still think about it and laugh.. If you like the fart humor you'll enjoy this..

Logjam, please come home

My blog below was inspired by my blog below that one. Now this one is also inspired by my blog below, "Farting Preacher." In thinking about the blog, I figured most of the women would either not comment or say something like, "PU. Farting is disgusting." That led me to thinking about logjam, because he always appreciated a good fart joke.

So, logjam, I don't know if you still read this site, but if you do, I am asking you to please reconsider your decision. I miss you, I miss your "From the whatever dept." blogs, I miss your comments, and I miss your fart jokes. Please come home.

I'll put a lamp for you in the window.

Farting Preacher

A comment I made on the blog below contained a reference to Robert Tilton, my favorite televangelist. (http://www.roberttiltonlive.com/home.html) I have been "following" Rev. Tilton, on and off (mostly off), since the mid-80's in Chicago. I used to get drunk as a loon and just stare at his antics and spiel on TV, mesmerized by his performance. Sometimes he would talk in tongues. He was noted for his expressiveness.

Then the internet came along and someone had the brilliant idea to take clips of those expressive moments and add sound effects to them. Thus was born the first, and, I believe, the best "Farting Preacher," featuring Robert Tilton:



That was soon followed by "Farting Preacher" 2, 3, 4, etc. When I checked YouTube tonight, they were up to #12, with many "best of" clip collections and variations on the theme. It's become a meme.

Personally, I feel a little proud, kinda like I discovered Tilton way back when in Chicago. A number of years ago, I contacted his organization and got all sorts of prayer cloths and anointed oils and heaps of other promotional material in the mail. I kept writing sob stories about why I couldn't donate and they kept sending more junk. I had a Robert Tilton collection. They finally stopped sending me stuff because I never gave them any money. For the hell of it, I've ordered a copy of the new free book offered on his site. My address is different now, so maybe I'm off their banned list.

Shake Weight Revisited

A couple of years ago, I posted a blog about the Shake Weight: http://www.jtirregulars.com/2009/07/shake-weight.html Since that time, the Shake Weight has boomed in popularity. Personally, I think the device is hilarious, but someone is laughing all the way to the bank.

Here is a clip of a news station cracking up over a Shake Weight segment:



I didn't know that South Park did an episode on the Shake Weight until I saw the above clip. Here are some YouTube clips from that show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYmnP7VOyo4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EndCtBuj0pU

Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks it's funny.
 

I WON THE LOTTERY - PARTY IS ON ME!

As soon as I can find someone to borrow their cell phone to make an international phone call, I should be able to collect and then throw a HUGE party.......

Star Wars: Episodes I - III

In Lego...in under two and a half minutes.

Open Blog - Monday

Yes it is, yes it is. 

Stupid Hats at the Royal Wedding

Gotta love what the Queen is sporting these days!!

Saturday Night Videos

I tend to stay up late on Saturday nights, chilling out after a long weeks of work with a couple of beers and listen to some great music. Nothing is more soothing to the soul than some great music. Here's where I can kick up my feet and relax. Anyways, this sharing my thoughts and introducing the music that I listen to could become a regular thing....

My first pick of the night is "The End" by the Doors from their debut album released in 1967. Jim Morrison's amazing poetry and baritone vocals always have given me the chills. His lyrics can become deep and meaningless, yet the provoke the mind. The tune starts off slow then it cascades to an apocalyptic Oedipal ending with shocking lyrics. I was stunned the first time I heard this tune...



If that didn't shock you. the next tune will..

Some of you maybe ready to break out your lava lamps and black velvet posters. The Rolling Stones went through their psychedelic/golden years in the late '60's and early '70's with albums like Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street. There wasn't much that could be wasted here, even the deep cuts were something to behold... "Jigsaw Puzzle" off of their Beggars Banquet album (released in 1968) set a tone further beyond the Beatles' bad boy imagine-with a huge amount of talent! No disrespect towards the Beatles-I love 'em! The Stones pushed the envelope of censorship, shocking people with their creativity... Yes, "Sympathy for the Devil" is on the same album.



I've been working on my DrewTube blog lately. It's a documentation of my album collection. Just started a couple of months ago. It's project in the works and will take years to finish...So far, I've gotten to Allmam Brothers Band. Yep, I've got that many albums and bootlegs. Here is the latest entry....Live from Austin City Limits...Unfortunately, I can't embedded from that show, but I'll leave you with "Ramblin' Man" from the House of Blues in 1995.



ENJOY!

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