I'm still here

I just let myself get run down and had to step away from the blogs and news for a while.

I've been keeping myself busy by creating some new recipes and learning how to bake different kinds of breads, make pizza dough, cakes and other desserts.

I'll share some of the recipes later this week.

Random stuff

I'm trying to get back on a sleep schedule. I'm not sure what messed it up, but I've hit the wall so to speak. Walking around like a zombie is not all that it's cracked up to be.

My mother called me last night to ask who I was voting for. I probably talk to her every six months.. if that.. so this must have been weighing heavily on her mind.

I just said, I'll probably vote for the first female vice president...then I gritted my teeth and waited for her to give me the Obamalicious messiah speech. Surprisingly, she said that this will be the first time since 1968 that she will be voting Republican.

After I woke up and climbed back into my chair, I heard her say, "Obama has no idea how to run a country and there is no way I can vote for a socialist."

Weird stuff.

I just can't wait for this election to be over with.

Polish P-64

Not long ago I saw this little pistol in the gun shop case and immediately recognized it as one of the obsolete Polish military and police pistols that have been imported over the last few years. The gun looked like it had never been fired and for $115 it was a steal.

A few months earlier, a guy at the firing range thought he would play a joke on me and let me shoot his. He didn't know I had been watching him and his friends cry over their sore paws for the last 20 min.

I happily accepted his offer and fired off a magazine at the 7 yard target. I was able to keep all six rounds in the 9 and 10 ring. The recoil was harsh...it was like catching a 90mph fast ball bare handed. I pretended it didn't phase me and handed the gun back to it's owner with a big grin on my face.. "wow that was great! thanks for letting me shoot it!" They all looked at me and my target with incredulity.

I could tell the guy was annoyed that his practical joke backfired.

There are very few handguns I won't try at least once.

The P-64 is considered a close copy of the Walther PPK but instead of .32 or .380 it fires 9X18 makarov which is marginally more powerful than the .380 but less so than the 9mm parabellum that is the standard NATO handgun caliber.

This would make a great carry piece. It is very slim, compact, accurate and ultra reliable.

The only drawback from what I can tell is the recoil. It probably just as painful to the shooter as the shootee.

Friday

I'll be taking the weekend off from blogging. I haven't been sleeping and I'm getting run down. Too much stress with dealing with my sons's teachers not following his IEP for his learning disorder.. I've already threatened to get a lawyer if they don't straighten up. The piles and piles of homework aren't helping either. To make matters worse, my son is in full on puberty mode and he is being extremely moody and verbally aggressive. I hate jumping in his shit but he has to know who is in charge.

So I'll be back to normal visiting and posting on Monday if not sooner.

I was crying with laughter at this one.

Honoring those lost on 9/11/2001

Democrats are their own worst enemy

Whenever I criticize someone, it is for something that they have actually done or have failed to do. When I go after Obama it's because of his voting to ban firearms, his socialist policies, flip flops and outright lies about his record.

I don't say shit unless they open themselves up for it and I do my research first. Which includes snopes.com.

Many liberals on the other hand are not constrained by facts or fairness. The photo shopped pic showing Palin with the bikini and machine gun is FAKE and has been proven FAKE a thousand times but I keep seeing it all over the blogosphere as "Proof" that she shouldn't be elected.

Give me a fucking break.

At least some liberal folks raised concerns about Palin's record, her religion and her stances but what I mostly see are baseless attacks regarding things that, if the Democratic candidate did would be totally ignored or excused.

Another thing I keep reading from Democrats is that Sarah Palin has 5 kids, one with downs syndrome and she should be at home taking care of those children instead of running for Vice President.

Holy fucking guacamole! Do they hear what they are saying? Would they call a female democratic candidate a bad mother for choosing to run for office? Hell no! That would be sexist.

This is what I was told by a liberal female psychology professor: " Women are underpaid, under represented and are discriminated against because other women are always backstabbing and throwing their female counterparts under the bus.

From my longtime experience in the corporate world, I find this to be true. Men don't usually gossip about other men and will often cover for another man if he screws up. Often times a female will use the opportunity to trash her counterpart and try to use the situation to her advantage.

I'm not saying this to be sexist It's just what I've witnessed.

So what I'm trying to say is, Democratic women are only hurting themselves in the long run by trashing Palin because what they are doing is trashing themselves. The possibility of having the first female American vice president to me is groundbreaking and exciting. I fully support the possibility of having one at the very top levels of leadership.

Can't the Democrats see that once this glass ceiling is broken, they will be able to successfully nominate female candidates of their own? What are they so afraid of? Palin is not going to outlaw abortion and start a Christian Jihad against Berkley...Bush didn't even do that.

Margaret Thatcher was attacked much the same way Palin is right now and she turned out to be one of the strongest and most respected leaders of the 20th century

Democrats need to quit doing themselves a disservice, stick to the facts and leave the tabloid bullshit to the news networks.

UPDATE:
Apparently I'm not the only one who is pissed about the misuse of this stupid photograph.

Herbivore 100

Since I've been a vegetarian nearly my entire life most of the meat items will be crossed out unless I ate them before 5 years old...
Bold means I've eaten it.
Crossed out means I will never.
If I missed some my hand got tired of typing html code for that damn
crossout.


1. Venison
2. Nettle tea good for what ails ya.
3. Huevos rancheros a must in South Texas (eggs cooked in a spicy broth)
4. Steak tartare I'm not mad about mad cow
5. Crocodile Crikey!
6. Black pudding Blood clot sausage...not my bag baby
7. Cheese fondue Good stuff!
8.Carp The spam of the sea
9. Borscht.... Nyet
10. Baba ghanoush How could you go wrong with roasted eggplant?
11. Calamari Looks ok fried
12. Pho = Beef noodle soup
13. PB&J sandwich Who hasn't? Blackberry jelly is best
14.Aloo gobi..... Cauliflower potatoes and onions..another classic
15. Hot dog from a street cart Jimmy Hoffa brand!
16. Epoisses One of my favorites. I can't pronounce it so I call it monk cheeese
17. Black truffle .....Had some at Emerils in Orlando..great flavor
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes. I had pineapple wine from Hawaii it was good.
19. Steamed pork buns That just doesn't sound kosher.
20. Pistachio ice cream... You mean spumoni? It's excellent.
21. Heirloom tomatoes... They actually have flavor.
22. Fresh wild berries... Right off the bush!
23. Foie gras Cirrosis of Duck liver
24. Rice and beans... Of course, I like the cajun version.
25. Brawn, or head cheese I could insert a gross joke here.
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper Yep I eat habaneros like candy
27. Dulce de leche I've had it over cake..sweet but good
28. Oysters The thought of eating a live snot monster give me pause
29. Baklava... Any dessert made with filo dough is fine by me.
30. Bagna cauda.... not exactly but close
31. Wasabi peas ack..one or two are ok
32. Clam chowder Not a yankee
33. Salted lassi.... Poor Lassie!
34. Sauerkraut.... you mean German kimchee?
35. Root beer float ....A classic
36. Cognac with a fat cigar... I try to not put the cigar in my cognac
37. Clotted cream tea... just sounds gross
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O Yes and I lost a few IQ points doing it.
39.Gumbo... only my vegetarian version
40. Oxtail I could never get close enough without it kicking me
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects Not unless I'm riding without a helmet
43. Phaal the hottest curry..I had it on a buffet once..it was really good but the heat was unexpected.
44. Goat’s milk ....only from female goats
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more...Yeah but I was too drunk to appreciate it.
46. Fugu well fugu too I ain't eating that shit (poison puffer fish)
47. Chicken tikka masala No but I've tried the sauce
48. Eel In the tank their facial expression reminds me of an old man
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut Yep but I'm not a fan
50. Sea urchin Someone long ago must have been really hungry to think of eating that.
51. Prickly pear... Makes good jelly
52. Umeboshi ....Yes but I didn't know till I just looked it up
53. Abalone has a first name its O.S.C.A.R
54. Paneer... I love any cheese
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal... had one as a kid but didn't like the sauce
56. Spaetzle... One time in Fredricksburg.not bad
57. Dirty gin martini.... hell yeah..only with tanqueray though
58. Beer above 8% ABV... I like Madred sous
59. Poutine.... Not exactly but it sounds good
60. Carob chips Some quack said I was allergic to chocolate so I got that shit instead..blehhhch!
61. S’mores.... Just had my first one a month ago
62. Sweetbreads glands ain't my bag either
63. Kaolin ....diarreah medicine?
64. Currywurst.... Sounds... like a dish I need to make
65. Durian Stink fruit..no thanks
66. Frogs’ legs Saw them in a food booth my wife ate em I didn't
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake with fried bread you can't go wrong
68. Haggis No thank you
69. Fried plantain ..I like cuban food
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette Nope
71. Gazpacho... I make my own but cold soup is an acquired taste
72. Caviar and blini On accident once..it was a rude awakening
73. Louche absinthe.... I don't like my booze to glow green
74. Gjetost, or brunost.... any cheese is good ..except limburger
75. Roadkill I'm not Les Stroud.
76. Baijiu Grain alcohol..sure I'm game
77. Hostess Fruit Pie Remember fruit pie the magician?
78. Snail Hell no!
79. Lapsang souchong smoked tea? sounds suspiciously like bong water
80. Bellini peach schnopps smoothie..good stuff
81. Tom yum Never knew what it was called but I had the coconut soup version and it rocked
82. Eggs Benedict Yep I like hollandaise
83. Pocky Chocolate covered cookie sticks..they are addictive
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. do they sell tires too?
85. Kobe beef Nope but I wouldn't mind cooking with it
86. Hare What's up doc?
87. Goulash I make a mean vegetarian one
88. Flowers bought some edibles and incorporated them into an anniversary dinner..they were ok but more of a novelty
89. Horse Poor Trigger
90. Criollo chocolate Not sure but I'm game
91. Spam Nope that "schlock" sound as it leaves the can reminds me of cat food.
92. Soft shell crab Nope
93. Rose harissa.... In spongecake once
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano.... One of my specialties
96. Bagel and lox ...Just the bagel
97. Lobster Thermidor Nope I probably would have trouble cooking one too
98. Polenta.... Hate that shit..it's like overcooked grits or undercooked cornpone
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee Is that one one that comes out of a lemurs ass?
100. Snake I wouldn't know where to start

When not to shave.

When I was about 19, I went to a party with some friends from work. We drank beer, barbecued, swam etc... later in the night, the tequila bottle came out and everyone started taking shots.

I wasn't an experienced drinker but I thought what the hell...

Everyone got really drunk. I was buzzed but I can usually keep some composure. I noticed that two guys at the party had crawled into bed with my female co-worker who was passed out cold and shut the door.

I said....uh no fucking way they going to drunk rape this girl. So I went in scooped her up and put her on the couch and stood guard over her.

The dudes were PISSED OFF that I messed up their little game and one of them tried to fight me, but he was too drunk and clumsy and ended up smacking his head into a coffee table, the other guy kept saying.."hey man why'd you take her...I wasn't going to do nuffin."

I said, if you weren't going to fuck with her, then why do you care if I put her on the couch? All he said was "Fuck you asshole" and he stormed off to bed.

I laid down next to couch and fell alseep but was soon awakened by the sound of retching. Passed out girl was puking but not waking up, so I turned her over and made sure her airway was clear then carried her to the bathroom so she could lean over the toilet.

She became semi concious enough to finish throwing up in the toilet while I held her hair and tried to clean the puke out of her ears. She once again passed out on the floor, so I decided to sit there and watch her so she wouldn't choke and die.

It was really boring sitting in the restroom for two hours and the smell of half digested fajitas and tequila puke wasn't so pleasant.

I looked over and there was one of those new fangled rechargeable beard trimmers.

I had just grown a beard and it was looking kind of shaggy and scraggly so I decided to give this thing a try. It was a lot sharper, than I imagined and I was more drunk than I felt due to all the adrenaline. Before I knew it, I had shaved my beard into a half mutton chop and had managed to take half my mustache with it.

When I tried to even it out on the other side I went too far down. Everytime I tried to fix the other side, I messed it up even worse than before. By the time I was finished it looked like I had tried to shave on a tilt-a-whirl.

Then just as I was about to just shave the whole thing off, the battery went dead and I couldn't find the charger plug, so I was stuck like that until I could get to a proper razor.

The next morning, I told the girl why she was on the bathroom floor and what the drunk assholes tried to do to her. Luckily she was too hung over to notice my handiwork from the night before.

Lesson learned.



NOT SAFE FOR WORK

Logical fallacies: An epidemic exposed.

One of the few useful skills they teach in public schools is how to spot and avoid logical fallacies.

A logical fallacy simply put is a conclusion or argument based on faulty reasoning, faulty facts or diversionary tactics.

When I first learned about these fallacies it was like a revelation. Pretty much 90% of everything I had been told up to that point in my life was based on bullshit arguments. I had to try to sort things out in my head.

Just because someone uses a logical fallacy doesn't mean that the conclusion is wrong..even a blind hog can find an acorn once in a while.

Logical fallacies are sneaky little fuckers that easily worm their way into your brain if you aren't paying close attention or if you already have a preconceived notion on the topic.

Here are some examples of what I am talking about:

I'll give the type of fallacy, an example, and why the bullshit alarms should be going off.

Ad Hominem: Attacking the man instead of the argument.
Example: Newt Gingrich said Obama had no real leadership experience. Gingrich cheated on his wife, therefore Gingrich has no business talking about Obama
What do Gingrich's marital problems have to do with his political expertise?

Appeal to Authority: When someone is used as an illegitmate authority.
Example: Bill Maher said that American soldiers are terrorists because they killed 650,000 Iraqi civilians. So we must immediately pull out of Iraq and put Bush and Cheney on trial for war crimes.
What does Bill Maher know? He is a comedian, not someone on the front lines qualified to determine who is to blame for these alleged deaths.

Appeal to belief: Everyone knows it's true so it must be.
Example: Everyone knows that Republicans only protect big business and are always trying to screw the little guy, so Republicans are bad.
Such sweeping statements are very common but are very hard to prove.

Appeal to common practice: Everyone does it so it must be ok.
Example:The store forgot to charge me for some of my groceries and I didn't say anything..but it's ok because most people wouldn't mention it either.
Just because people do immoral things doesn't make it right.

Appeal to Emotion
Example: Hillary's 3:00am phone call commercial.
Wouldn't it be scary if Obama was in charge during an international crisis?
Instead of saying WHY Obama shouldn't be in charge of our Armed forces she uses fear to manipulate her audience.

Appeal to pity
Examples: We really need to Vote for Obama because blacks have been short changed in this country for way too long.
We should vote for McCain because he was tortured by the sadistic gooks for 5 years.
Why should we vote for someone just because we feel bad about what they went through?

Appeal to ridicule:
Example: Why should I support the Bush tax plan? That idiot can't even say the word nuclear properly.
Uses mockery in place of evidence.

Gamblers fallacy: When something happens too many times a change is due.
Example:I'm going over to that slot machine..it hasn't paid anyone in like 5 hours so it's due to hit big!
These assumptions are based on superstition rather than the laws of probability.

Biased Sample:

Example Gallup polls indicate that 78% of voters are choosing Barack Obama They never mentioned that these polls were taken in West side Chicago

In conclusion: The old adage: believe half of what you see and none of what you hear is still a good rule of thumb. News reporters, politicians, pundits and writers are going to use these fallacies to try to get you to believe them. Look at things critically and you can find the truth buried somewhere..maybe

Finish the sentence meme.

I stole this meme from http://barbara-007.blogspot.com/

You finish the first part of the sentence in red with your own unique response.

1. My uncle once caught me putting explosive loads in his cigarettes.

2. Never in my life have I eaten fish.

3. When I was five my parents put me in Catholic School

4. High school was an introduction to "Worthless shit 101"

5. I will never forget to put on my pants.

6. Once I met the worlds champion womens arm wrestler

7. There’s this boy I know who smells bad because his parents don't make him bathe.

8. Once, at a bar, I threw physically threw out a drunk Iranian for grabbing a customers ass.

9. By noon, I'm just getting warmed up

10. Last night I drank vodka and wrote captions for lolcat pictures

11. If only I had a hammer..I'd hammer in the morning...

12. Next time I go to church Satan will be serving snow cones in hell.

13. What worries me most is losing what precious few rights that remain and haven't already be regulated or legislated away.

14. When I turn my head left I see my reloader and supplies

15. When I turn my head right I see a closet door.

16. You know I’m lying when I say, "I wasn't staring at your chest"

17. What I miss most about the Eighties is not seeing a huge "tramp stamp" every time a woman reaches down to pick something up.

18. If I were a character in Shakespeare it would be Julius Caesar.

19. By this time next year I will have my cars paid off and will be looking for property on the Texas coast.

20. A better name for me would be ??? I haven't a clue.

21. I have a hard time understanding why people are such assholes.

22. If I ever go back to school, I'll be much smarter than the first time.

23. You know I like you if I visit your blog and comment more than once.

24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank would be all my friends in the blogosphere.

25. Take my advice, never shave any part of your body after drinking tequila shots

Blogger stuff you might need

There have been some cases where blogs have been hacked, deleted, shut down for unknown reasons etc.. I knew one blogger that got pissed off one day and deleted his blog along with 2 years of posts. Once he sobered up, it was too late.

Blogger has no known tech support and they rely on a useless message board that hardly anyone answers and will do nothing to fix a problem that is on the server side.

There are some things that you can do to protect yourself.

Here is how you do a backup if you use blogger:

Just insert your blog name into the address below on your web browser.

http://blogname.blogspot.com/search?max-results=N Instead of N, type the number of posts you have

If your blog has less than 1000 posts you can type:

http://blogname.blogspot.com/search?max-results=1000 (be sure to put in your blog name)

It might take a few minutes to load, so be patient.

Then from your web browser choose "File" "Save as" then choose a place to store your blog backup. Burning it to a CD might not be a bad idea.

There is also a feature I just found out about that lets you access and manage all the pictures you have put on your blog. Just go here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/home and you can see everything that you've uploaded.

This feature is especially useful if you started back on the old days when there were tons of technical isses and you may have tried to upload the same picture 50 times.

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On the homefront.

Oldest daughter has has a complete attitude turnaround. Instead of fighting cussing and destroying stuff, She has been helpful, kind and apologetic when she makes a mistake. I read somewhere that children stop being egocentric around 8 years old so she is right on schedule...

Youngest daughter is holding onto her crap behavior as long as she can. She put liquid soap and fish food in her sisters hairbrush, sneaked into my son's room in the middle of the night and hid his school clothes. She cusses, fights and runs from me when I try to punish her. I don't cut her any slack because I found out that to her leniency is a sign of weakness. Unfortunately, I have to punish her for every infraction, every time no matter how inconvenient. God I hope she outgrows this shit soon. She runs too fast and dodges too well..she could be a star quarterback in the midget league.

My son is doing well considering. Turns out his middle school has an academic hard on (an exemplary school), so he has about three hours of homework each night. I help him all that I can but it's getting to the point where I have to google all that shit I forgot 30 years ago.

I was also told that this school has a star athletic program and not to get your kid involved unless he is star athlete material. I was told by some other parents and teachers that the coaches are gigantic cock sucking fuckwads but they fill up the trophy cases, so they basically are left to their own shitty devices.

The coaches also teach P.E. Just his luck, my son gets the biggest fuck nozzle asswipe of them all. Yesterday, my son told me that he couldn't get his gym locker opened so he asked coach fucknozzle for help. The coach says "not my problem you deal with it" So he's having to walk across campus to put his clothes in his regular locker then gets in trouble for being late.

Then he tells me that the older kids are coming into the locker room and harassing and bullying the sixth graders while they are trying to get dressed The coach just stands there and ignores it.

It's like deja vu. I will not tolerate my son having to put up with the same humiliating bullshit that I had to. I had no one on my side when I was a kid, so I vowed long ago to always stick up for my kids when they need it.

I called the school and let them have it. The administrators say they are going to interview the coach regarding his cock nosed behavior...I told them they had better or I was coming down there to talk to the coach myself

They don't want me to unleash the wife on them. She is mean as hell and has been professionally trained to destroy human ass bags.

Owned!

Thursday funny

I wonder if the McCain camp would be interested in my new poster idea...

A peek inside my head.

It's one thing to be free thinking and open minded and quite another to be unyielding and steadfast in ones beliefs.

I've hit an equilibrium of sorts. Gone are the fallacial, emotional and totally unreasonable beliefs of my youth. They have been replaced with reliance on logic, reason and disillusionment of all the things that I was once brainwashed into accepting without question.

Some folks think I'm a kook, a right wing nut job or just a misguided fool. Others may say they agree with what I say but then go back to doing and saying the exact opposite five minutes later.

I have to say without question, my day to day interactions with other human beings has led to my particular state of mind.

Here are some things I've come to realize and accept.

Human beings are part of nature. Whatever we build, accomplish, make dirty etc... will eventually wiped away soon enough and in time there will barely be a trace of man's existence. Worrying about global warming, endangered species, forest fires etc... we are just pissing against the wind.

I'm not saying we shouldn't take care of our environment, plant trees and manage our resources, but I am saying, drill for some fucking oil, dig up some coal, fire up some nuclear power plants crank up that AC and go to Walmart.

Why is everyone so damned worried about where people put their naughty bits? It's a non issue. People are born straight or gay. If getting one in the pooper bugs you, stay the hell out of park restrooms. So much time and energy is spent worrying about stupid shit like other peoples bedroom habits. I bet you anything, that if folks just ignored the issue you wouldn't see all these fruitcakes wearing assless chaps and feather boas marching down main street trying to shock people and get attention.

Like I've said many times on this blog, laws are only for the law abiding. I doubt very seriously that if the U.S. suddenly had no police or judicial system, that we would turn into Somalia. Things would normalize quickly and whatever person decided to take advantage would be dealt with in short order. We for the most part are a civilized society with values and morals that transcend man's written code of law.

I think however, that we have become too reliant on government and often fail to take necessary and correct actions because we have come to expect someone in "authority" to do it for us. When someone does something "heroic" these days it makes the national news. More often someone MIGHT call 911 when they see a person being attacked..maybe.. if their favorite TV show isn't on.

There was a time not long ago where people took action and did what was right, on the spot without thought to their own safety or comfort.

I'm ashamed at how cowardly much of our nation has become. Knowing right from wrong is one thing, acting upon that knowedge it is quite another.

Needs meme

I've seen this going around so I thought I'd try it.

I just google "Hammer needs" to see what I'm missing

Hammer needs help playing with his ball ...not touching that one

Hammer needs A room in San Fransisco... Should I bring Crisco?

Hammer needs a new nickname...not going to happen

Hammer needs to get involved in "black on black crime...." WTF? I'll let them sort it out.

Hammer needs to apologize to Christians.... Sorry Christians!

Hammer needs to eat more fruit and vegetables....Sure ok

Hammer needs intensive, systematic word identification instruction targeted at beginning reading...well like that's just your opinion man.

Hammer needs to sit his cranky, old butt down...way ahead of ya sport

Hammer needs some reading spectacles...not yet

Hammer needs to be more astute about his surroundings...where am I?

Hammer needs to get on the Barack train...is that like soul train? and do I have to wear one of those buttons with the hands on it?

Caption contest winner

We read all the caption submissions and the kids and I had a lot of laughs.
It was really hard to choose but the favorite one was. From Chevy Rose

Thanks everyone for all the submissions. I'm sure I'll refer back to them and use them for more pictures.

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