aubreyturner.org

Today I went to the range and shot the Kimber and the Browning.  Of course this means that I had to clean them.  My usual cleaning routine is to spread everything out on the coffee table and halfway watch TV while I’m doing it.  Maybe that’s why it takes me so long (that and being anal-retentive about getting every last bit of junk out of the gun).

Tonight I was watching the Discovery Channel, which was running a piece with the title Changing Sexes: Male to Female.  They examined a number of factors involved with male to female transsexuals.  The show reminded me of something I’ve always wondered about.  Why do some people get so upset about this?  I know that there are some people out there who object to damn near everything that makes anyone else happy, but I’ve never comprehended their arguments.  I guess for me it all comes down to this:  Are they harming anyone else?  If not, who the hell are we to interfere?

They also noted that transsexuals are sometimes attacked because of who they are.  Since I was holding a gun at the time (albeit one that was disassembled), I thought about the virtues of armed self-defense.  Unfortunately, the person being profiled lives in San Francisco in the wonderful People’s Republik of Kalifornia, where she’ll be treated like a criminal for carrying a gun to protect herself.  That’s too bad.  Bashing should be a Darwinian experience.  For the basher.

Bill Whittle has done it again.  He destroys the arguments that America has or wants an empire and takes on the topic of hegemony. 

However, he notes, quite correctly, that the power of our culture is not obtained through push, but rather through pull:

We are widely criticized among Europeans for what they call our cultural and economic hegemony. They decry our pop culture as vulgar and commercial, and in fact, it often is. McDonald’s are now everywhere on the European continent, and we are reminded what horrible, fattening food it is. Agreed.

What doesn’t seem to get through their anti-populist, anti-American blinders is that basic economic principle of supply and demand. I suppose we shouldn’t be too shocked to hear this. The birthplace, intellectual home and last bastion of Marxism has always had a tough time with economic reality.

They also have a tough time with democracy, and the idea of people —you know, the masses—making their own decisions. And the thing that breaks the heart of every European elitist is the inescapable fact that McDonald’s and Cheers are huge in Europe, because their own people can’t get enough of it.

I have never been to France myself, but I would presume that daily life there does not consist of squads of heavily armed US Marines rounding up the terrified population, herding them into McDonald’s at gunpoint, and shaking their last euros out of them. When France passes laws saying that some minimal percentage of their television programming (I think it is 50%) must be produced in France, then that is an admission—and it must be, if you will pardon the pun, a galling one—that huge numbers of their people prefer our culture over their own.

Did you ever read something so idiotic that you wish you could unread it and get it out of your head to prevent contamination?  Well, this  is a prime candidate for a brain erase button:

My personal most mystifying moment of the year followed a speech to high school seniors in which I disagreed with students at Princeton who marched just after Sept. 11 demanding “mediation” with the Taliban. “Must the rape victim counsel with the rapist to better understand his reasons for his criminal assault?” I asked.

One girl replied, “Why yes, she should meet with her attacker, to understand his culture and the reasons for his acts.” Two other kids agreed with her.

Spoken like someone who’s never known someone who was raped.

If someone has declared that they will be satisfied with nothing less than the utter destruction of your culture, then there’s no point in wasting your breath talking.  The only understanding I want here is their understanding that attacking us is a loser’s game.

Oh, yeah, and if these idiots heard what I’d do with a rapist, they’d probably pass out (hint: it involves rope, bolt cutters, an A frame or a tree, and a dull, rusty knife).  More scream, less talk.

Link via PejmanPundit.

I’m really starting to appreciate my cable modem now that I’m out here using a dialup connection.  My mother is computerphobic.  She plays Mahjohngg and checks email, but she’s afraid to touch anything else on it.  This means that I’m her tech support.  So I had to update the virus definitions and now I’m sitting here waiting for a couple of month’s worth of Microsoft “critical updates” to download.  I sure hope that Microsoft’s vaunted security efforts actually start to produce results one of these days.  It seems like every time I use a PC with Windows XP on it I have to download a new fix.  It’s pretty annoying when you have to download them through a modem, kind of like sucking up the ocean through a straw.

I’ll be getting up early in the morning to drive back to Big Sandy for Christmas, so I really need to get away from this computer (reading my blog roll can be a time-consuming process).  Once I’m home I’ll be back in the land of the dialup internet connection, so I probably won’t be spending much time online, unless something sets me off on a rant (let’s hope for a peaceful holiday season ).

If I don’t get to update this site before Christmas, just let me say:

Merry Christmas!

I just saw Enemy At The Gates (thanks, Tivo).  I don’t know why I’d never gotten around to seeing it before.  It amazes me at times just how tenacious the Russians were and just how close they came to defeat.  I thought that the movie was well done if a bit bloody (although it wasn’t nearly as bloody as Saving Private Ryan).  It kept my attention throughout, despite knowing the ultimate outcome.

Oh, and one more thing: Rachel Weisz.  ‘Nuff said.

I made the mistake of venturing forth to finish up my Christmas shopping today.  My original assumption that people would be at work and that maybe things wouldn’t be as crowded was quickly beaten into a bloody pulp by the harsh club of reality.  To liven things up a bit it’s also been raining off and on all day.  My supply of good will towards men has been severely depleted by various offenses against good manners, common sense, and good driving habits.  Here are a few annoyances, peeves, and plaintive whines (in no particular order):

• Why is it so damn hard for some people to use their turn signals?  They drive along and come to a complete stop in the road and then, at the last second, dart into a side street.  Is it that they don’t want anyone to know where they’re going?  Is it that big of a damn secret that they have to put me at risk of getting rear-ended by some dipnut who has been tailgating me because of their slow ass?
• I’m driving a 5600 lb. blue Chevrolet Avalanche with daytime running lights.  I know I can be seen.  Why, then, do people insist on pulling out in front of me and then driving 10 miles under?  And why do they wait until I’m almost upon them to pull out (when they’ve been sitting there for 5 or 10 seconds)?
• What sadistic bastard designed KB Toys?  Who decided to put the shelves so damn close together?  There’s no room to move in there.
• If you’re buying groceries at WalMart, take them to one of the main registers.  Let those of us just buying wrapping paper and gift bags have the ones in the Christmas department.  They don’t have room back there for all that crap you’re buying and it slows everyone down (although WalMart could do us all a favor and open ALL the damn registers in the front of the store instead of letting them get 10 deep).
• If you and your companion or whatever or walking down the aisle in a store, consider that other people may want to get by.  Especially if you’re just yakking and strolling with no particular purpose.  Some of us know what we want and where to find it.
• Swinging wide to turn went out of style years ago.  Even SUVs don’t need that damn much room to turn.  If I can make that turn without swinging out, then I know you don’t need to do it in your puny little Toyota.  It’ll also save on misunderstandings where I thought that you were going to sideswipe me.
• See that yellow stripy looking thing on the street?  It’s a lane marker.  Do cell phones suddenly make them invisible?  Quit yakkin’ and start drivin’.
• Rushing up and pulling into my lane at the last second, just before I have to stop at the light, is a game fraught with peril, especially if you’re driving a little econobox.  Perhaps you should consider that just maybe I know what I’m doing and I left that space there for something silly like braking distance and not as an invitation for you.
• Following me closely as I’m walking is a bad idea.  It’s an even worse idea to be obvious about it.  Don’t be surprised if I stop or suddenly dive into a store.  I live in condition yellow and your actions are making my danger detectors twitch.  Trust me, I’m a bad mark and trying to rob me is a really bad idea (you won’t get shot, unless you pull a weapon on me, but I’m not going to make it easy for you).

It’s almost like people are so caught up in their own little concerns that they’ve forgotten basic common sense and all consideration for others.  If there’s one thing that I hate about this time of year it’s the rudeness and “me first” attitude that seems to come out.  The season of good will toward man only seems to last until the first traffic backup or until the last Zip Zap car is gone.  I try really hard to be considerate of others, but it’s been a real test of patience this year.

The driving that I saw today was so horrible that I decided that I didn’t want any further part of it.  I came home and I’m going to stay here until early tomorrow morning, when I’m going to head to East Texas.  Maybe most of these bad drivers won’t be out that early in the morning.  I just hope it doesn’t snow tonight.  We don’t usually get snow here in this part of Texas.  When it snows it’s always accompanied by a layer of ice.  It’s the ice that makes things really interesting.

It looks like Steven Den Beste thinks that things have gone too far to turn back now.  We’ve passed the point of no return and we’re committed.  I suspect that he’s right.  If we go to all the trouble of amassing so much equipment and so many personnel and don’t follow through then we’ll never be taken seriously.  I should point out that not being taken seriously is at the heart of our current difficulties with militant Islam.

On another front it appears that some Islamic nutbags have already started things rolling in Northern Iraq.  More joy from the purveyors of the “religion of peace.”

Via this article at News.com (.com.com.com….) I have learned that those damn pop-up and pop-under ads are going to suck even more, thanks to something called “kick-through”.

Pop-ups add new twist

By Stefanie Olsen
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
December 20, 2002, 1:09 PM PT

Pop-up advertisements, already the bane of millions of Web surfers, are becoming more intrusive.

Pop-up and pop-under ads open a new window when people visit many popular Web sites, often littering the computer desktop with multiple browser screens. Advertisers hope people will visit the promoted Web page by clicking anywhere on the window, although many simply close it by selecting the “X” box in the top-right corner.

But a relatively new feature may make it harder for people to avoid these windows. Using a technique called the “kick through,” advertisers can direct a person to another Web site if they simply move their cursor across the pop-up ad—no clicking is necessary.

Discount travel retailer Orbitz, for example, is delivering millions of holiday-themed kick-through ads on The New York Times, ESPN.com and CondeNast sites in addition to others. The ads feature various animated games, and recipients who simply “mouse” over them are shuttled to Orbitz’s home page.

Many people who have encountered the ads say they overstep the boundaries of an already intrusive and loathed form of Web advertising.

“When I tried to close the window it kicked me to the site, which is really annoying when I have six windows open and three of which were not by my own doing,” said Diane Schreiber, a high-tech executive who lives in Brisbane, Calif.

I’ll take Alt-F4 for $500, Alex.

But here’s where we enter the fantasy world of the online marketer:

Chicago-based Orbitz, which appears to be the only advertiser using the kick through, defended the strategy. The company regularly uses pop-unders to invite people to search for discount travel fares. Because online travel has such widespread appeal, ads that “roll over” directly to the site hold value for many people (emphasis added), according to the company’s interactive ad agency, Otherwise.

What the hell kind of name is “Otherwise?”  Who names these companies?  And I’d like to meet these people who get value out of these roll over ads.  Perhaps I could convince them to stop screwing it up for the rest of us.

“The enormous success for Orbitz is directly related to these pop-unders,” said Mark Rattin, creative director for Chicago-based Otherwise. “There’s an enormous segment of the population that are appreciating these ads.” (emphasis added)  He said that similar commercials have appeared online over the last eight months.

And some people appreciate genital torture, but you don’t see the rest of us clamoring for it, you obtuse prick.

Oh well, it’s not like I could withold any further business from them.  I already make a point of avoiding any company that uses pop-ups or pop-unders.  Short of random carpet bombing, there’s not much left that I can do to Orbitz.

I’m done for the year.  I have two glorious weeks off.  I’m not completely sure what I’m going to do during that time, but it’s all good.  I think that the first order of business, though, will be to sleep disgracefully late in the morning…

Ok, so this wasn’t exactly a deep thought blog entry, and the cat pic is gratuitous.  What can I say, I just got back from Fogo de Chão, which is a fabulous Brazilian churrascaria in Addison.  I’m stuffed to the gills with meat and beer.  Sleep beckons….