Author Archives: Joel

If you’re interested in solar power at all, check out Ian’s new video at The Independent Spirit. He got his working over the weekend. Which is a complete coincidence. This “Ian” character is not M, and he’s not standing in … Continue reading →

Congratulations, Wyoming activists! Oddly, the development doesn’t seem to be getting much press. Okay, it’s not that odd. But I’m surprised it isn’t all over the gun blogs.

…but I keep hearing about how lately he’s been hating on people who have “corporate jets.” Is he suffering some tragic brain tumor or something?

Did you enjoy your Independence Day, citizens? Good! Now back to your ritualized humiliation… The transition to a police state will not come about with a dramatic coup d’etat, with battering rams and marauding militia. As we have experienced first-hand … Continue reading →

…and made myself president-for-life, Internal Security is gonna be looking for some people. Just got M’s truck limping running again. Took over an hour just for the part where we swapped out the superannuated spark plugs. It reminds me why … Continue reading →

Kevin Wilmeth: The Fourth of July is not the day the Constitution was signed or ratified. It’s not even when the Bill of Rights (and with it the legitimacy of the Constitution) was ratified. It has nothing–nothing–to do with self-congratulatory, … Continue reading →

“I’ve got power and you’ve got shit!” – M

My loving daughter, knowing I loves me some Queen, sent me the following link in the mistaken belief that I’d enjoy it. Funny: Before now I always thought she was cooler than me. Maybe motherhood is already having an effect. … Continue reading →

…over time, given dramatic changes in circumstance. What seems a great hardship at first becomes normal. What seemed a convenience so normal as to be virtually invisible becomes something miraculous. I haven’t had a flush toilet in going on five … Continue reading →

I may have implied, here and there in posts about The Secret Lair, that in matters of building stuff I’m not exactly Bob Vila. That implication is correct. Hell, the first time I tried to hook up the cabin electrical … Continue reading →

M is setting up his solar power system this weekend (pix to follow below) and I’ve been going over to help him with the bits that need two sets of hands. Along the way he showed me some of the … Continue reading →

So you’re broke down on the side of the road, in a place most people would call the middle of nowhere without blushing. There’s nobody around. There’s nothing around. The car’s owner has called AAA for a tow, and you’re … Continue reading →

Found here: Cover of the Rolling Stone (with apologies to Shel Silverstein, and Dr. Hook – original lyrics, mp3) Well I’m an ex-V.P., without a Ph.D.Idolized everywhere I goI preach of disaster and show slides about warmthFor a hundred thousand … Continue reading →

M and I just got back from town, where we ran into a guy I haven’t talked to in a while. You remember I told you a few weeks ago, how a big black bear broke into the house of … Continue reading →

Thank heaven they’re not being hostile. I’d hate to see what they’d bring to a war. Air Force Times: AF, Navy still flying Libya missions Air Force and Navy aircraft are still flying hundreds of strike missions over Libya despite … Continue reading →

They’re releasing Cory Maye? Balko says yes. Circuit Court Judge Prentiss Harrell has just signed a plea agreement between Cory Maye and the state. Maye has plead guilty to a reduced charged of manslaughter, and has been resentenced to 10 … Continue reading →

Lies, damn lies, and statistics, all in one quick stop. I’m convinced – we should increase ATF funding and send them after the national security menace that is Bloomberg’s fully-automatic mouth.

Back in the late ‘seventies I read Mel Tappan’s Survival Guns till my copy fell apart. I didn’t buy everything in it – Tappan’s idea of a “basic survival battery” would have broken the axles of an F-350 and backed … Continue reading →

Via Snarkybytes: Are you sure you brought enough cops? DAYTON, Ohio (CN) – Dayton police “mistook” a mentally handicapped teen-ager’s speech impediment for “disrespect,” so they Tasered, pepper-sprayed and beat him and called for backup from “upward of 20 police … Continue reading →

Finally, der tag! I was completely ready to set the toilet in place. A flush toilet of my very own. How I’ve dreamed of this day. I had everything I needed: The fittings, the hose, the tools, the wax ring. … Continue reading →