New One-Off Bill Watterson Comic

Well, sort of.  It's a movie poster he drew, here click through and see it over at the NPR site, along with associated story.  Nice!

While we're at it, here's a related story linked down in the first one about a two-off follow-on to Calvin & Hobbes.  Also nice!

Slashdot Quote of the Day

As seen at the bottom of slashdot pages today:

What the scientists have in their briefcases is terrifying. -- Nikita Khruschev

I concur.  In my briefcase, I brought lunch to work.  Have you ever tried my cooking? 

Too Close?

Some are thinking this may be so, and it may be a problem.

Fusion:

50th Anniversary Mustang:

I dunno.  They're different, but perhaps not quite different enough as to be obvious at the first glance.  Just for reference, here's a similar view of a 2014 (sorry, couldn't find a red one):

Personally, I'm glad the issue is already settled for me:

How Mr. Weather says "Boy, stay home and do your taxes today."

Ugh.  Well, now that that's settled....

Kill Your TV

Before it metaphysically kills you.  Especially if you're watching CNN.

Link to original at SMBC.

They Just Can't Back Off

Neither Putin nor Pussy Riot seems capable of backing off.  Look, I don't have a dog in this fight.  I can see the good and bad in both here, and emphatically side with neither.  Still... to go making trouble when you've been specifically warned to stay away from the Sochi Olympics does show an admirable punk spirit, matched only by Putin's flair in dispatching a team of genuine Cossacks with real horsewhips to deal with the miscreants:

Holy crap!  It just doesn't get any more punk than this.

Three links to news sites on the incident:
NPR has a largely PR-sympathetic article, and features the music video "Putin will teach you how to love the motherland," made from this and other related incidents.
Fox News has a better story, and some bystander footage of the incident.
And The BBC has an article too, just for another view.  Their bystander video isn't as complete, but perhaps it's not really all that worth watching either.

Did Thatcher send the SAS to whip up on Elvis Costello's skinny self when he promised to Tramp the Dirt Down on her grave?  No.  Did Reagan sick the Secret Service on The Ramones after they sang Bonzo Goes to Bitburg?  No.  Vladimir it seems is not made of such strong, serene stuff.  On the other hand, it's not like Elvis or Joey & the boys pulled their shenanigans smack in front of the '84 Olympic venue either.

$136k for a Ford F-150?

It seems so, as seen here.

Have we gotten to Wretched Excess yet?

Whatever happened to the used $2k crap hauler?  Oh yeah, there's one right here.  Hey it runs great, hauls everything a pickup reasonably should, has a V8, and can chirp the tires on command.  Is there anything more that a pickup should deliver?

As a matter of fact, yes.  However, I should have the CB installed as soon as I sort out the antenna mount.

And on that note... I only see the AM/FM antenna on that thing.  $136k and the truck doesn't even come with a CB?

Last week rye, this week hops.

Mecha Hopzilla (no shit; who makes up these names?):

vs. Southern Hops'pitality:

Open a Hopzilla and it's all "whew, I can smell that stuff!"  It's hoppy as all get out.  It's good, but it's like... I'm expecting one last zip at the end... and it just kind of turns out sweet.  Ish.

Southern Hops'titality isn't so overwhelming, I kind of miss that.  But it has a citrus zip at the end, so it's ultimately more satisfying.  That, and it's about the same price for a 6-pack vs. a 4-banger.

Pyrotechnics and a... fizzle, or a balanced performer.  (Hmmm, made that last one sound boring, but Southern Hops'pitality is anything but.)  I'll take either, but the latter is my choice.

Unrelated Side Note: Just swatted the first mosquito of 2014.  Many shall follow in his six bloody, mashed footsteps.

Collards 1-2-3-4-5

A few collard leaves, fresh from the garden:

De-stem.  Stack leaves and slice into ribbons.  Slice stems cross-wise to keep any fibers short.

Fry up in a little olive oil with some Tony Chachere's seasoning, maybe squeeze on a little bit of lemon once it's on the plate:

Fry the stems separately, they're a little tougher and need to cook a tad longer.  Just as tasty though.

Fry an egg in the residues.  Tasty.

Who ever said you had to boil the damn things for four hours then add half a pig just to re-introuduce some flavor?  Fresh and fast is the way to go.

Battle of the Four Ryes

Over last weekend's business trip to Apalach, four of us sat down over sixteen glasses to try four ryes.  The contenders:

The results: everybody liked Knob Creek the best.  Not surprising, Knob Creek always puts out a top-knotch whisky.
Dad's Hat Vermouth Finish was an odd one.  While I enjoyed it immensely, opinions varied substantially.  Nobody actually spit, but I could tell one of our merry band was getting close.  Me, I could chuck a cube of ice and an olive in it, serve it in a Martini glass, call it the best of all worlds and call it a day.
Bulleit is very good.  At 60% the price of Knob Creek, it delivers the flavor Ford F-150 style: solidly and in full measure, but there's some good taste lurking in the background too.  It's my #2 choice of this bunch.
In this high-dollar company, $14-a-fifth Old Overholt held its own.  Two of the tasters declared this to be their second-favorite of the bunch.  Being 40%+ corn whisky, this doesn't have all the complexity of the other three, but boy does it pack an up-front flavor.  I've been saying it for years: it's good enough to sip and cheap enough to mix.  Evidently, the folks at theKitchn agree (it's an informative article, go read).

Well, there were two missing persons in this line-up, High West Double Rye and (RI)1 (pronounced "Rye One").  I'll have to do a head-to-head test with these at some later date, but working from memory the (RI)1 is awfully like Knob Creek, perhaps just a bit less full-flavored, while the High West Double is all about the spice, sort of a "more of what you came here for" proposition.

Testing will continue.  Stay tuned.

Has it really been four years?

Yeah, I guess so.  Hard to believe I've been blogging that long.  New content will be along later today.

Meh, coulda been worse.

Sinkhole opens up at National Corvette Museum, Swallows Cars

They could've been Mustangs.

Today is yet another day to stand up for liberty.

It only takes a few minutes to write your congressmen to support this good bill and oppose this sham bill.  Please do so by clicking

here.

Thanks.  Now get to it.

Billie Joe Armstrong on WSM 650 AM?

*cough*sputter* The country music station, with Eddie Stubbs himself spinning the records?  No, can't be.

Yeah, actually just heard him and Norah Jones doing a duet of "Long Time Gone."  Not half bad either.  They've put out an entire album of this stuff.

Yes, that Billie Joe Armstrong.  No, I'm having a hard time believing it too.  I feel like I've fallen into some kind of alternate universe with this one.

I'll Believe It When I See It

As the author of a textbook on comms system puts it, A New Modulation Method.  Really?  I might have been tempted to put an "Oh" before the "Really?"  Looking at the company's web site reveals little more than marketing hype and double-talk.  That, and a list of patents.  Glancing at those, this seems to be a pre-modulation compression algorithm.  (Only a glance, I've got to get to work.)  Huh.  Perhaps I'll look into this more in my copious spare time.

Funny, out of my usual set of subject tags, I'm not really sure how to tag this one.  Though led there by radio-related links, this goes way beyond that.  Leave it blank for now.

Now Powered by Kale

Article on the green stuff, including a couple of recipes, over at Bicycle Times.

BTW, it's doing really well in the garden despite last week's ice storm.  It's definitely going to be in my winter gardens from here on out.

The Pixies in Concert

Specifically, in a tiny desk concert over at NPR.  Enjoy!

If You Can Imagine a Movie...

... a movie that's a cross between the plot Dr. No and Up Periscope, tinged with some of the post-war camaraderie from Oceans Eleven (1960 version), maybe staring younger versions of Christopher Walken and Uma Thurman.  Toss in Sean Connery as an aging lion of a nuclear physicist, and have it co-written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, it might be worth going to see, right?  Add in a graphic amputation scene and a blunt-object murder right on screen, and hey, that's entertainment!  A nuke explosion might do it some good too.  Man, I'd run to see that flick.

Well the movie's already been made, it's been out there for 60 years, and it's called Hell and High Water.  Sam Fuller was such a genius.

A Thing of Beauty

Seen inhabiting a parking lot alongside Hwy 90 today.  The particulars: 1972, 302 w/4bbl, 3-speed auto.  While it has plenty of go, it's more about show.  Given this amount of show though, that's not a slam at all on the go.  Black vinyl interior, it looks pretty clean.

At $19.5k it's a little pricy, but hell that's just the opening bid.  I also took a close-up of the sale sign, so if you want the phone number drop me an email.

Quentin Tarantino to Head Up Orpheus!

Well that ought to be cool.  Here's the main story, and here's a bunch of throws on a theme based around his movies.  Yeah, I can see this.