Caption Photo: On the road in Louisiana – Can I get you anything, tiger?
~ Do you mean something like an incurable STD?
Caption Title & Early Sermonette: Today may or may not be Eid al-Adha. Eid al-Adha 2025 will be observed on June 6, 2025, in Saudi Arabia and other locations where the moon sighting aligns with that date. However, in countries like India, the festival might be observed on June 7, 2025, due to variations in local moon sightings.
Eid al-Adha is celebrated during the Hajj pilgrimage, the fifth pillar of Islam, which is a significant religious event. If you go and walk around the meteorite three times, you can be an official Hajji.
There are many people whom I refer to as “Hajji” who have never been to Mecca and never walked around the Kaaba, also known as the Black Meteorite. You see the fake Hajjis driving around the Middle East in ‘Technicals” all the time – mostly Toyotas.
Eid al-Adha, also known as the “Feast of Sacrifice,” is a significant Muslim holiday that commemorates the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son, Ismail (Ishmael), as commanded by Allah (God). It’s one of the two major Muslim holidays, the other being Eid al-Fitr, and lasts three to four days. Locals often cut off a ram’s head, cook it, and place it on a bed of rice. They eat the flesh off the head (with their right hand) and also take cooked rice from the plate and eat that too. Richard Burton (not the Actor) participated in the Hajj, but he wasn’t the first European to do so.
Ludovico di Varthema beat him to the punch in 1503, and Johann Ludwig Burckhardt did it in 1815. I don’t know if they ate the ram’s head. They were lucky not to have their heads boiled and put on the rice platter. Burton’s entry into Mecca is the most famous and best-documented event of the period. The locals believed Burton to be a Muslim at the time. The local Grand Mufti didn’t see through Burton’s disguise, which led many to wonder whether he was genuinely a holy man in the first place.
Bullet Points:
** Boating after a few beers…not a good blend.
** A weird orbit (h/t Claudio).
** Living room naked – breakfast naked, Seinfeld explores it.
** The US Navy/Marine Corps called it amphibious warfare — until they changed it to expeditionary warfare (somebody got a star for coming up with that one), but it’s all about reaching out and making friends.
** How wide is your jaw? I’m asking because it might be a thing. It may contribute to your toxic masculinity.
** In every major war that Russia has fought over the last 120 years, material and personnel losses have meant very little. People need to understand how the Russian leadership views its soldiers. In 1917, the soldiers and the people cared enough to bring the whole rotten edifice down. Unfortunately, in the end, they got something even more terrible. But it is best to remember that even the Russian people had their limits of tolerance for loss and stupidity. In the Great Patriotic War, they fought ferociously, mainly because their own Motherland had been invaded. Their historical record is more spotty when they are the invaders.
** Is it bad for society that a majority of women are only attracted to the top 10% of men? Not if you’re in the top 10%.
** George Bernard Shaw declared that the British and Americans are the only people on Earth who are divided by a common language. But it’s more than that.
** Do you mean those people claiming Musk was controlling Trump were (gasp) wrong? A White House official, speaking anonymously, stated that Elon Musk’s opposition to a specific bill represents “one disagreement” in an otherwise harmonious relationship with the Trump administration. The official also noted that the White House will not consult Musk on every policy decision. Despite Musk’s stance against the bill, the official confirmed that President Trump is committed to passing it. This indicates that while the administration acknowledges Musk’s disagreement, it is prioritizing its legislative agenda and is not allowing his opposition to derail its efforts to pass the bill. Other White House officials have also stated that Musk’s stance “doesn’t change the president’s opinion” on the bill.
“If everyone is thinking alike, somebody’s not thinking.” – Gen. George Patton
** Canada vs the USA – There is a difference, Canadian friends.
** (h/t Claudio) The ROK satellite program is discussed here. The ROKs do a lot of things right. They’re having some big cultural challenges (low birth numbers – lack of replacement), and it would be interesting to see where they are in 2100. But I’m afraid by then, the progress of the Republic of Korea will be beyond my concern.
Mold Builds Character
CDRSAL weighs in on military base housing. The US Air Force (and presumably the Space Force) pays more attention to enlisted housing than the other services.
Unless senior civilian leaders, such as the SECNAV, refuse to accept it, it will continue. Sadly, problems won’t be brought to their attention; they will be hidden. Actively hidden from them by senior uniformed leaders who rose through a system of incentives and disincentives that encouraged the nudge-nudge-wink-wink nibbles of lies we tell each other.
A habit of little lies will always lead to larger lies. When you punish those who raise problems or demand actions that reflect their words, then those people rarely reach the level to brief the civilians who control them about what is suboptimal. Just the contrary, they act to conceal. Some things are not reported, and some things are stripped of any negative aspects. Standards are changed, or, in a final act, they will find ways to hide things behind classification.
…Culture of untruth I’ve often discussed here that infects our Navy isn’t just about saying untrue things, it is also about preventing uncomfortable truths from being known. In many ways, it is the latter that is more pernicious than the former.
Spectator
Stewart’s smirk became the face of ‘smart liberalism,’ solidifying distrust in middle America and fostering a culture of ridicule and sanctimony.
Now, let me be clear: Stewart isn’t wrong that the Democratic Party reeks. It does. The media blackout over Biden’s cognitive frailty, the coordinated silence around his son’s laptop, the inability to speak plainly to working-class Americans — it all reeked. But Stewart, throwing up his hands now, acting like a wise elder disgusted by the filth, also reeks.
For years, when TV mattered, The Daily Show served as the moral compass for millions of liberals — and eventually, far too many treated it as their sole compass. Stewart wasn’t just mocking Republicans; he was reshaping how Democrats thought, spoke, and saw the world. He introduced a generation to the idea that being smug was synonymous with being right. That sarcasm was substance. That having a punchline was the same as having a point.
Even his comedy, once hailed as clever, incisive, “for the thinking man,” was always marinated in elite arrogance. Stewart didn’t just poke fun at politicians. He mocked belief. Mocked faith. Mocked patriotism. Mocked the very idea that tradition might be worth taking seriously. To him, these weren’t pillars of a shared culture — they were punchlines—red meat for Manhattan elites.
Are Musk’s Robots the Answer?
Bloomberg: “The world’s need for power is outstripping the workforce that can build it. Several debilitating events preceded Swedish battery startup Northvolt AB’s bankruptcy filing: failing to fulfill its contracts with customers, pleading with investors for additional funding, and neglecting its creditors. However, its downfall began with a problem that many companies face today.
There was a severe, years-long struggle to find enough workers with the right skills. A shortage of skilled workers, especially engineers, is a growing problem in developed countries.
How do you get more labor? “You either birth them or you import them,” says Zeke Hernandez, professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. “In an environment of declining birth rates, increasing retirements, and now a restrictive immigration regime, shortages become quite severe.” The US is already unable to fill about a third of its more than 400,000 new engineer roles created each year.”
Return to the Basics
(Suzuki) Japan’s Suzuki Motor has halted production of its compact Swift car in Japan due to a parts shortage caused by China’s restrictions on rare-earth exports, Nikkei learned Thursday. This is the first time Chinese export controls have directly affected the operations of a Japanese automaker. The impact could spread to other companies, depending on how Beijing responds.
Is it time for automakers to reconsider their focus on more basic automobiles? (Yes, I think that AC and a heater are a good idea) Mankind built excellent automobiles without relying on rare earth materials. It can happen again. Consider the Toyota HiLux, not sold in the US, which has a lifespan of 500,000 to 750,000 miles: crank windows, diesel engine, bench front seats, stick shift. I can use my phone for music and navigation.
Malia Who?
Malia Obama, who may or may not be the biological daughter of Barack – I’m not speculating- who used to self-identify as the daughter of former Democrat President Barack Hussein Obama, has announced that she is adopting a new last name, as she embarks on various “professional endeavors.”
The daughter formerly known as Obama has reportedly opted to go by “Malia Ann.” In 2017, sources confirmed that Malia had obtained an internship with Harvey Weinstein, the now-disgraced Hollywood producer who was still facing allegations of sexual assault at the time. I have no idea if Weinstein raped her too.
It would be interesting if Malia Ann offered blood to an independent lab for a DNA test to establish paternity. I don’t care – but it would be interesting in a passing sort of way.
Identify the Aircraft
1
2
Not a Spitfire – 22o built – Different variants with different power plants.
3
Designed during the war, the prototype did not fly until July 1945. Much larger than earlier naval bombers, it was intended for use aboard the large Malta-class aircraft carriers that were cancelled after the war, and was subsequently cancelled itself. Seven prototypes were ordered, but only five were built, of which four flew.
4
389 built
Bonus ID Question
5 & 6
Overhead at USAF Plant 42, Palmdale, CA, June 3, 2025
United States Air Force Plant 42 is a classified aircraft manufacturing plant owned by the United States Air Force in the Antelope Valley, about 60 miles from downtown Los Angeles. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration also uses it. Plant 42 shares a runway with Palmdale Regional Airport.
Parting Shot
Movie Review: Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
*****
I went to the theater to see the latest Mission: Impossible film at the theater since it’s the only way to enjoy a feature film like that, shot for the big screen. It was a homage to past impossible missions, while setting a new standard for action stunts that Tom Cruise performed himself for the most part. While the plot was very cliche and the bad guy role (always laughing like a happy idiot) was overacted and too campy, I still gave it five stars. With the advent of A.I., I doubt that any actor will do their own stunts to the level Tom Cruise did his ever again. We’re seeing the end of Hollywood as we knew it – on a big screen with a huge budget. It was a part of my life when I was a kid, and we went to the drive-in or the theater in the days of black and white television.
End
Yes to the Toyota HiLux , priced right they’d sell like hotcakes . Toyota has talked about bringing a smaller truck the “Stout” to the U.S. market . Safety standards I am told and have read are keeping several affordable and great vehicles from being imported to the U.S. I’d buy a HiLux , I think they call them the 70 series .
If priced rationally they’d sell a lot of them. Could they resist the urge to upscale the basic truck – beyond air bags? I have my doubts.
Please remember the majority of vehicle purchases have two buyers; the lender and the customer. The former is the most important. Hyundai and Kia succeeded in the USA because their warranty appealed to the lenders.
I’m all for a basic pickup. The whole package must appeal to the lenders or sales will be restricted to those with great credit and a large down payment. BTDT
Which is why they don’t sell the HiLux in the USA. Many buyers will pay cash because they’re not that expensive. They tend not to break so the demand on parts won’t be that great, and those little diesels run forever. You wouldn’t need a computer to handle diagnostics because they’re more of a shade tree mechanic’s range of technical skills.
Car requirements
400hp v8, six speed manual trans, rear wheel drive, Antilock brakes.
Basic cruise control.
Heater and ac with rotary controls.
Electric windows.
One airbag per front seat(if at all).
Minimal integration.
Tech:
backup camera,
Bluetooth capable audio system.
Prohibited:
No touchscreen
No auto stop start
No traction control
No nanny functions
No remote disable
No speed limiter
👍
👍X2
Too fancy.
Kill the cruise, kill the airbags, no seat belt buzzer, kill the bluetooth,
kill the ABS, nav limited to moving map display at most. No
throttle-by-wire, no brake-by-wire. Brass key only, no bullshit fobs
or “theft control”.
*
AWD acceptable, various engine configs acceptable.
*
Add keyholes in all doors and trunk.
*
There’s a lot more I could live without, like everything more advanced
than electronic ignition, computer-wise.
– Kle.
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Republic XF-12 Rainbow
2. Fairey Firefly (?)
3. Fairey Spearfish
4. Grumman AF-2W Guardian
5. Northrop Grumman X-47B
6. Northrop Grumman X-47A Pegasus
Zing!!
Yes, jaw width / visible musculature in the face (among other visibly masculine traits) is absolutely a thing. The hormonally-driven difference in women on the pill preferring pretty boys to masculine men, and the level of usage of the pill in society, has driven the evolution of the last 40 years of male hollywood and music industry stars.
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It also contributes to divorce rates, because women will date while they’re on the pill, and marry a man they find attractive. Then they get off contraceptives when trying to become pregnant, and the longer it takes, the more dissatisfied they’ll get with their husband as “not manly enough.” If they do succeed, generally they don’t go back on birth control until about a year after giving birth, and while pregnancy hormones are a Whole Other Thing, the change in preference combined with post-partum depression can be poison to a marriage, while the poor dude has no clue what happened… and usually, because no one warns women about this, neither does she. If/when she goes back on the pill afterward, she’ll “suddenly” warm back up to him, and everything will be fine until the hormonal time bomb goes off and hits the “I really want to be pregnant again” combining with “they need a little brother/sister.” I have so much sympathy for dudes with young wives…
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Some of the common side effects of the pill are anxiety and depression, and one of the ways I learned to cross-check if it was real or hormonal when dealing with other women is: “Look at this picture. Is Leonardo DiCaprio in the Titanic sexy? If yes, your anxiety is probably is a medication side effect. Stop taking the pill, give it three months for your cycle to normalize, and then try again with a different version. Or choose condoms and sanity.”
Most guys including me, are clueless.
Mess with mother nature too much and “the system” gets fowled up beyond recognition. But modern demands coupled to some of these ‘new & improved’ medical ‘breakthroughs’ and/or “here, take this[X], it’s good for you” snake oil, can be toxic to natural biology. (Pure cane sugar v. Sugar substitutes, may be a minor example but that stuff just isn’t good for ones system. Same goes for beef tallow v. Canola Oil, used to be a lubricant and because it’s cheap….yet it turns to plastic when heated high enough.)
As for me, while I may be clueless on a host of these matters, a good portion of that is on purpose…don’t really want to know, not out of willful ignorance but more out of self preservation….or as dad would say, “After a while you develop selective hearing”. Heh
* Is it bad for society that a majority of women are only attracted to the top 10% of men? Not if you’re in the top 10%.
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When I was in high school I was rather a nerd and I worked on the school play and talked to a young lady there who was involved with producing the school play. One day my friends jokingly asked me why I didn’t ask her out to the prom and I replied that she probably had a dozen offers already from better looking guys than me. The next time I talked to her I mentioned it, and she asked me why I didn’t ask her to the prom. I told her I assumed she had a date. She became my prom date. She went on to become Miss Michigan.
Speaking of young ladies and nerds … (/hangsheadinshame that I know this)
https://youtu.be/mbwFuZXvN34?si=v_m53GXF7kpYs-_6&t=66
😀
Obviously you were a top 10 percenter. And you have a yacht.
😂
Well played Ed…and guessing she could also hold a decent conversation as well, a priority amongst us “nerds” as perceived by classmates (I was an athletics-academic fence straddler back in the day).
That’s how we first became friends, Conversation.
The best gauge if you’re after a meaningful relationship.
Good for you. Me? I was the nerd that all the hot girls talked to about their boyfriends, and absolutely no chance of dating said hot girls. In more modern times, my role would be filled by a gay boy, but I was and still am terminally straight. Being a bit of a nerd, I had a theoretical knowledge of sex and all involved in that (levels of kink that, at the time, was way advanced but now is depressingly normal) and basically existed in a near-terminal case of blue-balls and a strong right arm.
–
When I finally got a girlfriend, well, said theoretical knowledge was put to the test and I passed with flying colors. And the girls still confided to me, little knowing the lecher that I was.
I’ve been saying John Stewart is poison to the US political
system since day one. Smug, condescending prick. Also
not particularly clever.
*
That Scottish lady thinks “everybody in America” is exactly like
her circle of friends within 10 miles. There is no “everybody in
America”, there’s 350 million of us. I don;t eat in either of those
2 manners, and the way I eat is closer to the “English” method.
– Kle.
I’m a mixer upper when it comes to cutlery use as it depends on what’s on the plate and how hungry I am (shoveling is also a method). But, for the most part, mainly The Motherland method for generally efficiency, switching to The Colonies method as needed.
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The real question is: Large or small spoon for which food and/or meal? Totally separates the men from the boys.
Large spoon for straight, toxic men. We need to deliver the necessary calories and essential protein to keep the machine running optimally.
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Also though BBQ marinated skirt steak and eggs will work in a pinch for breakfast if you want the Tyrannosaurus content, consider a ribeye.
I’m the same way.
My wife has dining scissors she keeps in her purse for when we dine out.
Particularly for salads.
I grew up in an officer’s household, so manners were a thing. Especially important once dad became a liaison officer on an army base.
–
Though, being a food vacuum, I’ve found that using a teaspoon and a salad fork instead of a soupspoon or a dinner fork tends to slow the meal down as smaller portions force a time penalty due to less going from plate/bowl to mouth per trip.
“Smug, condescending prick”
Exactly. And very very typical of his, well, type.
“He mocked belief. Mocked faith. Mocked patriotism. Mocked the very idea that tradition might be worth taking seriously. To him, these weren’t pillars of a shared culture — they were punchlines”
This is what really gets up my craw and what I despise about Those People. The sanctimonious condescension. Talking and acting as if everyone not of his type is an ignorant and superstitious fool. That sort can’t imagine anything more important or righteous than themselves. Ironically, they’re often also the ones talking biggest about “fixing” the rest of the world out of love, when what they exude is not love but narcissism and contempt for others.
That said, to be fair, “pillars of a shared culture” is not necessarily a fair criticism. Maybe our culture is NOT the culture of the Jon Stewarts among us. It’s a culture they “have to put up with” (and gleefully exploit) but they might not consider it Their culture. Something to think about. Just because someone speaks your language doesn’t mean he shares your values or sees you as his fellow. The Magic Dirt Fallacy applies to more than only those people who were born outside the US.
Eid al-Adha-as an infidel that holiday/pilgrimage is good time to be on leave from the “Kingdom” for a number of reasons. Flights into Jeddah can be crammed with “Pilgrims” (aka Hajjis) who aren’t familiar with western toilet facilities, which means business and gorilla class (economy) toilets on the flight will be inoperative due to instances that the best mystery writers and aircraft designers couldn’t conceive. Then there is the possibility of a Hajji cooking his meal on a flight with a portable stove and setting the plane on fire, killing 301.
And the list goes on…..
** Jordan Peterson should have done his photo survey by in/deceasing the shoulder width attractiveness of men to women in their most fertile period – results might have been interesting – and quite possibly different than one might imagine
** I wonder if the early Beetles cars (’59 through say ’65) would have made past today’s “safety” regs
** I popped into SciTech Daily’s review of the “vertiginous” planet – first time I’ve ever seen that word used to mean anything other than “the result of being nauseous”
Most cars built before 1990 could pass today’s ‘safety’ regs. Which is why many states have special qualifications for ‘antique’ vehicles.
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Which is why there is a movement to import Japanese ‘K’ vehicles and they only import vehicles 25 years old.
–
Most of the safety bullscat is just that. Bullscat. Remember when a series of Honda cars was getting over 50mph without needing catalytic converters? And once cat converters became required, said Hondas were no longer able to be made.
Navy enlisted ‘housing’ has sucked for generations. When I came in, in the early 70s, we were in open bay WWII temporary barracks at Millington, one of which burned in 8 minutes while we were there. In Hawaii, we were in open bay barracks with moldy showers, etc. and deployment sites (Cubi, Cavite, Misawa, Guam, Adak) were 6-8 to a room converted open bay, with showers, etc. at the end of the barracks. The USAF always considered Navy barracks unsuitable for them, including the BOQ at Roosy being unsuitable for USAF ENLISTED troops, while Navy officers had to stay there…sigh…
USAF has always treated its people better. The USMC, not so much.
BOQ and officer/NCO housing at GFAFB was super great during ’66-’68.
Nobody I knew ever complained about it; OTOH if they asked for a transfer, they might’ve wound up in Minot
I’ve stayed at a lot of BOQs. Mostly Navy. The USMC BOQs were not as nice and you often had to share the restroom with another officer. The sub base at Ballast Point (LaJolla, CA) was nice.
I remember when my son got stationed at Kings Bay, got married and got on base quarters. Replete with black mold everywhere.
When I went to Lackland for basic we were in world war II barracks and when I got sent to Biloxi Mississippi for training, we were in the same barracks that were featured in the movie Biloxi Blues circa world war II.
Air Force housing used to suck donkey testicles because they were on bases that the Army chose to get rid of. I remember one girlfriend’s house, at Patrick AFB (now SFB,) where her brother regularly shot through interior walls with a bb gun. The only thing holding the walls together were the multiple multiple layers of paint. Those finally got torn down in the late 90’s and decent townhouse-style quarters were built.
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The quarters issues for all services could be solved by a team out of the SecDef’s office randomly touring bases. And not touring the highlights or headquarters, but actually touring base housing and doing inspections and only looking at the physical buildings (and not gigging the personnel for neatness and stuff.)
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A lot of corruption in the supply system could also be found by doing a random inspection and actually checking the existing stock against inventory listings.
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But I really don’t see any current .mil personnel having the balls or the gumption to do said random inspection of housing or supply.
People were still working and living in some of those things in Millington in 1980-81. Where my dad worked, some of the floors were sagging up to nearly 2″ under the interior walls. Some of family housing was nearly as decrepit. Navy wives raised quite a stink when black mold was discovered. IIRC, there was some effort to try to get them to be quieter about the problems, but they went to the press, wrote letters to thheir Congresscritters, etc. Something was finally done about it.
Re: The USAF. I was stationed at Clark AB in a barracks converted from the open bay barracks used during the Vietnam War. It didn’t meet Air Force standards, but a couple of sailors up from Subic we’d been partying with off-base were seriously jealous at the relative luxury we lived in. Then, at Minot, the barracks that I was in were all single-occupancy rooms with shared bathrooms. Those did meet USAF standards.
rethinking Jordan Peterson:
I don’t think it was the width of a guy’s jaw, or his shoulders, or the color of his eyes
coming off active in ’68 to go back for post-grad in Manhattan and busy every weekend, I Ihink it was more the thickness of a guy’s wallet and the obesity of his bank account; nothing at all to do with the gal’s fertile period
As one guy put it – if I had a dollar for every gal who didn’t find me attractive, women would now find me attractive.
Maybe a combination of the two (weighted with hormones)?
“shoulders”
I get that you’re being at least partly tongue-in-cheek, but what guys think is important to women is not what women usually consider important. The same applies when the sexes are reversed. Some gals were chatting about how we (men) sort out our hierarchy based in large part on income, as in who makes more, or what kind of car (i.e. how expensive) we drive.
“Nope. A high salary is nice. An expensive car is nice [1]. But those are status markers that WOMEN care about way more than men. I’ll tell you who we consider “the winner” in a social setting with spouses or girlfriends.”
Oh, Gawd, don’t tell me you’re gonna say the guy whose girlfriend has the biggest boobs.
“No, not that either. It’s the guy with a woman who clearly adores, and respects, him. I don’t mean fawning or giggling, much less worshipping; that’s creepy. I mean she supports him, and she doesn’t ever undercut him to score points with her friends. Of course looks matter. If you’re with a hideous woman we’re gonna wonder about you, but frankly looks matter less to men than they do to other women [2]. A man with an ordinary-looking woman like I described wins every time over some poor bastard with an obvious high-maintenance bitch, no matter how big her boobs are.”
—
[1] The guy with a cool car (for values of “cool” which are dependent on who the particular group of men are) wins over the guy with the most expensive car. Duh.
[2] “I don’t have anything to wear!” And “I can’t wear the same outfit again!” Sweetheart, Älskling, Honey, etc. I don’t give a CRAP what you wear so long as it covers what needs to be covered, isn’t dirty or smelly, and is in the neighborhood of appropriate-for-the-event. You looked great in that blue dress you wore to the awards dinner last month. No other straight male will care if you wear the same thing. You’re going through all this drama for The Other Women. I understand that, and will put up with it because I know it’s important to your social status. And I get that your status among other women splashes back on me in some convoluted way, and I appreciate your efforts. But I Will Not Pretend that all this drama is To Make Me Happy because what you wear is So Important To Me. I am not the cause of your angst here.
👍
Exactly Mike.
As one meme put it: if you want to impress me with your vehicle, it had better be a food truck.
Or an Armored Car filled with gold bullion.
“The US is already unable to fill about a third of its more than 400,000 new engineer roles created each year.”
Yet it’s a PIA to actually obtain an engineering job; perhaps only if you’re a white, straight American male not willing to work for H1B wages.
As to the Trump-Musk blowup, is it really?
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Think about it. Musk and all his businesses have been getting thrashed by leftist jackwagons. They’ve even pulled Jared Isaacman’s nomination for NASA head because of his connection to Musk.
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So Musk has become toxic to the Trump agenda, even though Musk was in a temp position only. What better way to ‘fix’ the issue by having a ‘blowout’ between the two?
👍