Caption: Charge of the Scots Greys – Waterloo
Bullet Points:
** The day is coming, and it’s not as far off as you think – when you can take your personal fembot out to coffee, and she’ll carry your cup for you so that you don’t get burned. You will be able to take her shopping with you as well. If you’re having trouble bending, she will take a picture of any food product and let AI apps like Grok or ChatGPT tell you if it fits into your diet plan. Does anyone else plan use this strategy? Are you going to date at the robot store? What will your criteria be?
** Will other provinces besides Alberta move to leave Canada in the great CANEXIT? If Canada provides pipelines through BC, do Albertans want to remain and pay another $688,000,000,000 in equalization? Or, will they want to keep the equalization and attain free trade by joining the US, possibly in a negotiated semi-autonomous commonwealth arrangement (think Guam)? The democrat party would never allow a conservative 51st State. Tax Free Alberta? Which way will Canada’s oil-rich province go?
** Armor portrayals. The plain truth is that armor was seldom uniform across armies or nationalities. To the extent possible, it was re-purposed (friend or foe) by whoever held the field at the end of the day. Thus, a Viking raiding party that had been on the scout for long enough would likely present a mixture of armor from Frankia, the Mediterranean, England, Frisia, and Germany. So too would foraging armies almost anywhere. In a melee, it was impossible to tell friend from foe. The shield walls used by semi-articulated infantry did tend to keep the sides differentiated until one side or the other broke. Genetic material spread by those marauding armies meant that populations in adjoining lands were often homogeneous.
** How do you feel about the UK’s Labour Party?
** Napoleon enters Rome.
** Kris Mayes, the Arizona Attorney General, is openly lesbian. As of 2026, she is recognized as the first LGBTQ2+ person elected to this position in Arizona history. Information from the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund confirms her sexual orientation. She’s been in the media encouraging armed citizens to fight against law enforcement over the enforcement of immigration laws.
Disagreements over immigration policy at the highest levels of government must never be directed at the men and women on the ground who are sworn to enforce the law. And any disagreement with the duties or performance of officers has a place in our society – the courtroom. The suggestion from a constitutional office that retaliating against lawful law enforcement officers performing their duties is deeply concerning.
Attempts to deter lawful law enforcement officers from carrying out their duties through threats of prosecution or implied violence are inappropriate, dangerous, and must stop. If left uncorrected, such rhetoric risks being misinterpreted or misused in ways that could endanger all law enforcement officers, anywhere, whom we ask to perform an extraordinarily difficult and dangerous job. The Arizona Sheriffs’ Association calls on Attorney General Kris Mayes to clarify her comments and make clear that shooting at a law enforcement officer is never justified. Her statement influences conduct in the real world and carries direct public safety consequences.
The Arizona Sheriffs’ Association rejects any suggestion that the use of force against law enforcement officers may be justified. Arizona law does not permit it, and public safety depends on this principle being clearly understood. ~Arizona Sheriffs’ Association
** “If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” -Solzhenitsyn
** ‘Bad actors have exploited this program by failing to make good-faith efforts to recruit qualified US workers before seeking to use foreign labor.’
** The American military-industrial complex was supposed to produce three multipurpose submarines and one ballistic missile submarine annually. But it can only produce one and is just starting work on the second.
** The People’s Republic of China is a bad neighbor. (h/t Claudio) (Link) CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Satellite imagery appears to show China is set to reclaim land on another reef in the South China Sea for yet another military base. The coral reef in question is Antelope Reef, located at 16°27’45” N, 111°35’20” E in the Paracel Islands. It is 250 miles east of Hue in Vietnam, and about 175 miles southeast of Sanya Naval Base on China’s Hainan Island. (purge count – left)
** If Europe wants to go it alone, “forget that you can ever get there with 5%” spending of GDP on defense, the current target for the alliance, according to the NATO secretary general, saying spending would be 10% instead.
** We now know that the sprayer is one of her supporters. It’s not quite the way the media portrayed it. An award? Apparently so.
** Minnesota’s election system stands as one of the worst in the nation, and its “vouching” policy is a prime example of why confidence in election security remains fragile.
** Would you like a younger second wife? Islam might be for you!
The Navy won’t decommission more littoral combat ships — USNI News
Do you Trust Red China?
This commentary was originally published by The Wire China on January 18, 2026.
Electric vehicles, batteries, wind turbines, and solar panels (PV) are no longer just mechanical assets—they are smart, connected systems. Their performance, safety, and resilience depend on tightly integrated hardware and software designed together from the outset.
But the same connectivity that delivers efficiency in products and benefits to consumers also creates new exposures for governments. Control rooms are now partly in the cloud; updates arrive over the air; diagnostics flow through vendor portals. This makes them systems that pose national security threats and vulnerabilities, ones that countries must treat with the same seriousness as they do for more traditional forms of national security.
When China imposed its rare-earth export ban on Japan in 2010, it was clear this would become an issue for other countries in the future. China’s dominance in battery technology is waving the same flag, and we need to take note.
Why Hardware and Software Can’t Be Split Anymore
In past decades, engineers built hardware first and layered software on top. That model is obsolete. Today’s energy systems are co-designed: sensors, power electronics, and mechanical structures are specified to enable algorithms that can track a product’s health, prevent failures, and optimize output. Hardware–software fusion is the new operating model.
Take EV batteries. Their “brains” are Battery Management Systems (BMS): a combination of sensors and embedded software that decides how fast a car can charge, how much range is really left, and when to prevent overheating. Without accurate algorithms and the sensor fidelity that feeds it, risks to batteries such as short circuits or battery overheating, catching fire, or even exploding increase, and warranty costs soar.
Equally, even the best algorithms are useless if the battery pack lacks the necessary telemetry and computing headroom to act on them. That’s why leading battery programs are moving to predictive maintenance, where AI models trained on voltage, current, and temperature histories can forecast degradation and flag failures before they happen.
The same connectivity that delivers efficiency in products and benefits to consumers also creates new opportunities for governments.
These models are already demonstrating high accuracy in detecting early-stage plating and improving charging safety. BYD has integrated artificial intelligence into its battery production lines and reported significant improvements, including a 40 percent reduction in battery defects and a 20 percent increase in average battery lifespan.
In sum, hardware without intelligent software can underperform or become unsafe; software without adequate sensing and control hardware cannot operate safely and predictably, or exploit efficiency gains.
Most Chinese battery manufacturers (e.g., CATL, BYD) now do not just sell cells; they deliver the software that governs them. These systems are not generic; they embed proprietary algorithms for critical functions, such as
- State of Charge (SoC) and State of Health (SoH): Rather than copper wiring, algorithms estimate how much energy remains and how healthy the cells are, influencing range predictions and warranty decisions.
- Thermal Management: Software actively controls cooling and heating to prevent degradation and safety hazards.
- Predictive Maintenance: AI models forecast aging patterns and detect anomalies like lithium plating, enabling preventive action.
The table below shows that this dual capability is standard practice in leading Chinese battery ecosystems.
Examples of Chinese Battery and BMS Manufacturers
| Company Name | Chinese Name | BMS/Energy Software |
|---|---|---|
| CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited) | 宁德时代 | Yes |
| BYD (Build Your Dreams) | 比亚迪 | Yes |
| CALB (China Aviation Lithium Battery) | 中创新航等 | Yes |
| EVE Energy | 亿纬动力 | Yes |
| sVOLT | 蜂巢能源 | Yes |
| REPT BATTERO | 瑞浦兰钧 | Yes |
| Gotion (Hefei Gotion Photoelectric Technology) | 合肥国轩光电 | Yes |
| Sunwooda | 欣旺达 | Yes |
| Linshen Battery | 力神电池 | Unclear |
| ENVISION | 远景能源 | Yes |
This integration is deliberate: Hardware and software are co-evolving to maximize batteries’ efficiency, safety, and lifespan.
Hank’s Discount Auto Repair
Stopped by Hank’s Auto Service today to get an oil change and a tire rotation. Hank proves you don’t need a fancy shop or the latest equipment—just some good ol’ fashioned hard work and dependability are all that’s needed ’round here.
The midnight auto swap meet begins at dusk every Wednesday, unless it’s raining.
Identify the Ships
1 & 2
3
Hint: Captain was Ching Lee
4
Parting Shot
End
1 – Indian Navy Chennai Kolkata-class stealth guided-missile destroyer
2 – Hellenic Navy HS Nikiforos Fokas Elli-class frigate
3 – USS Washington
4 – USS Hershel ‘Woody’ Williams a Lewis B. Puller-class expeditionary sea base
Nailed them!
Skills.
Identify the Ships:
1. INS Chennai
2. Greek frigate Nikiforos Fokas
3. USS Washington (BB-56)
4. USS Hershel “Woody” Williams (ESB-4)
Well done!
H-1B Visa’s: Shut it down…no more of this ‘legal invasion’ until the ship gets cleared of the rat infestation.
***
AG Mayes: Well now, let’s just look under the hood on this one (figuratively, that is)…
”GENDER IDENTITY- Cisgender Woman
SEXUAL ORIENTATION- Lesbian
PRONOUNS- She/Her/Hers”. Okay then, that’s no surprise.
What’s a ‘cisgender’? Another made up thingy.
‘Orientation’…And this matters how to being an AG?
Apparently she’s so very proud of her mental illness, which has now morphed into advocating FOR violence against law enforcement (gee, how is that not criminal?) Do your job properly lady and quit telling everyone about your odd sexual proclivities massively confusing your kid.
Here’s a ProTip (not that she asked, but giving it anyway): Follow the laws on the books and quit pushing what you ‘feel’ should be the law. No more complicated than that. I swear these people are getting paid to do this, can’t just be happenstance.
.
VM Poll: Who here has ever stated their ‘pronouns’ to anyone? Yeah, figured that…NO ONE…because it’s juvenile and mental.
***
By the way, ‘Hank’s Holler Auto Service and Repair’ doesn’t have a website either (checked)…must be staying under the NSA radar…probably only takes cash or chickens to avoid paying ‘his fair share’ to the benevolent IRS. Betting he’s busing since his low overhead keeps shop hourly costs down. Word at the neighboring moonshine clearing is he’s good (who needs computer diag’s anyway…which requires electricity).
Ps. I see Hank has started a new business venture, ‘Hank’s Master Bait & Tackle’ (yeah, old joke told to me by a true Suthun’ boy friend ho still laughs at it)
your point is?
🤔
Juanl
I had a friend named Bates whose vehicle registration plate was MASTR
Appropriate.
Knew a guy who’s last name was Batenhorst. Naif thought nobody could mess up his last name – so we started calling him Master Batenhorst.
Paul has a suthun boyfriend?
‘Suthin boy’…………………..friend (aka buddy, pal, coworker, etc)
(dangit, didn’t see I put the apostrophe before boy instead of after…upside is it keeps my daily typo error batting average perfect.)
>What’s a ‘cisgender’? Another made up thingy.
No, Paul M, no. It’s not “made up”. It’s science! Science is Real [1]. You bigot!
—
In case someone is actually confused by this cis/trans business instead of just doing the mockery thing (shame on you, Paul M), it’s like this. So in chemistry (especially organic chemistry) you often have the case where the same chemical formula (in the HxCy etc format where x and y are numbers) can describe two different molecules, because of isomerism, or different physical positions of chemical groups on the “backbone” of the overall molecule. To take an easily understandable analogy, imagine a standard rectangular dining table that seats 4 people. If I specify “two men and two women at the table” we could call that M2W2. But the M2W2 does NOT specify if the women are both on the same side of the table (that’d be a cis-dining table) or if there is a woman and man on each side (trans-table).
—
Now what the gender-identity whackjobs [2] have done is co-opted this perfectly reasonable and useful chemistry terminology to apply to their delusions. So a cisgender woman is a person biologically female who calls herself (“identifies”) female. Because her biology and her gender identity are “on the same side”. Personally I think the cis-gender thing is HATEFUL and bigoted because it forces a mental structure of “one side” or “other side”. Therefore only two sides. This is wrong because we KNOW (Science is Real, kids) that there are as many gender identities as there are living beings (I’m not a humanocentric bigot! You’re the bigot, you bigot.) Also, gender identity is fluid and can change at any time for any reason. Especially during consensual sex. Sure, I might have identified as a promiscuous, sex-positive cisfemale, and more than willingly engaged in intercourse with a man, but midway through I felt more like a radical gold star lesbian and it became Rape. [3] The cisfemale thing is also hateful because it implies there IS a biological basis to female-ness. Shame!
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Believe-Science-Kindness-Everything-Poster/dp/B088PB48T7?th=1
—
[2] Sarcasm aside, I think most people who go along with this terminology are just going with the flow. It’s probably a combination of trying to get social credit points, and maybe even a little real sympathy. Plus not too smart, or not given to thinking about stuff even if the braine meat is adequate (albeit underused). But I think the people who created the terminology and enforce its usage, they are a different story. It’s a combination of trying to normalize their OWN insanity, and out of malice, to tear down society and social norms that they view as oppressive. The brain trust (dont’ laugh) of the Left are NOT stupid people. They tend to be highly intelligent, AND full of resentment combined with genuine desire to “improve the world”. This is a very dangerous combination. Also, they seem to have a higher prevalence of sexual deviancy than “regular folks”. The distribution of leftist intellectuals and theorists is also not uniform across all ethnic groups, but this is skewed by multiple factors including the trajectory of their higher education, if they did the college+ thing.)
—
[3] No, this “it suddenly became rape” in media res (the Latin is so much classier than “between thrusts” isn’t it? I’m just a classy guy; you’re welcome) did not happen to me. Nor to anyone I know personally. But it’s the logical consequence of this kind of deluded thinking.
Thanks. I knew it had to have come from *somewhere* because they’re rarely creative enough to come up with things whole-cloth. I also know it infuriates them when I respond “Cisgender? Oh, you mean normal.”
.
Words mean things: Anyone who sends an email to me at work with a signature block of “pronouns: she/her” gets treated like they’re an extreme legal liability, and the minimum possible exposure is weighed in every word of the reply. Anyone who signs their email “V/r”, by contrast, gets told the answers to the questions they didn’t ask but needed to.
Wow! That was AWESOME Mike…now I am fully schooled in cisgendergiberish 101. Thanks.
By the way…totally brilliant PhD level expose’….laughing so hard about spit out my uppity gender-confused red wine (it thinks it’s a chardonnay).
Paul, Gina Cerano replied to the HR, ” Beep, Bop, Boop” and lost her job w/ Disney. Real SISU girl.
Recall that, and yes, SISU. Brings to mind: ‘They aren’t principles until you have to defend them, then do’…and totally SISU when one does in this insane social climate.
The term “cis” originates from Latin, meaning “on this side of,”
Coined by biologist Dana Leland Defosse in 1994 on Usenet,
Considering Mike C’s pointed yet hilarious explanation, which brings the Latin into ‘play, I’m making sure which side of the table I’m sitting and which side my bread is buttered…so to speak.
😁
I believe the Hank’s auto is a fake AI picture. Having been to many of these fine professional shops in my life there is always two or three dogs and at least two small under six years old children wandering about and I see none in the picture.
*
Littoral Combat Ships are hard on one’s eyes. Plus flags … I don’t see the US flag? Or is it hiding behind the electronics mast and I just don’t see it.
*
I knew the BB. Yeah!
I like the guy on the far porch that’s about to give way…those boys think diffrint.
More Hank’s. Back during my FFL days, I had this posted on the wall.
—
https://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z48/TomT99/99%20mounts/FarSide1-1.jpg
I love that kind of stuff.
“take your personal fembot out to coffee”
That’s AI! Not one head turned as she walked by.
Other people don’t objectify women…
>How do you feel about the UK’s Labour Party?
A friend said similar about Mamdami in NYC (reacting to 10 people having frozen to death on the streets during the recent snowmageddon, because Mamdami made it policy that it was wrong to try to get people off the streets during extreme cold): “Can’t blame the man for achieving results: aggressively cutting down poverty and cost, while respecting individual freedoms.” Normally I don’t follow NYC news closely, but I’d not only heard about the 10, but had a borough-by-borough breakdown (“three were in Queens” …) from a veteran NYC EMT that day. It was a professional interaction so no political talk, but I had the impression the EMT was not impressed with new city administration.
—
>Kris Mayes, the Arizona Attorney General, is openly lesbian
Old news by now. Maura Healey was first lesbian state Atty General (Massachusetts, naturally) and also has a Harvard undergrad degree (vs Mayes’ plebian ASU, valedictorian or not; valedictorian of a state skool [how cute] is like being the tallest dwarf, Kris). Healey apparently has also been a Mean Girl in her personal life since at least high school. Or so it’s said. Dana Nessel (Michigan) is the second lesbian sAG. Nessel has the trifecta of woman, LGBTQIA++, and Jewish. That rather makes up for “only” having a University of Michigan undergrad diploma instead of a Harvard sheepskin (or cruelty-free vegan substitute material). Both Healey (Northeastern) and Nessel (Wayne State) downgraded significantly for their Law degrees.
—
Speaking of lesbians in Arizona government, a big deal has been made of Kyrsten Sinema being a triathlete. I recall her being the subject of intense mockery over this. Not for being a lesbian, but because she was selling one of her used bike frames at something like 2.5x normal market value on Facebook. (In the cycling/gearhead community there are fierce standards of who is “okay” and who is “a shithead”. Sinema outed herself as a shithead — because of the cluelessness and/or greed. Lesbian had nothing to do with it. Gotta love how highly specialized groups develop their own standards wherein “morality” is based on idiosyncratic criteria.)
Mayes and Nessel have a pod cast together….
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pantsuits-and-lawsuits-with-attorneys-general-kris/id1799200214
Sinema just got busted having an affair with her former bodyguard and is being sued.
https://www.ibtimes.com/arizona-senator-accused-drug-filled-affair-her-bodyguard-that-went-years-3795417
We sure are picking winners in Arizona of late.
I didn’t know that Sinema was (a) hiring security staff or that (b) she took them on lavish vacations that sound more like orgies. I feel so left out, Recargador. It’s all so unfair. The ex-wife is only asking for $25K, that’s almost a small claims matter. Did he stop mowing the lawn and changing the oil on her car or what?
.
Her brother (or possibly step brother) Paul Sheldon, is a police sergeant who worked for the Tucson Police Department. Do you know him? I heard that he lateraled to Phoenix PD, but don’t know if that’s accurate.
Sir, I don’t know him. I can ask around.
My neighbor down the street works for TPD.
I don’t care, Recargador. I was just musing and didn’t know where he worked these days. I hope that his sister and their family all all live happy and productive lives. As I mentioned to Mike_C today (here), as Arizona politicians go, Sinema is possibly the best, which is beyond pathetic.
> [male] bodyguard affair.
Oh no. I mis-preferenced Sinema who is bisexual and not a lesbian.
Gevalt!
Mea culpa!
Unlike this smirking butthead Danuka character, I am genuinely contrite. Truly.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eFqR4gC68M0
We in Arizona have long known that Kristin is morally flexible and unlike many glory hole democrats who don’t care who/what is on the other side of the toilet stall, she was open about taking what ever came along irrespective of plumbing. She was a better political representative than either Kelly or Gallegos, which speaks volumes. Don’t get me on the subject of the late Saint Senator John McCain or flakey, crooked, morally weak Jeff Flake from Snowflake. We have nothing to be proud of here. Nothing.
Now I can’t get MikeC’s ‘table sitting’ analogy (h/t EdB for the Latin) outta my head when doing these comparisons.
Dig deep enough and the truth comes out. Heck, the MSM paraded a photoshopped picture of a kinder, gentler, more handsome Pretti to try and maintain the false narrative they were peddling. It’s all fake….except Larry David did opine, “Pretti Good, Pretti Pretti Good.”
** ‘Bad actors have exploited this program by failing to make good-faith efforts to recruit qualified US workers
.
When I began Chemo, I told my employers, including my boss, that I would be gone for a while.
They responded that things were slow and it worked out for them payroll-wise.
Then I was told my laptop was upgraded to Win11 and stop by to pick it up in December if I wanted to personalize it..
I was also told that they were going to bring up one of our engineers from Mexico, but that was no threat to my employment.
They wanted three guys on staff.
A couple weeks ago I texted my boss that the treatment end had been delayed again.
I got a call from HR informing me that I had been terminated in September.
They just forgot to tell my boss. :)
I was under the impression that was when my insurance ran out and I signed up for Medicare.
Oddly, they had continued to pay my insurance so I thought they were keeping me on the hook.
.
I mentioned that if they brought Enrique from Mexico while I was available for work they would be in violation of Immigration Law regarding H1Bs. She was unaware.
I doubt I’ll go back, but I’m wondering how I should handle it.
Geez Ed, what the hay?! Imagine how your boss felt being unaware. Good for you to set them baxk a little with your knowledge.
HR is corporate cancer, don’t really care despite saying otherwise, and always staffed by liberals. I find it incredible they didn’t speak with you directly, and when insurance got to be a sticking point, they terminate? Companies are no longer loyal, and whether a consultant or employee, I was always interviewing them…if the guy had a lousy desk, like from 1960, had to ask myself if this company was for me.
Does this mean more radio for you, WAAM’s 9-Noon slot might be a good fit.
Sorry, Ed.
IANAL, but it sounds like a number of profoundly illegal things have “happened”. Which is a nicer way of saying “been done unto you”.
That stinks. And of course, the political (“how I should handle it”) part is, as usual, more complicated than everything else. Or that’s how I see it anyway.
—
HR. I don’t know what to say. I managed to seriously piss off “my” HR person (I think the Navy would call it my detailer.) at my last hospital job. Prolly told this before, but basically they insisted on giving me a new title because I was going to exceed the salary cap on my job description. (This was NOT a lot of money, BTW; I’d transferred to a technical rather than clinical billet at that point. Technical pays MUCH lower.) HR decided that my title would henceforth be “Technical Manager” — despite me trying like hell to not manage anyone. So one of the VPs of HR calls me about the new title. She’s all perky and cheerful and puppies and ice cream floats on a hot summer day [quite a feat for a gangly, frizzy-haired woman in her late 50’s] “Do you like it?” Uh, sure, it’s fine. Thank you. “No, do you LIKE it? We want you to be happy.” I AM happy, thank you. “You don’t sound happy.” No? Sorry, I must be distracted about the deadline I have for 5pm today. That I really need to be working on now. “We need you to be happy. What do you want your title to be?” I like Technical Manager, it’s excellent. Thank you. “Are you sure? Go ahead, tell me what you really want.”
Sigh.
Okay, I want the word supreme in my title.
“What?”
You know, like Kim Jong Un is Supreme Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. I really want the word supreme in my title.
“uh…”
You can make it Supreme Bottle Washer, but I need supreme.
[sudden drop in voice temperature from sunshine and puppies to below arctic] “We take titles VERY seriously here.”
In that case let’s stick with Technical Manager, please. I’m perfectly happy with that. [the “please” was me knuckling under, BTW; it’s a good idea to let them save some face through ritual groveling — so long as it’s not a moral/legal issue. My ego doesn’t even get into it for crap like this, because I don’t care if such persons like or respect me. It’s helpful/expedient if they like me, but I don’t CARE.]
“Good. You do that. Be happy with it.” [click]
—
I thought I should report this interaction with my actual boss to prevent her from being blindsided.
“You said WHAT to HR?”
Yeah, I did. It’s not like I planned it though. Just came out.
[five count of silence] “Okay. Thanks for letting me know.”
Burrito Supreme assembler?
🤣
🤣
**Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) are specifically designed for high-speed**
Shallow water, high speed, carries a helo… sounds like a Coast Guard Cutter doesn’t it?
A long time ago when the LCS was first proposed, Old NFO and I blaggarded it at Hodad’s in Ocean Beach (OB to locals). truth be told, it’s the same as the FF that the Trump Administration wants to build in large numbers. Yes, a Coast Guard Cutter, painted gray.
Hank’s Discount Auto Repair
Wow, Hank is still in business? We used him to recondition our used cars before we offered them for sale at Good Enough Motors.
——————
Canada
No dog in the fight other than keeping China of our Northern border. Canada will likely break apart. In B.C. you have globalist David Eby pushing the 2019 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. In Quebec the leading candidate for premier in the next election, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon promises a referendum on leaving Canada. The Alberta Prosperity Organization is well on the way to place a referendum to a vote this year. Carney can only rail against the boggy man PDJT with “elbows up”.
I know that you also used to buy parts at midnight auto supply to sell at retail prices. Come clean, WSF – Genuine parts only mean that they MIGHT have been genuine once…”reconditioned”
I have friends in Calgary who could be best described as “marginally socialist” – which means they were on Ottawa’s tit getting recycled Albertan money after the parasites took 50%. They oppose a free Alberta. The rest of them seem to be firmly in the Independence camp. And once Alberta goes, Nova Scotia, Quebec, etc. will look to their own interests, leaving BC and Ottawa behind to stroke each other and discuss their global ambitions.
Such horrid accusations for things past the statutes of limitations.
My brother knew a shade tree mechanic like Hank’s that was very reliable for basic stuff including exhaust repair.
Elsmer.
Very low cost. Unfortunately he passed last year of a heart attack. Not of a truck falling on him.
RIP – off to the big SnapOn Truck in the sky.
The Big Shiny Rollaway in the sky.
LCS needs to GO, they don’t have an actual mission they can do… sigh…
Farce (sic) projection isn’t a mission?
The only difference between the LCS and the new FF (Coast Guard Cutter) is that the FF is less capable.
Dammit, LL, you sucked me in again….
–
Armor, yeah, same with weapons. Never goes out of style. Really. Handed down father-to-son or handed down from the local lord’s armory. So that 14th Century battle might have guys running around in maille hauberks worn at Hastings or Stamford Bridge. Same with knives and swords.
–
Of course, old and worn or broken weapons and armor were recycled. So that broken sword from Stamford Bridge got picked up and melted down or cut down to a different weapon.
–
Stripping the dead was a way to provide oneself with armor or better armor and weapons or resale the broken stuff. And not just armor and weapons, anything useful. Shoes, belts, cloaks and clothing. Anything of use. And often there was a hierarchy of ‘salvage rights.’
–
It’s the main reason you can find huge burial pits at places like Hastings Field and Stamford Bridge, but there’s little of worth in said pits.
–
Of course, then there’s battles where there’s so much dead that the victors can’t harvest it all and that’s where you get bodies buried in armor with their weapons, like at Visby in 1361, where there were so many dead, well, common bodies buried in armor. It’s where we get the patterns for ‘Coat of Plates,’ literally a coat, with iron plates riveted in, basically a commoner’s version of Brigandine (lots and lots of small plates riveted to each other and to a leather/cloth matrix, it’s what the rich wore.)
–
Other places where armor and weapons weren’t handed down would be high-level people who were buried in their harness or with their weapons. Think Skandinavian ship barrow. Or some nobleman’s tomb in England.
–
And this is nothing unusual. Go to rural estates in England and there are often huge collections of weapons from the 15th to 19th century, often arrayed artistically. But they’re still there as an armory.
–
Or the Papal Guard’s Armory, which has weapons from the 15th to 21st Century. You can get kitted up with a nice Milanese harness over that Michelangelo-designed motley and have a basilard and halberd and a nice modern Swiss pistol, submachine gun, grenade launcher, and (possibly) modern anti-tank weapons, or a water-cooled machine gun from WWI vintage, or a rifle-musket from the mid 1800s or possibly an early bolt-action gun of a variety of lineages, or a falling-block singleshot or… I mean, if I had the scratch, I’d buy my way into spending a month or so at that armory with a good guide and permission to coon-finger said items if possible.
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Think I’m full of it? Anyone here have your dad’s gun or combat knife? Your grandpa’s? Your great grandpa’s? I know a guy who has his family’s musket from Revolutionary times, a family sword from Mex-American war era, some Civil War toys from both sides and stuff up to his Global War of Terror stuff that he legally was allowed to have.
With history being taught so incompletely, it’s difficult to accurately represent the uniqueness of a time because of this. The average man on the street can’t identify Nebraska on a map. Not even if they live in Nebraska.