Tuesday Links - 30 April

Political Calculations starts us off with A Guide for Choosing the Right Adjective to Describe How Good Something Is

What if it's "awesome"? Is something that's awesome better than something that's very good? Not knowing whether it is or not can lead to some really "mediocre" if not "rubbish" attempts to communicate on your part.

The Other McCain - Secret Service DEI Quota Hire Goes Completely Berserk at Andrews AFB

Filing bogus discrimination claims would normally be seen as a red flag, and it turns out Michelle Herczeg had more red flags than a May Day parade in Beijing, but that didn’t stop the Biden administration from hiring her as a Secret Service agent:

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 26 April 2024: Narbuncular Numbats Edition

Australia's police and spy agencies want backdoors in encryption protocols. (The Register)
Because of course they do.

Samizdata - Another reminder of how evil Iran’s regime is

For some reason, this story about Iran and its intention to execute a rap artist has gone “under the radar” of a lot of the news channels, and I only came across it when listening to a podcast from Yaron Brook.

Wombat-socho - FMJRA 2.0: No Joy In The North. A review of the past week in (fantasy) baseball.

Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.

Impro Guns - Homemade submachine guns seized (Chile). Click thru for photos of what look like a couple of models from Professor Parabellum.

Various homemade submachine guns seized from a gun maker in Chile last year.

Joe Huffman at The View From North Central Idaho - Expert Firearms Rating Means Nothing

Other than firearms instructors who teach special forces, and one Army ranger who just barely edged me out, all the military only taught people I have knowingly competed against were… less than competitive.

Could Self Defense Be Legal in Maryland?

It would seem to be the case. Gwynn Oak Homeowner Facing No Charges After Shooting Home Invader

The authorities are not releasing many details, but they say a burglary/home invasion appears to be related to a domestic situation. The person doing the breaking in was shot by the homeowner.

Following investigations, authorities established that the shooting resulted from an attempted burglary at the residence on Talbott St. Charges are forthcoming against the burglary suspect, who was shot but sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

You can never be sure if self defense is legal in the very blue states, and even less so in the blue cities. Gwynn Oak a part of Baltimore. I don't know much except that Baltimore is a blue city, and probably has a liberal DA. It isn't a city I track.

Self defense is a human right. Good Guys 1, Bad Guys 0.

What Happens When Prosecutors Won't Prosecute?

Criminals keep offending, that is what happens. He sexually attacked 2 women in Lakeview less than 2 months after getting out of prison for sexual attacks on woman, teen: prosecutors - CWB Chicago

He was out of prison on parole for attacking a woman and teen. He now faces charges for attacking two more women in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago. Those were not the first women he attacked.

Lakeview is on the north side of the Chicago. It is home to both Wrigley Field, and the area once known as Boystown. There are any number of clubs (or there were), restaurants, etc. There is also a collection of theaters for live performances of various kinds. It is, or was, a nice area of the city.

A review of Mack’s arrest history indicates that authorities have had multiple opportunities to pursue serious charges against Mack since 2014, but they frequently settled for misdemeanors.

Click thru for details including one case where he attacked a woman in her own home, but they only charged him with misdemeanor criminal trespass and battery. They later dropped the case. They also dropped a case in which he was accused of attack a girl between 13 and 17 years of age.

So the question becomes, "How seriously does the Illinois State's Attorney's Office for Cook County take crime?" Not very seriously.

Why does the Left believe that behavior will change without consequences?

DEI Will Soon Be Killing You. Literally

What else can you say when doctors-in-training are being given bad information in the name of Social Justice? ‘Pedagogical Malpractice’: Inside UCLA Medical School’s Mandatory ‘Health Equity’ Class

"Follow the Science!" Except when we don't like the science, of course.

Students in their first year of medical school typically learn what a healthy body looks like and how to keep it that way. At the University of California, Los Angeles, they learn that "fatphobia is medicine’s status quo" and that weight loss is a "hopeless endeavor."

Those are two of the more moderate claims made by Marquisele Mercedes, a self-described "fat liberationist," in an essay assigned to all first-year students in UCLA medical school’s mandatory "Structural Racism and Health Equity" class. Launched in the wake of George Floyd’s death, the course is required for all first-year medical students.

Because God forbid that we let science and facts interfere with Social Justice, or something.

I found this by way of The Blaze, and Twitter. DEI class at UCLA's medical school sets up future doctors to fight the patriarchy and accept 'weight loss is useless'

That article had a nice breakdown of the stuff in the class.

• how Western societies and the medical profession are supposedly racist;
• how morbid obesity "came to be pathologized and medicalized in racialized terms";
• the apparent connection between "ableism" and "heteropatriarchy, white supremacy, colonialism and capitalism";

There is much more, including links to some of the underlying documents confirming this insanity. Click thru.

Amaranthine

I was a bit shocked to look back and not find this song in the list of things I had featured. Amaranthe is one of my favorite bands, in no small part because Elize Ryd is one of my favorite vocalists. It doesn't hurt that the music is well written. Their use of multiple vocalists is somewhat unique in modern music of any kind.

While today's song starts out sounding like a sweet ballad, it really does ramp up enough for a Monday afternoon. Here's a link to the lyrics, since you might need them at some point. (Did I mention they have 3 vocalists)

This song is "Amaranthine" by Amaranthe from their self-titled debut album, Amaranthe, which came out in 2011.

Singers who don't need AutoTune. Musicians that play real instruments. Complex music. What's not to love about European Metal?

A Lone Star Parson Musical Interlude

Classic Rock from Lone Star Parson: GODZILLA

This one's for AJ who finds himself in China right about now. Hey, fella, we're safe here in the North Central Texas Exclusion Zone (NCTEZ).

An Instance of Self Defense in Chicago

This story is from February, but it worth taking a look at. Would-be robber, Chicago jewelry store worker who shot him both released - CBS Chicago

A guy in a mask (in February, 2024) is walking around a jewelry store on Wabash Avenue in the heart of Chicago's Loop. As he approaches the door, where it looks like he is leaving, he tries to smash a display case, without much success. One of the employees, draws a gun and fires, hitting the would-be robber at least once.

Surveillance video shows the would-be robber, who wore a red sweatshirt, walking around for about a minute before he took off running toward the entrance.

He began to bash in a glass case, and that's when the employee reached behind the counter and began shooting at the man before he tried to get away.

The big thing about this story is that it delves into the law of self defense in Illinois, which is gaining presence in the consciousness of the people of Illinois.

"The moment that person took an object and broke that glass, that person was committing a forcible felony," said CBS 2 Legal Analyst Irv Miller. "He was no longer walking around checking the place out."

For that reason, Miller said under the law, the employee legally defended himself and his business

There is more, if you care for the details and some security video. I prefer the video below.

Steve Inman gets the hat tip with this video. The guy does get shot, but he makes it to a hospital, where is was detained. Sadly, in Illinois they turn scumbags like this loose to commit more crimes. Maybe he will come to realize that crime is not safe. That video does include some comments about self defense as well as Inman's play by play.

I Love It When Politicians (or Crown Princes) Decide that They're Engineers

I have mostly ignored this boondoggle because it is clear it was doomed from the beginning. But let us dive into one aspect. Why Saudi Arabia’s Neom Is Doomed

Neom is supposed to be a "city" 170 kilometers long, 500 meter tall linear arcology. Two buildings built 200 meters apart, 500 meters tall. Good luck with that.

Boyle examines the claim that you can travel from one end of Neom to the other in 20 minutes and has a little fun with math:

To travel 170 km in 20 minutes, you’d have to be traveling at 510kmph, which is a bit faster than and the world’s fastest train. Of course, 510kmph assumes no stops along the way, which might be a bit inconvenient for people who live near the middle of the city.

If you assume one train station every quarter mile, and you assume that the doors are open for 30 seconds at each station, that comes to 206 minutes just with the doors open. "206 minutes is of course a bit more than 20 minutes." Now every 1/4 mile seems excessive, so if you say every mile, well 50 minutes is still longer than 20 minutes. Better hope there is never a crash, an outage, no one commits suicide by throwing themselves in front of a train, etc. Any of those things might delay the train.

There are more problems, like a lack of resources, potable water, etc.

The only abundant resources that a group of consultants could identify were sunlight and unlimited access to salt water.

What could possibly go wrong?

Here is the example of the Dutch "perfect city." It didn't work out too well in the end.

Does anyone remember Pruit-Igoe in St. Louis? Apparently not. Though the demolition made for interesting footage in Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance. But then what's not to love about explosive demolition coupled with music by Philip Glass?

The Democrats in Chicago Are Losing the Black Population

How bad do Democrats have to screw up to push blacks into considering abandoning the Democratic Party? From Chicago Contrarian we get the following: Black Trump Supporters Blast Mayor Brandon Johnson over Migrant Spending

Last week, several black Chicagoans showed up in City Hall wearing Donald Trump's MAGA hats to blast Mayor Brandon Johnson for taking resources away from black communities. They threatened to vote for Republicans in 2024 and railed against the Democrat Party.

I think that this is not only happening in Chicago, but the underlying article is about Chicago.

The constant redirection of city finances and resources being turned over to the illegals has set many in Chicago's African American community on edge. All across the city's black-majority neighborhoods, residents are asking why they keep voting for Democrats.

Hey, Joe Biden says if they don't vote Democrat, they aren't black. Or something.

A New Anti-Woke Gaming Resource - the DEIDetected Website

If you think all of your entertainment is turning into woke sludge, you aren't wrong. In the world of gaming there are a handful of "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion consulting companies" that will help make a game woke. I guess these game studios doubt their ability to do woke without help.

This all came to a head with the recently released game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League from Rocksteady Studios. It became known that a consulting company, Sweet Baby Inc., had made the game the woke nightmare that it is, or at the very least helped to make it that way. I won't give you details, there are endless articles, Tweets, and YouTube videos on the subject, that are easy enough to find.

A gamer who goes by Kabrutus took it upon himself to research Sweet Baby Inc., and document what games they are involved in. This was originally as easy as going to the Sweet Baby website, because they were quite proud of what they had done. I understand that they have lately taken to obfuscating their involvement in games. Kabrutus started a curated list of games on Steam to share that info. The Left, and the gaming journalists (but I repeat myself), went nuts, and Sweet Baby, Inc. employees even tried to have him banned from Steam. They failed.

That list, which started with a few thousand followers before the cancellation attempt, now has more than 375,000 followers. (The Streisand Effect is still in force!)

So now we have the upgrade, not limited to a single consulting company, but any of the dozen or so Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion consultants screwing up gaming. DEIDetected. It went live on the 23rd of April.

I expect that there will be much wailing and screaming coming from the Left. Here is how Kabrutus describes the effort on the "About" page.

DEIDetected is the natural evolution of Sweet Baby Inc. detected, it is well known for a time that Sweet Baby Inc. isn't the only company forcing DEI into video games, so with the 400k followers mark on the curator page getting close I think that this is a perfect time to expand and start talking about what other DEI consultancy companies are doing with video games too.

A couple of gaming studios have gone out of business when the games they invested heavily in (games are not cheap to produce) were soundly rejected by the market. I don't know that Rocksteady will be destroyed by all of this, but the studio won't be helped by this game. Rocksteady's 'Suicide Squad' game sinks to an all-time low player base, which doesn't bode well for the game's future.

According to SteamDB the number of concurrent users playing Suicide Squad has fallen to 118, with an all-time high of 13,459 reached shortly after launch.

For the sake of comparison, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is being outshined by other live-service titles like Helldivers 2 and Fallout 76, which are enjoying huge amounts of concurrent players at this moment with over 30,000 players for Fallout 76 and over 84,000 for Helldivers 2.

The all-time peak user count for Helldivers 2 was 458,709 hit shortly after launch.

The article goes on to compare that game with a few current successful games, and one historic flop.

Like Film and TV, no one really expects the gaming industry to abandon DEI for a while. But then no one expects Woke games to be successful going forward. As in Film, the "modern audience" isn't big enough to sustain the industry.

An Animation Vault Movie

Dominic Polcino is an animator with experience on shows like King of the Hill, Family Guy, Rick and Morty, and much more, released a video of his own, Lovesick Fool - Love in the age of Link It is available on Amazon Prime. I don't know if it is free if you're a member of Amazon Prime, because I'm not a member. You can rent it in SD for $2.99, or rent it in HD, or buy it in HD for $9.99 if you want.

If it looks like this stuff, I think it will be worth it. This is a collection of videos he did of (mostly) the crew from Friday Night Tights, and Film Threat, with some of their guests, such as Baggage Claim and the Critical Drinker.

One Day at the Comic Shop. A trip to Gary's comic shop for a discussion of the original Star Trek versus Kertzman Trek.

One Day in Minor Earth. The Peter Jackson LotR trilogy contrasted with The Rings of Recycled Fantasy. (With a reference to the Gore Rant IKEA chair.)

Another Day in the Comic Shop. Comes closest to being an advert for the movie.

Bambi Meets Shad-zilla. An homage to Bambi Meets Godzilla, with commentary on Disney, all in 28 seconds.

The Girl Boss. A critique of modern Hollywood from Baggage Claim.

Self Defense When You Are Poor

This case made no sense when it happened, and it still makes no sense. Especially for Texas. Texas mom who fatally shot teenager breaking in through daughter’s window won’t be charged

A mom shoots an intruder who was in the process of climbing through her daughter's window. The intruder turned out to be 14 years old, but she didn't know that at the time. She only knew she was faced with an intruder.

This incident took place in Tarrant County, Texas. The county seat for that county is Fort Worth. So not deep blue, certainly.

While I am not a lawyer, it is my understanding that every homicide in Texas must be presented to a grand jury. In this case the grand jury returned a no bill decision.

Meaning they didn’t find enough evidence to charge her with a crime over the shooting.

The thing that didn't make sense was that she was threatened with eviction. Well, it makes sense when you consider how hostile the government is to your rights.

Wallace previously defended her actions to FOX 4, while facing eviction for allegedly violating the apartment’s rules that guns aren't allowed in government-subsidized housing.

A Texas lawyer took up her case on the eviction, pro bono, and a Texas representative took up her cause, so the eviction was dropped. (Don't want to get a court ruling on your unconstitutional gun restricted leases!) She and her daughters have since moved.

Self Defense is a human right, and your legal right in Texas, even if you are poor.

Some New Examples of Amateur Gunsmithing

As usual, Impro guns keeps us informed. As is always the case, click thru to see the photos at Impro Guns.

First we have some submachine guns. .380 Subguns

Bits of steel tubing welded together into pocket STENs and sold on the black market.

Though I'm not sure in which Central or South American country they were seized.

Next we have the following. Evidencia

Welded together bicycle frame parts turned into 12 gauge shotguns and The Devil’s Plant.

And finally we have the on-going pearl clutching in the Great White North. ALERT – Privately Manufactured Firearms Numbers Rising in Alberta

Think Before You Print is a new Alberta Government initiative to raise awareness of the dangers of 3D Printed Firearms. Nearly 100 3D-printed firearms, handguns, and rifles were seized by ALERT as part of Project Reproduction.

Have you ever tried to kill an idea?

Columbia Rabbi Warns Students of Antisemitism

What's the opposite of diversity? University. Columbia rabbi warns Jewish students to go home, don't come back to campus because of 'extreme antisemitism'

And here I thought that New York City was a bastion of Leftist tollerance. I guess I was wrong.

A prominent rabbi at Columbia University took the drastic step Sunday of warning Jewish students to go home and not return to campus because of “extreme antisemitism” at the Ivy League school.

The dire directive followed yet another night of virulent anti-Israel protests on campus — which included one protester holding up a sign suggesting that students waving Israeli flags should be the next target of Hamas terrorists.”

Nothing surprises me about academia anymore.

The events of the last few days, especially last night, have made it clear that Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy,” Rabbi Elie Buechler told students Sunday morning over WhatsApp.

That statement is true, but not in the way he means.

“It is not our job as Jews to ensure our own safety on campus,” he said. “No one should have to endure this level of hatred, let alone at school.”

Sorry Rabbi Buechler, but it is everyone's job to ensure their own safety everywhere. "When seconds count, police are only minutes away." I realize that idea is foreign to a liberal in NYC, but that is reality. If you think things on Columbia's campus will get better if you run and hide, you are kidding yourself.

That said, Colmbia and the cops could do more to stop the insanity.

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 27 April

The Right Way starts things rolling with Top of the News

Are They Trying To Get President Trump Taken Out? (video) - Theo Spark
The 2nd Amendment Does Not Exist in New York ️ - Evi. L Bloggerlady

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 04.26.24 (Morning Edition)

Postcards From Barsoom: The Hollow Gods Of Wires & Sand,
Ammo.com: Ohio 2A Grades & Endorsements
Defending The Wood Perilous: Is Reading Misleading?

Animal Magnetism - Animal’s Red Thursday News

Senate Republicans Call for Investigation of Chinese ‘Temu’ App
Rat-Spread Illness Spiking in New York City: What’s Next? The Black Death?

EBL - One of Kamala Harris's Secret Service Agents Acted "Erractically" 😬

Agent attacked supervisor, hand cuffed, off assignment, but no explanation of why yet...
This story broke yesterday and is still weird and possible DEI issues.

Flopping Aces - The Week in Radical Leftism, 04/26/2024

4/21 – Lincoln Center Cancels Mozart
The headline is bad enough – wait until you see what the replacement is.

Vlad Tepes - NY Post reveals Soros is behind the student occupations, Jewish students beaten at Ontario middle school and more: Links 1 for April 26, 2024

5. George Soros is paying student radicals who are fueling nationwide explosion of Israel-hating protests

George Soros and his hard-left acolytes are paying agitators

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - DOJ Retroactively Revoked Trump's Security Clearance

PJM's Vicky Taft thinks Democrats May Regret Trying Trump in N.Y. Court After His Latest Announcement. A rally at Madison Square Gardens? Jim Antle at Am Con, The Bragg ‘Interference’ Allegations Are Business as Usual

Wombat-socho again - In The Mailbox: 04.26.24 (Evening Edition)

Louder With Crowder: Rep. Adam Schiff forced to give a speech in street clothes after California thieves steal his luggage
Vox Popoli: Every Critique is Correct

Small Dead Animals - Friday On Turtle Island

Blackie’s Canada: Sharia mortgages. Trudeau trashes populism. Today Dear Leader takes his taxpayer funded election tour to Quebec. Immigration minister calls Canada an ‘open country’.

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 4/24/2024

Google Fires More Workers Over in-Office Protests
Google has completed a second round of terminations linked to the anti-Israel demonstrations held at the tech giant’s offices last week.

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

Richard McKenzie weighs in on the Biden administrations antitrust persecution of Apple.
Andrew Gillen reports on Biden’s most-recent effort to ‘forgive’ student loans.

Maggie's Farm - Thursday morning links

BBC rejoices as Britain commits economic suicide in pursuit of Net Zero
The Impossible Heat Wave Era is Upon Us

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 4/25/24

"Communist societies have a long history of imprisoning political dissidents in psychiatric wards."
Marxist Health Officials Want You Committed

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: A Prosecution In Search of a Crime

• S&P Moves San Francisco's Debt Outlook to Negative (This Recent Office Tower Sale is a Bad Sign) - John Sexton
• The Trouble With Columbia - Scott Johnson

I leave you with Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #1742 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, Thursday Memes … from MaddMedic, and Wednesday's gifs from Wirecutter.

If an Armed Homeowner Invites You to Leave, You Should Leave

This guy didn't follow that advice. Armed burglary suspect shot by armed homeowner, TN cops say | Charlotte Observer. We have a story from Nashville.

He was pounding on the door, and then on windows. The homeowner armed himself, and told the guy to leave. Instead, he broke the kitchen window, and started to climb into the house. So the homeowner shot him.

Investigators said the 32-year-old suspect was hit in the arm, leading him to drop his revolver near the kitchen sink and take off running.

“Officers located him nearby and when they attempted to render aid (he) became combative,” officials said. “He was transported to Skyline Medical Center where he is being treated for his non-critical gunshot wound.”

So he got shot in the arm for his trouble. He could have easily been shot in the head, and killed. It would have been his choice not to leave in that case as well. I suppose he thought that the homeowner wouldn't actually shoot, though I don't know why you would think that a man defending himself, his home, and possibly his family, wouldn't shoot you in self-defense.

The cops say that all evidence points to this being a case of justifiable self-defense, and so the homeowner is not expected to face charges.

Self Defense is a human right.

Go Woke, Prepare for Broke

Another Entertainment/Games company decides to set its lore on fire to placate a bunch of people who don't buy their product anyway. Games Workshop CFO Sells Two-Thirds Of Her Shares Amid Growing Warhammer Boycott

It is too complicated to explain all of Warhammer 40K in a blog post. It started as a tabletop game set 40,000 years in the future. It was a war game, as the name suggests, and included various sects of mankind, and various other creatures as well. It did eventually come to have an online component as well.

Adeptus Custodes is one of the groups that is described in the lore. Games Workshop, the company behind Warhammer 40K, has decided to retcon that group to include women, when it was always only male. Why? Because it is 2024 and a bunch of people who will never play this game are upset that it didn't include everyone.

Kern also shared excerpts from the 2017 and 2018 Adeptus Custodes Codexes that refer to them as the Brotherhood of Demigods and make it clear they were recruited from the sons of nobles.

One excerpt reads, “It is known that all Custodians begin their lives as the infant sons of the noble houses of Terra. It is a mark of incredible prestige to surrender one’s child to this most glorious of callings within the Imperium, and many notable clans amongst the Terran aristocracy have willingly given up almost entire generations of newborn sons to earn it.”

As you can imagine, this change is not making fans of Warhammer 40K very happy.

The subscription cancellations and call to boycott come after the company retconned the Adeptus Custodes by adding in women to the group in its upcoming Codex: Adeptus Custodes.

I wonder if they will retcon Adepta Sororitas, an all female group as implied by the name, to include men and non-binary members. Nothing would surprise me.

Of course I don't think that they will survive long enough to do much more destruction to the lore.

Since this retcon and subsequent gaslighting numerous Warhammer players, hobbyists, and enthusiasts have announced they have cancelled their Warhammer+ subscriptions and will boycott Games Workshop going forward.

Amid this controversy and boycott, The Business Desk reports that Tongue “reduced her stake in the Nottingham-based company by two-thirds, after the share sale at an average price of £94.893 per share.”

So does this fall under the heading of, "Doing the same thing, and expecting a different result?"

Now maybe she has a perfectly good reason to sell dump two thirds of her investment in the company, and maybe she sees the Woke Writing on the wall. She is retiring; perhaps she needs that money to follow her next plan.

There were rumors that Henry Cavil is considering abandoning his Amazon TV series based on Warhammer 40K, but as far as I can tell, they are only rumors. I guess we shall see.

A Thousand Shades

Somehow when I was first listening to Ozzy Osbourne's new album, I missed the fact that Jeff Beck was playing guitar on this song. Since Jeff Beck passed away shortly after this album was released, I think the two songs he plays on the album may be the last pieces of his work that we have.

This should probably be on a Monday afternoon for Metal for Mondays, but this song doesn't strike me as Metal. I'm not sure why that is.

This song is "A Thousand Shades" by Ozzy Osbourne, featuring guitar by Jeff Beck. It is from Osbourne's September 2022 album, Patient Number 9.

The Marxist Theory of History and How It is Taught in America

From The Other McCain - ‘Selma Envy’ and the Left’s Increasing Embrace of ‘Eliminationist Rhetoric’

If you teach students to look at history from the Marxist perspective, it is predictable that they will develop a radical worldview, believing they have a duty to support those who claim to be victims of societal oppression.

As I became acquainted with how history was being taught — even in classrooms in rural Floyd County, Georgia — the pervasiveness of this Marxist influence was impossible to ignore.

Click thru and read the whole thing.

Happy Birthday Giorgio Moroder

Love it or hate it, Disco had a huge impact on music, especially when it morphed into House (Chicago), Techno (Detroit), Electro-industrial (Canada), and more.

Giorgio Moroder is the father of Disco. Born in Urtijëi, South Tyrol, Italy, in 1940, he is 84 today.

Disco was created in the discotheques of West Germany during the Cold War. We all lived under the threat of thermonuclear annihilation, as we still do, but in the '60s and '70s it was very real. And the West Germans, and in particular the people in West Berlin, dealt with the Cold War in very tangible ways. Checkpoint Charlie. The Berlin Wall. etc. My understanding is that the club scene was intense at least through the 1980s. Maybe it still is.

Disco in the US had become soulless by the mid to late 1970s, when it was firmly in the hands of the suits that ran the American music industry. They had tiny minds that could only reproduce what they had heard 10 minutes before. It was easy to hate it by then. House, Techno, etc. wasn't on the radio because it wasn't what the suits liked, and it hadn't been on the radio 10 minutes before. The music industry (and the tiny minds running it) inevitably take a genre of music and squeeze the life out of it. Things haven't changed in 50 years. Think modern Pop of today. All the same. Over-produced. Nothing real, or very little anyway.

Giorgio Moroder started producing music in the German music scene in Berlin and Munich in the 1960s. His most recognizable hit is probably "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" featuring vocals by David Bowie, from the 1982 film Cat People. He wrote that song, and the entire soundtrack for that movie and produced the soundtrack.

This song is "Giorgio by Moroder" by Daft Punk from their 2013 album Random Access Memories. I include it because of the narration at the opening in which Giorgio describes what he came to do to start Disco.

Friday Links - 26 April

Chicago Contrarian is up first with Chicago Owned Grocery Store Would Be Subsidizing Dysfunction.

A better way to eliminate food deserts would be to admit where Chicago went wrong with groceries closing. Of course, that will lead to some uncomfortable conclusions for Chicago progressives, if an honest study is done.

Forget the study, here is the remedy: Arrest shoplifters — and aggressively prosecute them. Then invite big grocers back.

Granite Grok - Massachusetts Is “Going After Everybody Who Has Money.”

It is unusual for a Democrat or uniparty stooge to say the quiet part out loud, but this isn’t new to Massachusetts. David Ismay, Charlie Baker’s undersecretary for Climate change (can’t be much of a ‘republican’ Gov. if you have one of those – and he wasn’t), said openly that they need to put the screws to everyone in the name of climate change.

Colion Noir - NY Judge Convicts Man Over Gunsmith Hobby & Says 2nd Amendment Doesn't Exist In Her Courtroom. A video about an outrageous judge in the People's Republic of New York. (Fullscreen mode is active on the 8 minute video)

The Other McCain - TikTok Inluencer Hangs Herself

While hanging yourself is bad, it beats lighting yourself on fire, I suppose. Unless and until the contents of Eva’s suicide note are made public, we have no idea what motivated her suicide, but probably a lot of social-media “influencers” are desperately depressed.

My Daily Kona - "How Do Gun Rights Advocates respond to the claim that AR-15's are useless..........."

The U.S. has employed drones, A-10s, artillery, guided missiles… a whole hell of a lot of resources [in Afghanistan]. Hundreds of billions of dollars.

After nearly 20 years of fighting these “poorly armed” people, we’re about to finally quit. Because there is no [feasible] way to win. We don’t even know what “winning” looks like today

Professor David Yamane at Gun Culture 2.0 - News Reporting or Newsadvocacy? Thoughts Inspired by The Trace

I am simply highlighting the fact that The Trace functions as an interest group advocating for the social construction of gun violence as a top public problem in American society. The work of The Trace — as evidenced by the results it seeks — goes beyond news reporting.

Moonbattery - Arizona AG Launches Lawfare Attack on Trump Allies

Only recently, Arizona was a bastion of Americanism, home of the great Barry Goldwater. Then came colonization by California. Currently, the state is ruled by the likes of Attorney General Kris Mayes, who like her New York equivalent Letitia James is plunging the state into banana republic territory and trying to take the rest of the country with it by criminalizing opposition to Democrats in the runup to the November elections.

Red State has the last word with the following. Hilarity Ensues After Sprinklers Go Off Overnight at Harvard 'Gaza Solidarity' Encampment

Back to the sprinklers, a funny thing happened in the overnight hours in the "liberated zone," as recounted by the Harvard Crimson, which provided this play-by-play

Good Guys 2, Bad Guys 0

You might say that they suffered a failure of the victim-selection process. Homeowner shoots attempted burglary suspect: Surprise PD

The home invasion victim didn’t want to talk on camera but said the suspects rang his doorbell at 4 a.m. He didn’t answer but says they came in through the back door and cornered him.

He says he did not know who the men were and doesn’t know if his roommates knew them either.

The homeowner opened fire, striking one of the two home invaders.

Surprise, Arizona is a suburb of Phoenix.

Officers arrived at the scene and took both suspects into custody, one of whom was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

Neighbors, of course, were shocked to discover that they live in The Real World™ and not a mythical safe space, like Pleasantville. That is something everyone should realize. You are NOT protected by your zip code.

"It’s pretty shocking because this is a neighborhood where you can leave your cars unlocked, nothing like that happens here," a neighbor named Justin said.

Your odds of being victimized may change with locale, but those odds are never zero. Bad guys can drive to your area.

One neighbor says to get a guard dog. Good advice, but most people will get a family pet with no idea of how to train a guard dog. (A guard dog is NOT a family pet.)

But you should do something. Like the homeowner in this story, I prefer fast-moving lead projectiles. Not everyone is comfortable with that, however, and you should make your own determination.

A 911 Outage in February That I Missed

I usually look for, and often find, problems in 911 services around the country. I missed this one in February, but it is worth noting. AT&T cellphone outage leaves 1.7 million users without service for hours

More than 1.7 million AT&T customers across the country reported problems with their cellphone service Thursday morning and early afternoon, according to a network monitoring company. Many saw only an “SOS” on the top right corners of their phones, indicating they had no cell reception — not even to call 911. A large number of AT&T customers lacked service for most of the morning, and some, like Joshua Walton of Charlotte, still couldn’t use the cellular network at noon.

This is doubly odd, because you are supposed to be able to call 911 from any cellphone, even if you don't have service currently tied to that phone. 911 is supposed to always go thru.

The ability to call emergency services was disrupted for some people across several states — such as California, North Carolina, Virginia and Texas — prompting some 911 centers to urge AT&T customers to use a landline for any calls, or find a cellphone that uses a different carrier.

Now how you are supposed to hunt up a phone when confronted with a bad guy, they don't say. The WaPo article does link to a discussion of, "should you have a backup phone?" They talk about land lines, which are great when you are at home, and less great when you are not at home.

By around 3 p.m., AT&T said it had restored service to all customers. “We sincerely apologize to them,” Jim Greer, a company spokesman, said in a statement. “Keeping our customers connected remains our top priority, and we are taking steps to ensure our customers do not experience this again in the future.”

The hat tip for this goes to Liberty Doll and her video 911 Services Lost in Four States. It is an 11 minute video, in which she covers the outage I mentioned on Monday, this outage, and a few more. "Just call 911" sounds great, except what do you do, when you can't call 911?

How Is That Criminal Justice Reform Working Out?

Not too well. Judge refuses to detain man accused of carjacking Uber driver at gunpoint - CWB Chicago. (Yes, it has been stuck in the drafts folder for a while. Still worth a look.)

April 9th Tamar Moses sped away from a traffic stop, crashed into an unmarked police car, and was found with a loaded pistol.

Under provisions of Illinois’ criminal justice overhaul legislation called the SAFE-T Act, Moses was released from the police station without being brought before a judge, the court files say.

Just five days later, Chicago police arrested Moses after he was identified as one of two people who fired a handgun while carjacking an Uber driver on the West Side, a CPD arrest report said. The alleged hijacking occurred late on April 8, about three hours before Maywood police arrested Moses.

Maywood, Illinois is a suburb of Chicago. It is due west of The Loop about 15 miles from Lake Michigan.

So despite being caught with 2 guns in 1 month, committing (allegedly) armed carjacking, and fleeing from police, he was again released, this time by a judge. Prosecutors, citing the 2 guns, and the rest asked that he be held. The judge said no can do, and released Moses, though he was given a curfew.

Under the provisions of the new "Bail is mean and unfair" law in Illinois, they will continue to release this guy, until he actually kills someone. Such is Justice in the 21st Century.

Concealed Carry License Holder Defends Himself in Chicago

Concealed Carry is becoming quite the thing in Chicago. From HeyJackass! - Video: CCL Shooting 300 S. Michigan Ave

These days we rack up more shootings involving concealed carry license holders than police-involved, but since we don’t yet require these CCL’ers to don body-worn cameras, we have to settle for a distant traffic camera to pick up the action.

300 S. Michigan Ave is basically in the south end of the loop. It is about a block and a half to The Art Institute of Chicago, a half dozen blocks or so to The Chicago Stock Exchange. About that same distance to the Willis Tower, which was originally the Sears Tower, etc. The incident took place at 5:35 AM on 14 March, 2024.

A guy was walking along, when another guy turned the corner and broke into a run straight at him. Apparently he believed that this constituted a threat, and he defended himself.

To our knowledge, the CCL’er wasn’t charged, nor have we been presented with high school graduation photos of the lead recipient or stories on how he was shot before while attempting to kill his uncle. No matter, Justice for Bum-rushing Guy!

As noted, there is video; use your own judgement as to whether or not you want to watch the video.

Good News on the Geek Front - Voyager 1 Phones Home

From The Silicon Graybeard: Voyager 1 is Awake and Communicating!

This past Saturday, April 20, Voyager 1 updated ground control about its health status with a coherent message for the first time in 5 months. While she still isn't fully operational and sending science data back to Earth, Voyager 1 is now returning usable information about the health and operating status of its onboard systems.

If you're a regular reader, you'll recall that back in November, Voyager suddenly started acting like something was seriously wrong. I likened it to the probe having had a stroke, although that's too anthropomorphic. The probe seemed to take commands and respond, it still kept its position and kept the data link back to Earth running, it's just that the replies it sent back were more like incoherent ramblings. Something about its uncle having been eaten by cannibals before the mission started. No, sorry. I made that up.

Click thru for the details. (The image is courtesy of NASA/JPL by way of WikiMedia. Click the image for more details.)

Voyager 1 launched 5 September 1977. It was sent on mission to visit Jupiter, and Saturn. It crossed the heliopause and entered interstellar space in 2012.

Not bad for 1970s tech.

The Other McCain Takes up His Role as Grammar Police

Because everyone is entitled to a pet peeve or two. It’s ‘Protester,’ NOT ‘Protestor,’ Dammit!

Why do you do this to me, Babylon Bee? For more than 20 years, going back to when I was an assistant national editor at The Washington Times, this has been one of my pet peeves. There is no such thing as a “protestor.” The correct word is protester. I can explain very clearly why this is so, and why allegedly “educated” people keep making this mistake.

Here is the song "Word Crimes" by Al Yankovic. Can't imagine why that popped into my mind.

Of course not everyone agrees. The Content Authority - Protestor Vs Protester: What’s The Correct Word To Use?

According to prominent dictionaries like Merriam-Webster and Oxford, both spellings, “protester” and “protestor,” are correct. Both words refer to the person partaking in a protest singly or in a group. A protestor/protester also states a solemn declaration or dissents from an established policy.

Wednesday Link Roundup - 24 April

Pirate's Cove is first with Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

13. Moonbattery discusses the Lincoln Center cancelling Mozart
14. Outside The Beltway wonders if a Tik Tok ban is Constitutional

The DaleyGator - Weekend Assortment

Bunkerville loves Passels
Busted Knuckles has a drinking problem? Or a problem drink

Political Hat - News of the Week (April 21st, 2024)

Major 2nd Amendment Victory In California
AUS district court judge in California granted summary judgment against the state’s one-gun-a-month (OGM) law, finding it unconstitutional.

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 04.22.24

Cafe Hayek: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “Council of Political Enablers”
CDR Salamander: Israel’s Measured Response
Chicago Boyz: Ukraine, and the World Outside US Borders

EBL - Supreme Court Rule 9-0 in Support of Reverse Discrimination Lawsuits

Instapundit: Leftists freak over 9-0 SCOTUS ruling
AoSHQ: Morning Report 04.19.24

A View from the Porch - Flotsam and Jetsam - DIY Done Come On Tuesday

Baltimore city accuses Dali owners of negligence in Key Bridge disaster
Companies behind cargo ship that destroyed Baltimore’s Key Bridge seek exemption from legal liability – Baltimore Sun

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 4/22/2024

Bill Gates Unveils Plan to Fight ‘Climate Change’ by Targeting Food Supply
Billionaire Bill Gates has unveiled his latest plan to wage war on the food supply as part of an alleged effort to “fight climate change.”

Wombat-socho again - In The Mailbox: 04.23.24

Baldilocks: A Few Changes, Coinages, also, On Payback
BattleSwarm: Texas Election Roundup For April 23
Behind The Black: Voyager-1 back online after software patch works

Vlad Tepes - Australian Senator not only doesn’t want Ozzies to know the truth about the stabbing of an orthodox priest, she wants people who allow it to be known to be jailed: Links 2, April 23, 2024

2. New survey on Islamic attitudes about the West within Germany won’t surprise anyone here. But it’s still worth knowing.
3. Please read Mark Steyn’s column on the fate of the Jewish people in the UK.

Tam at View From The Porch - Tab Clearing...

John Hearne writes about Understanding Criminals and Their Motivations.
Bobbi on troubleshooting a mysteriously malfunctioning door.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 21 April 2024: Oops Edition

Workers installing a light pole in Missouri dug into a fiber cable and cut off 911 services in Nebraska - I forgot Missouri has a border with Nebraska, South Dakota, which borders on Nebraska, and, somehow, Nevada.

Don Surber - Highlights of the week

ITEM 5: From the Island of Misfit Never Trumpers comes this dispatch: “The Economy Is Awesome and Here's Why That's Bad for Biden.”

Bacon Time!!!! - Sunday Linkage

The Air Vent - The Communist Gaian’s Aren’t Even Trying To Hide Their True Agenda
Watts Up With That? - Evaluating The Model Projections

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

“Why turn off lights for Earth Day when California is already growing dark?”
In the video here, Johan Norberg makes the case that the best economic system for the earth (and for humanity) is capitalism.

Small Dead Animals - Tuesday On Turtle Island

Dementia Joe’s America: Biden’s corrupt judges. A howl of rage. The Neo-Nazi Left.
Blackie’s Canada: Don’t upset the Indians. Promoting terrorism in the Ontario Legislature. Singh spreads false claim about Poilievre.

Maggie's Farm - Saturday morning links

Equitable Grading?
Student Suspended After Anti-Israel Protest Complains About Facing Consequences for Her Actions

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 4/23/24

“For those of us who remember Soviet totalitarianism, it was a déjà vu.”
How the West Suppresses Dissent

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: War By Affirmative Action?

• How Do You Solve a Problem Like Mike Johnson? - Brian C. Joondeph • Consequences? Ilhan Omar's Daughter Faces a Few - David Strom

I leave you with Bookworm Beat 4/19/24: Get yer red hot memes here!, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #1736 from 90 Miles From Tyranny, and Tuesday's memes from Wirecutter.

Neighbors Were Shocked

‘It’s very shocking:’ Police investigating after homeowner shoots carjacking suspect in Herlong area

He was in a stolen car when police tried to stop him. He abandoned that car and fled to a neighborhood, where he tried to steal another car.

Then she said her neighbor, Don – the homeowner who the suspect is accused of attempting to carjack– shot him.

“So, when he starts coming towards him, Don says ‘Stop’ because the guy already told him he was going to kill him and so Don shot him.”

He only shot the (alleged) bad guy in the leg, but that did let the cops take him into custody.

As for the neighbors...

“It’s very shocking,” neighbor K.P. Lancaster said.

“It’s been a day and I’m sorry that it happened, and I’m sorry it happened it here,” neighbor Sheryl Anglin said.

No matter how nice your house is, you are not protected by your zip code from crime. It must shocking to realize that you do live in The Real World™ where crime can, and often does, happen.

The cops are continuing to investigate, and then the DA will make any determination on charges. I have no idea what the DA in Jacksonville is like when it comes to questions of self defense. If you know, please leave a comment.

The New Upgrade to the FGC-9 Build Process

From Impro Guns - The FGC-9 is about to get a whole lot easier to build. (Click thru for the photo of the new bolt.)

The ‘Nutty 9’ is an ingenious new and improved bolt design for the FGC-9 which consists of nothing more than four nuts and two bolts screwed into a printed connector piece. The only thing left for you to do is simply drill a hole for the firing pin

In case you haven't figured it out, FGC-9 stands for F#@K Gun Control - 9mm. The bolt is a hunk of metal, now literally a bolt and some nuts. The barrel is typically a length of tube, with an appropriate inside diameter. There is even a way to create rifling using electrochemical machining, which is sort of the opposite of electroplating.

I'm almost tempted to build one to see what all the fuss is about. That's a maximum almost.

Cat People (Putting Out Fire)

It is Giorgio Moroder's birthday this week. For people who don't know, he is generally regarded as the father of Disco. Disco started in Germany, and in particular West Berlin, discotheques of the late 1960s (in particular, 1969) and the early '70s. Of course by the time Disco came to the US the suits running the American music industry had squeezed most of the life out it. By the late 1970s it was easy to hate Disco. Anyway, Moroder went on to have some success in movie soundtracks, including today's song.

This is "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" by David Bowie from the soundtrack to the 1982 movie Cat People. It was written and produced by Giorgio Moroder. Bowie was apparently not happy with the soundtrack version and rerecorded it for his 1983 album Let's Dance. This is the original from the movie soundtrack. Most reviewers liked the original more than the remake; I agree. You are probably more familiar with the remake.

Zack Snyder's Attempt to Make Star Wars

I don't know why people think Zack Snyder is 2024's answer to Steven Spielberg or Nicholas Meyer. He's not.

His first Superman movie, Man of Steel, was OK, not great. The 2 movies of his that have stood out were 300 and Watchmen. And Watchmen failed to make its money back, being darker than your average superhero movie, and not finding an audience as a result. In both of those cases, which are good, genre movies, based on solid graphic novels, someone else was responsible for the writing.

His latest effort is a ripoff of (or homage to) Star Wars. I could tell you what I thought, but I haven't bothered to see all of it. Part one really wasn't worth finishing. It came in 2 parts, because he needed 6 hours to do what George Lucas did in 2. And he failed to do that.

So here is what Will Jordan (The Critical Drinker) has to say. He watched the movie so you don't have to.

It all adds up to a big pile of pretentious, dull, unimaginative dog shit, without an ounce of energy or creative imagination. A film that was an absolute chore to get through, that has nothing to say, and seems to have no particular reason for existing. I mean, don't get me wrong. I totally get why people wanted these movies to be good. I know we need to start creating new things to replace the tired, old franchises that are being slowly bulldozed into the ground, but while it pains me to say this, Rebel Moon isn't the answer, and Zack Snyder isn't the man to provide it.

This is The Critical Drinker video Rebel Moon Part Two - Please Make It Stop!

Tuesday Links - 23 April

Legal Insurrection starts us off with the latest insanity from the Biden Administration. Biden’s Title IX Protects Biological Males in Female Sports and Spaces

Let’s say the quiet part out loud: This is all about males in female sports and spaces. A little itty bitty tiny bit involves females in male sports and space.

Professor David Yamane at Gun Culture 2.0 - Without: Guns

Omar is an admitted skeptic about civilian ownership of firearms. I credit him for seeking me out as someone who is not. We need more civil dialogue across our differences on this issue.

The Other McCain - Max Azzarello: ‘Just Another American Driven Insane by the Past Few Years’

Despair is the essence of the kind of radicalism that leads people to engage in suicidal gestures (Azzarello died late Friday night). And despite my general cynicism about politics, I consider it my duty to remain hopeful

The Ultimate Answer to Kings - Bread recipe, desert hermit style

Keep in mind that bread in the developmental stage is very sensitive to environmental stuff, like altitude and humidity. I’m at 6000 feet with really low humidity and this is how I do it after seventeen years or so – your efforts may not work perfectly if you follow these instructions slavishly. Be prepared to adapt to your own circumstances.

Again from The Other McCain - Crazy People Are Dangerous

Got that? No more traffic stops in Chicago. This is insane — a demand to end enforcement of traffic laws, because Dexter Reed got killed after he shot first in a confrontation with five police officers.

Wombat-socho - FMJRA 2.0: Home For Tax Day

Both of these things happened, and oddly enough I wound up putting in the kind of hours at home the last weekend of the season that I had the last two years at the Damonte Ranch office in Reno. I haven’t checked to see if I brought in enough revenue to earn a post-season bonus, but by God I certainly worked hard enough on some complicated returns that I’m sure I came close.

Divemedic at Area Ocho - Warning Signs

Joe Biden’s economy is claiming more victims. I have been saying that restaurants don’t just compete against each other, they compete against home kitchens. When it becomes too expensive to dine out, people begin cooking more at home. That is what it looks like is happening.

Juliette Ochieng - Strategic Assault

In one of Mr. Gatto’s interviews, he cites a 19th century directive from a Cambridge organization, which I will paraphrase. Public educational systems were to begin emphasizing the memorization of personalities, events and dates without teaching context - that is explaining the connections between such items and/or teaching students how to make those connections themselves.

I leave you with a poem from Smitty - Para-Dogs

The thing about the Para-Dogs
Is: they are rooted in a ruse
That people are just pollywogs
Livestock for elite to use

Journalists and the Concept of Self Defense

It is not a concept that journalists seem to be able to wrap their minds around. Two killed in homicide police are investigating as 'justifiable'

All murders are homicides, but not all homicides are murder. Murder is a crime. Homicide may be a crime and it may not be a crime, depending on the totality of circumstances.

Two people are dead, and a third was wounded in a shooting that took place in an apartment complex in Indianapolis. They are not providing many details, or any really. But there is an examination of what is self defense, and a note that self defense is increasing in central Indiana since 2023.

Attorney Guy Relford gives an overview of the self-defense laws in Indiana, but I get the impression that something was missed in the editing. Be that as it may, click thru for those details.

“It's becoming quite normal for a lot of people in Indiana, to have the means to defend themselves,” shared Relford. “Unfortunately, given the amount of crime that we have in Central Indiana, people are called upon to defend themselves, but where they do, and that's legal, and that's justified.”

Legal self defense may be bad for the bad guys, but it is good for the law abiding citizens. The "professional journalist" in this instance doesn't really seem to grasp that. But then I wouldn't expect them to understand.

Cops Threaten to Arrest Man for Being Jewish in London

Because the cops in London don't hate Jews. Police threaten to arrest ‘openly Jewish’ man for walking near pro-Palestine protest

Scotland Yard are allowing no-go zones for Jews in London, a man has claimed, after officers threatened to arrest him for “antagonising” pro-Palestinian marchers.

Gideon Falter, head of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, was wearing a kippah skull cap when he was stopped by officers last Saturday in the Aldwych area while on a walk with friends after attending synagogue.

What was Gideon Falter doing to "antagonize" the protestors? He was walking in London. He wasn't protesting. He wasn't carrying a sign. He was wearing a yarmulke.

The police sergeant told him: “You are quite openly Jewish. This is a pro-Palestinian march. I am not accusing you of anything but I am worried about the reaction to your presence.”

In another exchange a short time later he was told if he did not leave the area he would be arrested.

The point of the story is that it is basically illegal to be Jewish in London during certain times.

There is a bit of Irony in this story, because Gideon Falter is a member of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, and that organization had said that Tommy Robinson was not welcome to be in the vicinity of one of their gatherings just 4 months ago. Tommy Robinson not welcome at march against antisemitism, say leaders.

Organisers of a march against antisemitism billed as Britain’s biggest since the second world war have demanded that the far-right leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon stay away.

Yaxley-Lennon, who uses the name Tommy Robinson, has claimed to support the aims of the march through central London due to be held this Sunday.

To be clear, my position is that both incidents were wrong. The cops should not be excluding Jews from London today, or any day, and the Campaign Against Antisemitism should also not be excluding people from London based on their views, religious beliefs, race, etc. Both can be wrong at the same time.

Still, I am going to miss civilized society.

The Trans-Atlantic Race

A single-handed sailboat race across the North Atlantic Ocean. The North face of the Atlantic.

Known as the Transat or Transat-CIC, the 15th edition of the race is set to start on Sunday, 28 April 2024 at 13:30 local time, or 11:30 UTC, from Lorient, a seaport in Brittany (Western France), to New York City, with the finish line being slightly south of Long Island. That's a distance of roughly 3500 miles. It takes the fastest boats about 8 days to complete the race.

"The Transat CIC, whose course is open to the Atlantic, is the most complicated single-handed transatlantic race, because at the end of April - beginning of May, there may be a series of low-pressure systems over the North Atlantic generating headwinds," explains Francis Le Goff, Race Director of The Transat CIC. "The competitors may have to do a lot of upwind sailing in fairly difficult and uncomfortable conditions for several days", he continues. In fact, unlike other transatlantic races that run from east to west, such as the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe, the second part of the course is not downwind. "The sailors won't be going downwind in search of the Tradewinds. The Transat CIC doesn't head for the sun. There could be fog, rain and wind. The most direct route (great circle route) is via the North, heading up towards Newfoundland, but that's not necessarily the fastest. It depends on the weather conditions".

This is a race for professional sailors, sailing relatively large boats like the IMOCA 60 monohull or the ORMA 60 racing trimaran class, and more. The boats are expensive to build and maintain, and so there are a lot of corporate sponsors involved.

This serves as one of the qualifying races for the Vendée Globe (around the world, nonstop, alone) race, which will be run staring in November of this year. That race starts in France, ends in France, scheduled to catch (somewhat) better weather in the Southern Ocean.

If you are curious about the Transat race, you can find more information at the link at the top of this post. Some about the race, the 48 skippers who are entered, and a race tracker that will have real-time tracking of the boats once the race starts on Sunday.

The party starts today, the 23rd, in the ramp up to the start of the race. Bands, parties, boat tours, etc. You didn't think there would be boating, and not drinking, did you? You haven't been boating much, I see.

I know most of you don't follow sailing, but it reminds me of a time in my life that I miss, though I never had the desire to sail in waters as cold as the North Atlantic.

While this video is taken from the 2020 Vendée Globe, it shows the Imoca 60 monohull in action. Vendee Globe 2020 and the insane IMOCA 60 foiling yachts. The video is about 2 minutes.

Which Hunts - 2024 Edition

From The Other McCain - Is New York City in 2024 Better or Worse Than Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692?

There was less crime in colonial Salem than in Alvin Bragg’s Manhattan, and certainly more justice than Donald Trump is likely to get with Judge Juan M. Merchan presiding over this 21st-century witchcraft trial.

Click thru for details, analysis and a bit of snark.