Code duello: we need to bring it back. The trick would be to ensure one is the challenged party, in order to be able to specify the weapons used. There is a range of weapons I would not mind being able to specify, including pillows on one end of the range. “Death by pillow fight” would be a great thing to have put in a deserving fellow’s obituary.
Why I Sneer When Writers Bloviate About “Sniper Rifles”
Simo Häyhä. Yeh, he used a everyday garden variety M28/30 Mosin-Nagant with iron sights. “Terminally serviced” 500+ Germans during Finland’s defense against the Nazis in WWII.
My Granddaddy’s Model 1895 30-30 was more of a “sniper rifle” than what Simo Häyhä used. ANY rifle is a “sniper rifle” if that’s what it is used for.
Oh, he also carried a Suomi KP/-31 9×19 Parabellum (handgun cartridge) submachine gun for close defense, juuuust in case. Again: not what contemporary writers describe when writing about “sniper rifles.”
Car Tips Edition
Helpful Hints from Hairy Helpful
- Handy-Dandy lil Tip: Eschew “power” windows and always have a sharp knife clipped in a handy place and those specialty “automobile escape tools” become redundant, completely unneeded.
- Power Tip: Don’t trap yourself in a car wreck to begin with. Drive smart and keep your head on a swivel. 😉
- Pro Tip: Don’t trust cops. There are easily at least as many corrupt cops are there are a$$h*les in the general population. Have TWO (minimum) car cams and use them. (You have–at the very least–a first amendment right to record cops in the performance of their duty. You may not have had your due process rights infringed on in your location, so you may be able to legally record them at other times, as well.)
“Once more into the breach. . . “
I blame Pete Townsend and legions of subliterates who have been “misunderedumacated” in “gummint” schools (A.K.A. “prisons for kids”) for the disgusting spread of “alright” in place of the useful and perfectly good “all right.” Yeh, yeh, so James Joyce wrote “alright” ONCE, as against dozens of uses of “all right.” Big deal. Even if Joyce’s usage had been flipped the other way, he wrote Suckitudinous Fiction that only appeals to sophomoric idiots who feign intellectual pursuits. (Yes, I am completely serious in that assertion.)
Heck, eve with Pete Townsend’s endorsement for the stupid, “alright” only gained any traction at all with the advent of massive “democratic” stupidity inflicted on English by “mass-man” (see Ortega) via the Internet. And even with the promulgation of subliterate stupidity via subliterate writing, editing, and self-publishing, one can be thankful the use of “all right” still VASTLY outweighs the deplorable infliction of “alright” on the English language.
So, if you insist on being a Philistine, a nekulturny subliterate (A.K.A. “trailer trash,” etc.), go ahead and use “alright” in private emails where you might be safe doing so, or in a public form where you can be raucously mocked. No skin off my nose either way. But if you (assuming a reader who wants to be a published writer and expects to be paid for wordsmithery) want to avoid a raucous mocking in, say, an Amazon review, get it right, mmmK?
Rainy Days and. . . Tuesdays?
Nah, don’t always get me down.
Lil P0106 error code on Son&Heir’s 2010 Jetta (pretty nice car, that) that cleared when new PCV valve installed recurred with a P2178 (idle rich) added. MAF sensor/throttle body problem? MAF sensor connector was cracked. Cleaned out oil after removing, cleaning, checking throttle body, sealed MAF sensor connection after Deoxit cleaning of connectors. So far, no errors, but we’ll see. May need to replace a bit of electrical harness/connectors and MAF sensor, if it recurs. *shrugs* And then, of course, there’s always *tum-dum-tum-DUM!* taking it to the mechanic. *heh*
Methinks I’ll check things under the hood on my Wonder Woman’s 2010 Jetta, too, when I change the oil. *shrugs* Who knows? Maybe at least Deoxit* a few electrical connections there, too.
*I love the various Caig Deoxit products. Solved quite a few problems over the years using them. Their dielectric grease is apparently head and shoulders above similar products, going by the results I have had eliminating household electrical problems using it (solutions implemented a decade ago have held up). Computer and electronic woes dealt with, sound quality improvement from sound equipment. Vehicle woes wiped out. Improved network connections. Nice products, IMO.
OK. . .
So, you eat pizza your way, and I eat pizza the right way. No judgement. *heh*
Raise Your Hand. . .
. . .if you have ever known anyone who you would unplug from life support to recharge your phone.
Some Lessons Are “Forever”
50++ years on, I still get reminders–more and more often of late, as bones age–of the first lesson of horses:
Watch your feet.
Petty Gripes
Trimmed my beard to be what is now called a “circle beard” (a term unknown to this 50-year beard wearer until recently) to better accommodate proper fitment of a respirator*. #gagamaggot Means shaving daily, a task I abhor.
Oh, well. At least what remains of my beard easily accommodates my “scary mask,” now. *heh* (That’s the name given to one of my respirator frames by my Wonder Woman.)
(Yes, the pic was converted to grayscale and deliberately blurred. So? *heh*)
Why Is That?
I know a lot of folks for whom the statement, “I am a sinner” would not be at all offensive, and even viewed by some as a laudable admission, but who would find the statement, “I am an asshole” to be extremely offensive.
Frankly, I don’t get it.