The Smallest Minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. – Ayn Rand
The first leg of the journey is complete. We’re in Quebec City, in our hotel rooms. It’s 7:45 and pizza is on the way. At both ends of the flight we didn’t bother to put our jackets on (it’s about 18ºF).
I think I’ve acclimated somewhat.
Tomorrow we fly out of Quebec for Chicago, then to Phoenix, and then the two hour drive home.
Oh, wait – it’s Phoenix. The three hour drive home.
Regular blogging will resume shortly. Please pardon the free ice cream interruption.
Arrived last night at 10:30PM local time on a twin-turboprop puddle-jumper. Had to walk across the tarmac ice to get to the terminal. The air temperature was -17C, and the wind was whipping.
One of the other passengers was wearing an Hawaiian shirt and shorts.
I’ve never been so cold so fast in my life.
This morning it was -22C, but at least the wind had died in the night. It probably froze to death.
Tomorrow it’s supposed to snow!
Oh frabjous joy.
I leave for Upper Cryogenica at Oh-My-God:30 tomorrow morning, and I’ll be traveling all day (we arrive at 10:30PM local time). I have no idea what internet access will be like at the hotel. I may be unable to post for the next few days. The free ice cream* may be in short supply for a bit. Sorry.
*But it’ll be damned hard ice cream.
UPDATE: There’s a BUNCH of us. And I’m late to the party (as usual),
Remember “Deer Roping”? I’ve got another one for you: Neighborhood Hazard (Or: Why the Cops Won’t Patrol Brice Street).
How can you not laugh out loud at “Scottish attack squirrel of death”? Seriously. Go read.
Oh, and “beverage warning!”
Found via Ratlands.
A bit back I wrote about author Stephen Hunter in my post The Narrative, which took an excerpt from his last novel, I, Sniper. Well, Simon & Schuster, his publisher, saw fit to offer me some free copies of his just-released Dead Zero. They arrived today.
Apparently they did the same for Linoge of Walls of the City, and he has a GREAT idea. (The picture is his, too, but my copies look the same.)
If you donate to Ramon Castillo’s recovery fund (Ramon was the Houston jewelry store owner wounded in a shootout with three robbers (score, Ramon 3, robbers 0) and send me a screenshot of your donation or other acceptable proof (forward me a receipt email, for example), at the end of the month I will do a random drawing from all the donation emails I receive and I’ll send two lucky winners a copy of Dead Zero.
Send your emails to thesmallestminority(at)gmail(dot)com.
In a comment to yesterday’s What We’re Up Against, reader Thorspapa left this gem:
…as an immigrant from a communist country, I remember similar discussions aired at social gatherings (this is WAY before anybody even conceived of a personal computer or internet) in the beginning of the Communist dictatorship takeover.Though most of those involved have now passed away (it was a long time ago), I had the satisfaction of seeing some of these deluded souls come to the realization that theory, well wishes, and reality are often not close to each other.Their realization that the world works different than they thought was sad to watch. The common denominator (at first) was denial: they often stated over and over that things were going badly because some outside force (Imperialists) were working against the brave and well meaning “Government of the People”.Later on, they would insist that fairness and plenty were just around the corner, and all it would take was a few more years of sacrifice, a search for those that “had too much and were hoarding their wealth”, and more trust in that benevolent group of people known as “the Government”Eventually, when everybody was equally miserable, hungry and destitute (except for those “Benevolent Government” officials), reality did set in.I’m an old man now, and can’t help but bristle when I see the same denial of reality grow in my beloved adopted country. I though living through this stupidity once in a lifetime was too much, now I must live it twice. From previous experience, its an uphill battle against these people, when they own the sources of propaganda and “Higher Learning”. The battle can be won, but it requires involvement. Those sitting on the sidelines ignoring current events because they’re busy, will eventually see the error of their ways…….too late.
From ViolentIndifference:
Congress: None of you, even the few that I like, are half as smart as the writers of our bill of rights. You cannot change our rights. Don’t change or amend the document that exists to let you know what our rights are.
Please take note that the Constitution is not yours. You are not babysitters that make up rules for us. The Constitution belongs to us. It is a set of rules that you need to follow.
Read the whole post. It even has a quote from Serenity.
OK, so the latest apocalypse-in-the-making is the possibility of a “superstorm” devastating California, a storm described as:
a storm (that) could last for more than 40 days and dump 10 feet of water on the state. The storm would be goaded on by an “atmospheric river” that would move water “at the same rate as 50 Mississippis discharging water into the Gulf of Mexico,” according to the AP. Winds could reach 125 miles per hour, and landslides could compound the damage
And why are they predicting such a disaster?
Such a superstorm is hypothetical but not improbable, climate researchers warn. “We think this event happens once every 100 or 200 years or so, which puts it in the same category as our big San Andreas earthquakes,” Geological Survey scientist Lucy Jones said in a press release.
So these storms occur cyclically:
Geological Survey director Marcia K. McNutt told the New York Times that a 300-mile stretch of the Central Valley was inundated from 1861-62. The floods were so bad that the state capital had to be moved to San Francisco, and Governor Leland Stanford had to take a rowboat to his own inauguration, the report notes. Even larger storms happened in past centuries, over the dates 212, 440, 603, 1029, 1418, and 1605, according to geological evidence.
But?
The risk is gathering momentum now, scientists say, due to rising temperatures in the atmosphere, which has generally made weather patterns more volatile.
Uh, right. Even though climate scientist admit that “global warming” stalled in, what was it? 1998? But GLOBAL WARMING is going to cause California to wash away!
Just like it has at least seven times in the past 1900 years.
Snowflakes in Hell illustrates how one branch of the Media pushes its agenda by deliberate mendacity:
Earlier in the day, Carl from Chicago alerted me to an NPR interview that was going on with Paul Helmke, Robert Levy, and some unknown person being touted as a gun rights blogger. Noting that it looks like her blog was just getting started, that immediately raised suspicion that something wasn’t going to pass the smell test. How did they pick out some unknown blogger who is just getting started while ignoring the whole of us? The answer, would obviously be this person is not an unknown blogger, but a false flag; someone flying under the banner of being pro-Second Amendment while in truth being no such thing. Google shows the truth:
Go. Read. And be as pissed-off as I am.
