Archive for July 14th, 2010

14
Jul

Balding Gracefully: Tips and Hairstyles for Balding Men | The Art of Manliness

By libertyvini 2 Comments
Categories: commentary, economics, liberty, recommendations and reference
Shiny, but not TOO Shiny

Shiny, but not TOO Shiny

http://artofmanliness.com/2010/07/14/balding-gracefully-tips-and-hairstyles-for-balding-men/

Coming from a long line of baldies on my mother’s side, I knew well in advance it was a possibility, but the process didn’t become noticeable until one summer Saturday in 1992 when a 3-hour ride to the shore with the top down resulted in a nasty scalp sunburn.

I kept trying to deny it, Rogaine worked for a while, but ultimately it was a losing battle. The buzz cut helped, but did not totally work because I have patchy, uneven tufts at the front of the scalp, probably as a result of a gruesome but not serious scalp wound (30 stitches!) I got years ago.

So I started shaving the irregular islands off completely. At first my glowing-white scalp betrayed it as a half-measure, but eventually I got enough sun exposure to induce some nascent pigmentation, enough to do the job. I tried a full shave, but it didn’t feel like ‘me’, plus I still had some extra weight at the time which detracted from the “badass” look. I still might give it another whirl when I reach my goal weight.

But shaving the front, combined with a ‘power donut’ on which I use a #1 clipper, I have created a look I can live with. I feel it is the best approach to a dignified hairstyle for me. And the maintenance cost is a fresh pack of blades every 3 or 4 years in the old Norelco, and a few drops of oil on the clippers.

PLUS, the missus digs it.

WHEW.

via Balding Gracefully: Tips and Hairstyles for Balding Men | The Art of Manliness.

14
Jul

What Have We Done? (2005)

By libertyvini 0 Comments
Categories: Constitution, Philadelphia, US Constitution, autarky, commentary, economics, energy independence, environment, fascism, foreign oil, liberty, mercantilism, politicians, politics, protectionism, regulation, socialism, technology, terrorism and war
Still A Weapon In Search Of A Mission

Still A Weapon Pork Barrel In Search Of A Mission

Or rather, what have our supposed representatives done? Among the thousands of anti-Constitutional things they have done this week, we highlight the following;

- passed a permanent extension of the USA PATRIOT Act

- passed a bill spending $30 billion on corrupt foreign dictatorships

- passed a bill combining various government and non-governmental aid workers into an “Active Response Corps“, an appalling name for a group that will subvert the democratic process in nations that we identify

- gave assent to a draft Iraqi constitution that guarantees no rights to anyone except to government and to the Mullahs (Iranian Mullahs)

Along with that, one of our local public servants, Rep Curt Weldon (R – Boeing Vertol) got orders placed by the government for the inherently unsafe, WAY over budget ($24 million $30 million $40 million $71 million $159 million EACH), and Marine-killing (30 so far and counting) V-22 Osprey Hybrid.

Quite a week, even for our normally diligent parasites!

14
Jul

Marine-Killing V-22 Osprey Aircraft Sent To Iraq (2007)

By libertyvini 8 Comments
Categories: Austrian Economics, Constitution, Philadelphia, US Constitution, autarky, commentary, economics, energy independence, fascism, foreign oil, liberty, mercantilism, monetary policy, philadelphia local stuff, politicians, politics, protectionism, reference, socialism, technology, terrorism and war

v22_crash

(PHOTO: Coming To A Forward Operating Base Near You, if you are unfortunate enough to be in Iraq.)

Marine-Killing V-22 Osprey Aircraft Sent To Iraq

Time Magazine is reporting that the V-22 Osprey is being deployed to western Iraq for use by Marines there. The V-22, for those of you who haven’t been following the unfolding tragedy for as long as we have, is an aircraft that, much like one of the Transformers of movie fiction, can transform from a helicopter-like rotary-wing aircraft into a fixed wing aircraft, and back again. Except this transformer also turns into, with alarming frequency, a flaming pile of twisted metal splintered carbon fiber and dead Marines.

If you have even the slightest confidence in the wisdom or utility of this, please read here, or here, or, watch this clip from CBS, then tell us with a straight face that you believe this is a good idea.

If this is anybody’s notion of how we should be “supporting the troops” I would have sincere doubts as to that person’s real intentions.

One of the prime movers of the program since its inception was Congresscritter Curt Weldon (R, Boeing Vertol) representing the district in Southeastern PA we all grew up in, who horse-traded and threatened his colleagues in order to get part of the aircraft built in the Boeing facility that dominated his district (in his mind, anyway).

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the estimable congressman Weldon, here’s a shot of him participating in a Washington D.C. ceremony where the Reverend Sun Myung Moon had himself declared the Messiah, complete with an apparent Orthodox Rabbi blowing the Shofar to announce it to the assembled politicians (Moon, er, moonlights as publisher of the Washington Times, an erratically conservative newspaper and neocon propaganda outlet).

Weldon wrangled a key part of the project into the fading Boeing plant at the behest of the unions in exchange for political support. Even though the evil Weldon’s lengthy congressional career was subsequently slain by his own greed (a probe into shady deals involving his daughter’s “consulting company”) as well as reformer-cum-”Bizarro Weldon” Joe “Sleestak” Sestak, Weldon’s pet project V-22 Osprey, aka the flying pig that wouldn’t die, wouldn’t, well, die.

The “program”, as a protracted expenditure of pelf of this nature without successful production of a working piece of ordnance is called, was abandoned long ago by the Army, which was to have shared the cost of it with the much-smaller Marine Corps. Since that time, this flying deathtrap has grown to consume 90% of the Marines’ aircraft procurement budget. We are told that the helicopter it is replacing, the venerable CH-46 (not the also-deadly Hawker Harrier, as some erroneously report, is well past its service life and must be retired, along with 40+ years of experience, improvements, and development. So why then has the army continued to upgrade its fleet of CH-47 Chinooks (sister design to the Sea Knight) rather than replace them?