Pepperdine does Christmas right

Love the appreciative audience:




Beautiful music.

Merry Christmas, y'all

Which leads us to this:

Love me some Mattis, but this is some funny shit

In the wake of his resignation as secretary of defense over his disagreement with the president over withdrawal from Syria, there is some talk of former Marine general James Mattis running for president in 2020. Given what I know about Mattis, I consider this unlikely. However unlikely the event might be, though, it gave rise to this:

Gotta love it.

All these years later, Linus still knows what's up

Watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" tonight for the millionth time. Linus knows what's happening:



Word, brother.

An incomprehensibly brave man has died. RIP

Simcha Rotem, a man few people have ever heard of but who was clearly one of the most heroic men you'll ever hear about, has died at the age of 94. People should note his passing:

The last surviving fighter from the doomed 1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising by Jewish partisans against the Nazis died Saturday in Israel aged 94, President Reuven Rivlin said.

Simcha Rotem, who went by the nom-de-guerre Kazik, served in the Jewish Fighting Organization that staged the uprising as the Nazis conducted mass deportations of residents to the death camps.

Rotem was sent away from the ghetto by his parents months before the uprising so that he would have a chance to survive. He came back when he heard about how the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto were being rounded up and sent to death camps. He joined the small group of Jews who decided it was better to die on their feet than in gas chambers at death camps. Ultimately, they lost the battle in Warsaw, and most of them lost their lives. Rotem lived, and was around for the second great act of resistance against the Nazis:

Rotem said he and his comrades launched the uprising to "choose the kind of death" they wanted.
 "But to this very day I keep thinking whether we had the right to make the decision to start the uprising and by the same token to shorten the lives of many people by a week, a day or two," Rotem said.
 Thousands of Jews died in Europe's first urban anti-Nazi revolt, most of them burned alive, and nearly all the rest were then sent to Treblinka. Rotem survived by masterminding an escape through the drain system with dozens of comrades. Polish sewer workers guided them to the surface.
 He went on to participate in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising led by Polish resistance fighters against the Nazis.

I suspect you can count on your fingers the number of people who actively participated in the 1943 and the 1944 Warsaw uprisings to begin with. Maybe you would need your toes, but the number has to be small. The number fighters who survived both uprisings has to be close to one-hand territory. How many among us would join such an uprising today? If you had been sent to relative safety, would you come back to join a doubtlessly futile effort  of resistance? I can't say for sure I would, even though I'd like to believe I would. Rest in peace, Kazik.

Shouldn't have missed this

Yesterday was the 77th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I don't usually miss this, but I did. I went to high school in Hawaii and actually spent a couple of the anniversaries fishing for sharks in Pearl Harbor (we never caught one). Anyway, I've been to the Arizona Memorial a number of times, and we used to fish from the pier where the battleship USS Maryland was docked during the attack. I've been to Ford Island a lot of times -- the quarters there are very nice. They were originally built for admirals in the day when such quarters were palatial. Anyway, never forget.

The first two photos are of Ford Island taken by Japanese pilots. The American battleships were moored off Ford Islands. The third photo is of the USS Arizona and the memorial that spans the sunken ship.

I been wanting me some Seychelles

Me and the Indian Ocean are tight. Visitors from the Seychelles just proves it. I've had a number of visitors from the Indian Ocean over the years, but not the Seychelles. Well, now I got me some Seychelles, and so you get the Eff You travelogue:

Officially the Republic of Seychelles, (the country) is an archipelago country in the Indian Ocean. The capital of the 115-island country, Victoria, lies 1,500 kilometres (932 mi) east of mainland East Africa. Other nearby island countries and territories include Comoros, Mayotte (region of France), Madagascar, Réunion (region of France) and Mauritius to the south. With a population of roughly 94,228, it has the smallest population of any sovereign African country.

Sure, I got Reunion and Mauritius, but this is my first Seychelles visit. I hear it's lovely this time of year. That might be true. Since the island nation became independent in 1976, the former British colony turned from an agricultural economy to a diversified economy that relies on service sectors, public employment, and tourism. Foreign investment has risen dramatically, as has individual purchasing power. The country has a solid economy.

"Discovered" by Vasco de Gama in 1502  -- the islands were already inhabited -- the Seychelles were a pirate haven for years, until the French took over in 1756.The British assumed control after the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, and the Seychelles was a British colony until 1976. And it's purdy:

No, really:

So how about a big Eff You welcome to the Seychelles! Y'all come back soon, and bring your friends.

Yet another "trend" in the line of things that aren't actually trends -- reindeer boobs

Seriously, I don't know where these things come from, but if you listen to morning radio, you'll hear about all kinds of "trends" that almost no one is actually taking part in. They're just click bait. This undoubtedly is one of those, but I can't help myself, because it involves pictures of boobs, even if they are disguised as reindeer, however incompetently. Of course, many of them are not good boobs to begin with -- some of them aren't even boobs, as they are attached to people who apparently identify as "men," regardless of how much actual men might reject these losers. I decline to actually post the pictures, although you can feel free to view them yourself. Anyway, bon appetit.

Working from home haiku

My latest gig turned out to be a work-from-home deal. The reason is the agency treats us as independent contractors. I know a lot of people who wish all agencies would do this. I am not among them. For starters, I had no idea this was an independent contractor gig until I had turned down other offers and showed up at orientation. The rate is at the bottom of the market, and we have to pay our own payroll taxes -- about 15 percent of our gross instead of the 7-point-something we normally pay, because we pay the employer's share, as well. Upside? We can work from home, 70 hours a week. Saves the commuting cost. Probably a wash, I guess.

Of course, being at home, with Thanksgiving coming and large numbers of my family converging on my household, means that Mrs. Wolves has a very long list of shit she thinks I should do since I'm at home. Between the agency, and Mrs. Wolves, a haiku comes to mind:

I'm working from home
It sounds really fantastic
Watch what you wish for

Helping me believe that Pete Davidson is not a complete peckerhead

I don't watch "Saturday Night Live" anymore. It used to be hilarious, certainly in the early years and again during a couple revivals following some really unfunny lows. I don't know if they are in an unfunny low right now -- seems likely -- but Pete Davidson, who was briefly engage to Ariana Grande until she came to her senses, insulted a war hero last week for losing his eye in combat. Last night, he made up for it:



Good for Davidson and SNL.

That man is HUGE

So, I was watching the Seahawks-Rams game tonight. Very exciting, Seahawks, whom I hate, were one good play away from a real chance to win. Anyway, the Rams called a timeout with about 30 seconds left, and the camera cut to a shot of two players talking on the sideline. The announcer mentioned that one of the players was Aaron Donald. The initial shot was a closeup, and one guy was a lot bigger than the other. I assumed that was Donald, who is an extremely large man who plays defensive line. Then the camera pulled out a bit, and it was clear that the smaller man was Donald. He was talking to fellow Rams defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh, who is apparently 3 or 4 inches taller than Aaron, and even bulkier. Holy shit, that is an enormous human being to make Aaron Donald look small.

Happy Birthday, Marine Corps

Happy 242nd, Marines. You don't look a day over 40.

Starting the month strong

Having posted practically not at all in October, I figured I should do better in November. So I came to the blog and found that France is jumping all over Eff You. Maybe they hunger for that sweet, sweet porn that my frequent use of the word "fuck" indicates to them that this is the place for pr0n. Maybe they just like sites where the author doesn't post that much anymore. Anyway, thank you, France, for coming by and finding, well, nothing new. And definitely no porn.

Watching Monday Night Football

Patriots against Bills. No doubt, I think, about who will win, even though Buffalo is at home. Mostly because Derek Anderson, who is close to my age, is playing quarterback for the Bills. He's only been on the roster for about two weeks, and he was retired for a year or two before that. Actually not doing horribly so far.

But my real question is, how bad are the quarterbacks you have on the active roster if you are putting Derek Anderson on the field? He only had one good year, and it was 20 years ago.

Hold the phone, Malone. I got a comment from a smart guy

What the fuck is a psychologist doing coming by a low-brow site like this? Fuck, I don't even post that much anymore (because I'm really busy, not because I'm lazy). Anyway, this dude has the same "Unknown Region" thing going on that I do, as documented here and here. I am now up to more than 600 visits from "Unknown Region." Anyway, this apparently happens to smart people, too.

Finally got back to The Farm

Because of working weekends and constant rain during September, I hadn't been to The Farm in four weeks -- since Sept. 3. That weekend, low these many weeks ago, I brought home an OK harvest, including beans:

Okra:

And peppers:

 All in all, though, this summer was total shit down on The Farm. The spring was so rainy and cold I was unable to prepare beds for onions, potatoes, squash, zucchini, and cucumbers, so none of those crops got put in. It didn't help that Farmer Tom was undergoing treatment for skin cancer. (He seems to be fine now.) The tomatoes underwent what can only be described as total crop failure. I think I finally convinced Farmer Tom they need a new location, although that would not have helped this year because the weather was too God-awful to construct new beds in the spring. So there's that.

We had great production on kale and spinach for a while. Constant rain in July really hurt the beans. It didn't help the peppers much, either, but they have come through nicely. Mrs. Wolves went to The Farm last weekend (a week ago) and with Mrs. Farmer Tom harvested a bunch of these wonderful peppers:

These too:

So yesterday -- Sunday -- I finally made it back to The Farm. Farmer Tom had been quite neglectful, I'm afraid. When I was last there, I put in romaine, brussel sprouts and broccoli for fall crops, and there were still beans on the vine. The beans died on the vine, the okra went unpicked, and bugs did a horrible number on the fall crops. The peppers suffered from all the rain, but are still producing. At least the hot peppers are. The bell peppers have almost all rotted on the vine before ripening because of the rain. Sunday, I got some hot peppers, as well as some okra:

As anyone who knows anything about okra knows, if the pods get too bid, they taste like wood and are useless. You have to pick early. Alas, I threw away dozens of okra pods that were just huge. No damn good, in other words. On the other hand, I am drying peppers like a fiend, and I expect to put up a few quarts of hot sauce, as well. All is not lost.

Lazarus lives up to his billing

Earlier this summer, during her daily wanderings Mrs. Wolves came across a turkey vulture that apparently had suffered a broken wing. Most likely happened when the bird was eating road kill and got hit by a car. Anyway, he was flapping around in Farmer John's field -- and the farmer's name is almost undoubtedly not John, but there you have it -- unable to fly. She saw him several times over the next few days, and I figured he would die. He wasn't looking good:

And then one day, he was gone. Well, about six weeks later, Lazarus makes his return appearance. Still can't fly, but he's looking much better:

Walking around, chomping on dumpster stuff, doubtless enjoying various other carrion as his kind are wont to do. Good to see he made it. Apparently, nothing eats vultures.

Just a little game food porn

Packers-Vikings game isn't available on regular TV, so I am watching on my computer through a VPN. Not quite the same -- I will figure out how to get it to my TV next week, but time was short -- but the game food is still excellent. It doesn't hurt that the Packers are up 17-7 at the half, but the brown sugar bacon dogs are excellent whether we are winning or losing:

Naturally, so are the stuffed potato skins:

More game food coming -- likely post-game food, really. Go Pack! And bon appetit.

He's comfortable. What do you want me to do?

Jeb the Wonder Dog likes to sleep in my bed. Especially when  I am not in it:

Mrs. Wolves took this picture the other day while I was at work. He looks comfy. You gonna throw him out?

My triumphant march through southern Africa continues

Zambia, bitches. First-time visitor from Zambia recently, giving me near-total dominance over southern Africa, at least in a digital way. The Republic of Zambia is a land-locked country bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, Tanzania to the northeast, Malawi on the east, Mozambique on the southeast, Zimbabwe and Botswana to the south, Namibia to the southwest and Angola to the west. Yeah, that's a lot of neighbors, and yet Zambia is sucking wind. The capital is Lusaka, and most of the people in the country live there or nearby..

Zambia is a former British colony that became independent in 1964. Its main export is copper. The climate is mostly tropical. The national bird is the African fish eagle, which looks a lot like a bald eagle:

Anyway, welcome to the Eff You family, Zambia. At some point, I need to tally what African nations are missing from the Eff You Nation. But for now, welcome Zambia!





Zambia (/ˈzæmbiə/), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in south-central Africa^[8] (although some sources prefer to consider it part of the region of east Africa^[9]), neighbouring the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique to the southeast, Zimbabwe and Botswana to the south, Namibia to the southwest, and Angola to the west. The capital city is Lusaka, in the south-central part of Zambia. The population is concentrated mainly around Lusaka in the south and the Copperbelt Province to the northwest, the core economic hubs of the country.

On 24 October 1964, Zambia became independent of the United Kingdom 

OK, that was really weird

So, I'm up at 2 am, smoking pig for Labor Day -- I know, most of you were doing the same thing -- when I sat down at the computer for a minute as the hickory goodness gets infused into the ribs I have on the grill (the shoulder got smoked first). I went to my blog admin page and about spit out my beer. I've been busy this month and haven't posted much (the story of my year) and actually have been sick as a dog since Tuesday and posted not at all. I maintain my right to remain silent why I wasn't posting before that.

In any event, what I saw about blew my socks off. I wasn't wearing any, but it about blew my Crocs off. I guess that wouldn't take much -- Crocs aren't exactly tight-fitting, but you get the idea. More than 7,500 people visited the blog in one hour today, but they weren't visiting a particular post. They were just visiting the blog. I have no idea why. But in one hour on Sept. 2, September 2018 became easily the second-best month for visitors in blog history. That's a lot of people looking for porn, I guess.

Temp decides he never wants to work again; UPDATE!

Apparently, a temp is suing a law firm for racial discrimination, claiming that he was let go from a project attorney position when white project attorneys were kept on:

A former project attorney at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has sued the firm for racial discrimination after it cut his job while his white colleagues avoided furloughs and layoffs.
Lyle Silva, a 41-year-old lawyer from Bowie, Md., who is black, took a job as an at-will lawyer with Cleary's Washington office in mid-2011 and worked there for about a year, according to the complaint filed Tuesday in Washington federal district court.
Silva’s legal projects involved a banking regulation matter and a federal investigation into a West Virginia coal mine explosion. Silva said he received positive feedback throughout his time at the firm—even written 'thank you' notes and praise from his supervisor and a $2,500 bonus at the end of 2011.
The coal mine-related work ended at the firm in July 2012, the complaint said, and Silva would need a new assignment. Instead, he and another project attorney, a Hispanic woman, were furloughed.
Within two weeks, the firm had cut Silva's and the female attorney's positions, the lawsuit said. The firm reassigned project attorneys who were white to new tasks within the firm, Silva said.

I couldn't address the merits of his case, as I have no knowledge of it, although I do know a project attorney at Cleary who is, as far as I know, still employed. Project attorneys are essentially staff attorneys -- they are full-time employees who do the document review work most firms farm out to temps. When there is no work, though, they get fired just the same as temps when a project ends. Job security is not a feature of that sort of employment any more than it is in Temp Town.

I actually kinda-sorta know the guy, having been on at least two projects with him (he was on this project for a while).  I really wouldn't comment on him based on my personal experience, as none of my observations relate to this time at Cleary and I have no desire to become involved in this litigation nor to become a target of litigation myself. However, it is public knowledge that he appeared on "Donald J. Trump Presents: The Ultimate Merger in which former Apprentice baddie Omarosa tries to find love." I was on a project with him right after he had filmed the show. He seemed quite proud of it. You can read all about it here.

The law firm issued a statement to the ABA Law Journal, which was quoted at Above the Law:

We are aware of the lawsuit and believe that the complaint is without merit. The plaintiff filed a complaint approximately two years ago with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which dismissed the matter last September.

The statement is understandably self-serving, and does not mean the suit has no merit, but racial discrimination suits in at-will employment generally haven't gone well for the employees, as the National Law Journal notes and Above the Law documents.  The plaintiff better have a pretty good statistical case to show discrimination if there is no other evidence of racial bias. Dismissals that come when a project is downsized to comport with the amount of work available tend to be kind of random in my experience. Maybe this one's different, but it will not be an easy case to prove. And it is worth remembering the old saying, a man who is his own lawyer, has a fool for a client.

I find it difficult to believe that Silva won't run into a lot of trouble getting work in Temp Town after this. Most agencies now have large corporate parents. Once they find out about at temp suing for racial discrimination, I would expect legal departments in those corporate parents to send legal memos to the agencies they own advising about avoiding hiring potentially litigious employees. Silva might end up needing to find another line of work.

UPDATE!: A little slow on this one, since I hadn't checked in quite a while, but this jackhole lost. Badly. It wasn't close:

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has dismissed a race-discrimination suit filed by a former project attorney for Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled against the lawyer, Lyle Silva, who appeared on a reality television show produced by Donald Trump in 2010, the National Law Journal (sub. req.) reports.
Cleary Gottlieb had maintained Silva was terminated in 2012 because he had concluded work on his assigned matter, and there was no other suitable work for him to do.

Silva lost on a summary judgment motion, which means there was no disputed issue of fact that could result in his case going forward. Sucks to be him:

Silva had argued he was better qualified than other project attorneys who were retained, but that claim falters in light of some concerns voiced by supervisors, Berman said. Among them were concerns that Silva made work errors that had to be corrected, lacked focus, and spent time on social media during work hours, according to Berman.
“The court does not doubt that plaintiff is experienced and qualified to work on certain projects when they are available, and nothing in this opinion should be read to suggest otherwise,” Berman said. “But the other attorneys were experienced as well.”

I know this guy. He's very personable and likable, but nothing here surprises me. I haven't been on a project with the guy since this happened, but it would not surprise me if no one will hire him anymore. Agencies and firms don't like temps who sue.

Unknown Region is the leading visitor for the day

I wish there were some way I could find out where "Unknown Region" is, but I can't. Folks from there are the leading visitors for the day, and are in the Top 10 for the month. Probably porn-seekers using VPN to mask their IP address.

I have to share this

Thanks to the folks at Hot Air for alerting me to this. If only real White House Press briefings were like this:


Also, is it just me or is that White House press corps a freak show? That was a rhetorical question, people. Of course they are.

Down on The Farm again

Put in some fall crops the other weekend. Went to Southern States and picked up some plants. I put in some romaine lettuce:

Also planted brussel sprouts:

And, of course, what fall crop lineup would be complete without broccoli:

As for summer crops, the peppers are doing well:

Like I said:

Harvested beans, okra, peppers and chard. Not a bad haul, considering the weather:

Another document review haiku

My project has long outlasted expectations. It has overtime and a good rate, so there is no reason to complain there. On the other hand, I have passed on countless projects that could have been my next landing place. How long can I do that?

Project keeps going
No reason to complain there
But when will it end?

Andrew Cuomo is even dumber than I thought

Having apparently forgotten about all kinds of U.S. history, New York's Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who many people believe would like to be elected president in 2020, is busy talking smack about the United States. During a speech Wednesday, he had this to say:

"We're not going to make America great again. It was never that great," Cuomo, a Democrat, remarked at a bill signing event in New York City. The comment was met by an audible reaction from the crowd.

That doesn't strike me as a great thing to say if you would like to be the president of the United States, but it does strike me as typical of today's Democrats. I would say I don't know what the fuck is wrong with this guy, but I do. He hopes to be the presidential nominee of a party that really isn't that fond of America. Democrats love to play up the flaws in the country without ever acknowledging what is good about the U.S. and always, always, always declining to name someplace they would rather be.

Fuck them. I hope they choke on this as their campaign slogan in 2020:

They will claim this isn't what Cuomo and the party actually mean, but if the shoe fits, bitches . . .

Unknown Region? Update!

I have a visitor from "Unknown Region." Actually, I now have two. What the fuck does that even mean? I've had visitors from countries that aren't actually countries. But I've never had a visitor from someplace that can't even be identified. Not sure what to do with this.

Update! Unknown Region is up to half a dozen visits. Probably looking for porn. Which is weird, because I never say stuff like "hot naked babes" on the blog.

Cat yoga

I don't know the names of the yoga positions, with one notable exception, but I'm pretty sure this is one of them:

I truthfully did not know that cats did yoga. And isn't thins downward dog?

Of course it is. Namaste, bitches.

Just another document review haiku

Good news the other day, inspiring this haiku:

Project extended
Breathing new life into job
Life is good for now

Or two:

Hey, what can I say?
Always happy when we get
Unexpected good news

Of course, in Temp Town, all good news is unexpected. On Friday, the agency sent doughnuts. Doughnuts, like the Pizza of Doom, are generally considered to be a bad sign. Fortunately, this time it wasn't the case. We got the news of the extension before we got the doughnuts, so we knew that, sometimes, a doughnut is just a doughnut.

Germany is looking over its shoulder

Germany, with nearly 83 million residents, is number three on the list of most frequent visitors to Eff You, behind the U.S. and Russia. Naturally, virtually all of the Russian visitors are looking for porn or some way to steal other people's money. I have no money, but I throw in things like "hot naked Russian babes" every now and then to draw in the traffic that is looking for porn. Traffic is traffic, after all.

But Germany's hold on third place is getting a little shaky. Slowly but surely, Denmark, with less than 6 million residents, is closing in on the Teutonic juggernaut. Still a ways behind, but Denmark is closing the gap. If this blog goes on long enough, Denmark will take over the No. 3 spot.

Of course, my European correspondent lives in Denmark (haven't heard from him in a while -- hint, hint) but that can't explain the traffic we're seeing from Denmark. I guess the Danes know quality when they see it? Quality what? Damned if I know.

They do this all the time because they don't care about facts, only narrative

So, National Geographic sent a photography team to document evidence that "climate change" -- which we used to call "global warming" before the data stopped supporting that -- was harming the Arctic. The team came up with this picture:

Yeah, that bear looks to be in pretty bad shape. Why? Who knows? National Geographic didn't care about "why." They turned the emaciated bear into a video, which appeared in the magazine's online version about a year ago, the first line of which read, "This is what climate change looks like." Unfortunately for National Geographic, there was no evidence the bear's condition had anything to do with so-called "climate change," and the people who took the video and pictures recently admitted that the magazine "went too far."

One of the members of the team wrote an article that appears in the August 2018 edition of National Geographic lamenting that the picture was misunderstood:

Photographer Paul Nicklen and I are on a mission to capture images that communicate the urgency of climate change. Documenting its effects on wildlife hasn’t been easy,” she wrote in the article. “With this image, we thought we had found a way to help people imagine what the future of climate change might look like. We were, perhaps, naive. The picture went viral — and people took it literally.

Let's take this a step at a time. Global warming/climate change/climate disruption/everything else those assholes have called it remains a theory, not a fact. The theory is poorly supported by evidence, so the proponents keep changing what it is that proves the theory. Science doesn't work that way, but, hey, whatever. Nonetheless, these people were "on a mission" to demonstrate "the urgency of climate change," which is not even proven yet. The reason "documenting its effects on wildlife" hasn't been easy is because it is not at all clear that climate change, of the man-made variety, is occurring and because animals adapt in any event. Polar bears, for instance, have been around in their current form for 100,000 years, passing through a whole bunch of natural climate change without dying out. The catastrophe isn't there, which makes it hard to document.

That didn't stop National Geographic from posting the teams footage and pictures of a starving polar bear can calling it "what climate change looks like." No wonder people took it "literally." More than 2.5 billion people saw the video, the most ever for a National Geographic video, and the team that provided the footage admits that they have no idea whether that bear's condition has anything to do with "climate change." In fact, there are a number of more likely factors affecting the bear's condition:

Some experts suggested a number of reason besides climate change that could’ve led to the animal’s condition, including age, illness or even injury.
Mittermeier admits that she couldn’t “say that this bear was starving because of climate change.”
“Perhaps we made a mistake in not telling the full story — that we were looking for a picture that foretold the future and that we didn’t know what had happened to this particular polar bear.”

So, National Geographic publishes a story and video claiming polar bears are starving because of climate change, yet has not a shred of evidence that this is true. Sounds about par for the course. Facts matter far less than the narrative.

Things are happening down on The Farm

I'll be going to The Farm tomorrow, so I figured I better put this post up before it becomes obsolete. I went to The Farm last Sunday, and things were kind of a mixed bag. We have had a metric shit ton of rain lately. We had no rain -- zero, zip, nada -- for the first two weeks of July, then had 11 inches in the last two weeks, making it the rainiest July on record. And the rain has continued into August. We're supposed to have some sun tomorrow, Sunday and Monday, but then rain the rest of the week. And, of course, it is raining as I write this.

This is good/bad for crops. Plants need water, but they need sun, too, and too much water will kill them just as dead as too little. As it is, the plants are mostly okay, but the production is off. Here, the second crop of beans is growing nicely, but not much in flowers yet. Still a couple weeks away from any major production:

The carrots are going gangbusters. We thinned properly this year:

The first bean crop is done, except for the pole beans that snuck in there:

The third bean crop is coming along, should flower in a week or two:

I am so tired of chard, but it keeps producing:

The kale (two kinds) is almost done -- burning up. We are pretty much past kale season:

The okra is coming along. A little early for production, but only a couple weeks away, I think:

The peppers are not digging the rain, but they are starting to produce:

Shitty picture, but look at all those serranos. A little sun, and some will turn red:

Some harvesting took place. First off, we got some early carrots. The effect of the proper thinning shows, as these are bigger than most of the carrots we have harvested in the past:

This is the last of the first bean crop. Not bad for a final harvest:

Of course, lots of chard:

A few peppers. Lots more to come, I suspect:

Kale, as well. Probably close to the last:

The tomatoes, squash and zucchini don't look so hot. Could rally late, I suppose, but March and April rains kept me from building beds, so the gourds went in late, no onions or potatoes at all, and the tomatoes are suffering from the rain, as well. We'll see how things turn out.

Stupid traffic post

After a year of lackluster traffic, July stepped up to the plate. Not a great month, but pretty good -- the best since July 2017, which was one of the best months ever for Eff You. Obviously, we have established that no posting equals no visitors. Over the last year, my posting has been erratic and sparse. Trying to correct that. We'll see how I do.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg suffers from convenient memory loss

She's in her mid-80s, so I guess we can forgive her for this slip. Apparently she completely forgot who started this shit. She apparently is wistfully hoping that the confirmation of Supreme Court justices can stop being so partisan:

US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Thursday she hoped the traditional “bipartisan spirit” of congressional hearings for judges will once again prevail in Washington, rather than the votes of recent years that have mostly divided along party lines.

She apparently is not old enough, at 85, to remember when this shit started. They even call it getting Borked. Ted Kennedy had his speech written before Robert Bork was nominated. The speech was going forward regardless of who the nominee was. One of the most qualified jurists in the land got rejected as a result. Guess what Democrats did this time with respect to Brett Kavanaugh? Yeah, you only get three, and the first two guesses don't count:

Ruth needs to pay more attention to what her party is up to. But I don't expect that to happen.

Corey Booker wants you to love everybody, except the people he wants you to hate

Yeah, guess who those people are:




Fuck him. I hope he gets the nomination.

Oh, dear Lord, I beg you -- stop her

Apparently it's too late. Yoko Ono is releasing a new album. Fortunately, she didn't write any new songs for this. She is releasing remakes of the same shit she's recorded since 1970. I'm not sure that's much better.

The 85-year-old talentless sack of crap will also be covering "Imagine." It's a pretty song, and many John Lennon fans love it. Of course, it's a musical blow job to communism, and the millions of people killed by that political system might not like "Imagine" as much, but, fear not, this apparently won't be John's version. Yoko is covering it. Can't wait. For those of you who think Yoko might do a good job with this, keep in mind that this is what she sounds like:



This is the only track released so far:


Not clear to me why they released anything.

If this doesn't creep you out, please don't vote

The Democrats keep saying they don't want to take your guns, but they keep trying to take your guns. This is way fucking worse. They want to take your children:


I think it is helpful when they admit out loud what they actually want to do. At least then we know who the enemy is and what their objectives are.

Meet the world's biggest pussy

A 27-year-old reporter for Politico has put in his entry in the "World's Biggest Pussy" contest. He apparently did not participate in any athletics in high school. Golf, maybe. Whatever. In any event, he recently wrote a story about how he tried to do the workout that 85-year-old Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg does, and that it "nearly broke me:"

I’m no athlete, but I’m young and reasonably fit. I thought the workout would be pattycake, but it was much harder than I expected. Ginsburg’s personal trainer, it turns out, is no joke.

The article is not as bad as the headline, at least when it comes to making the reporter sound like a complete bowl of jello, but it isn't much better. The guy is clearly a fanboy of liberal activism on the Supreme Court and wrote the article to give hope to libtards everywhere that the oldest member of the court is in great shape because she does a workout that damn near killed a 27-year-old and thus will clearly outlive the Trump administration. Dream on, wimpoid.

When Cpl. Wolves was 27, he was leaving the Marine Corps after his deployment to Afghanistan where he walked around carrying more than 70 pounds while people shot at him. I doubt he would be impressed by an octagenarian's workout routine.

And I know exactly what he would think of a 27-year-old who had trouble completing that workout routine.

The Su-57 is so good Russia isn't going to build it

I've talked about this shit a lot. China and Russia both are trying to field a fifth-generation fighter, while we are busy fielding our second (the F-35, the follow-up to the F-22). They're failing miserably. Russia has decided that the fifth-generation fighter it's been working on for years, the Su-57, just isn't worth the money:

Russia announced earlier this month that the Su-57, its proposed entry into the world of fifth-generation stealth-fighter aircraft, would not see mass production.
"The plane has proven to be very good, including in Syria, where it confirmed its performance and combat capabilities," Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said on Russian TV on July 2, as reported by The Diplomat.
But despite Russia's nonstop praise for the plane and dubious claims about its abilities, Borisov said, per The Diplomat: "The Su-57 is considered to be one of the best aircrafts produced in the world. Consequently, it does not make sense to speed up work on mass-producing the fifth-generation aircraft."

Oh, I'm sorry, they said the airplane is so fucking good that it would be stupid to put it into the field. Basically, that means it sucks. I've written a lot about the SU-57 (formerly known as the PAK-50 -- just search the blog for "Russian fifth-generation fighter" for all the posts) and I've never been impressed. Apparently, the Russians aren't, either. And they should know.

Document review haiku number whatever

This project is winding down. There is a lot of work out there, but not much overtime, so I have only been applying to overtime projects. No luck so far. Is this the right approach? I feel a haiku coming on:

Projects keep posting
Am I wrong to ignore them?
Only time will tell.

Or maybe two:

Project nearing end
Should I take shitty project?
I don't fucking know.

Thanks, I'll be here all week.

Totally not astroturf opposition to Trump Supreme Court nominee

I mean, totally.

Judge Brett Kavanaugh is going into the Supreme Court confirmation process with a hail of rhetorical arrows zinging by him, including a phony letter-writing campaign aimed at unsuspecting American newspaper editors
At least 21 papers were duped last week, including big-market brands like the Dallas Morning News and The Washington Times. They ran identical letters over a four-day period, each signed by a different person.

The left can't even get real people to oppose a reasonable court choice, so they make shit up. Seriously, this is what they call grass roots opposition?

A little dessert food porn for you

Mrs. Wolves gives me recipes. I make them. Especially when they are dessert recipes. So here we are, with something called cherry clafoutis. It's French, and sounds like "clah-fu-tee." Anyway, it's more like a flan than cake, so get ready for that. Flan or cake, it's pretty fricking good.

You will need the following:

• 2 cups of fresh cherries, pitted
• 2 tablespoons of slivered almonds
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cups of sugar
• 1 tbsp of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour.
• 1/8 tsp of salt
• 1 cup of milk
• 3/4 tsp of almond extract
• 1-1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• A little powdered sugar to dust the finished product

So scatter your slivered almonds all over the bottom of a greased 9x9 baking dish:

Slap those cherries all over that:

By the way, I'm not going to tell you how to pit your cherries. There is such a thing as a cherry pitter. I don't own one, so I had to do it with a knife and my fingers. I hope you own a cherry pitter. I have to believe it is easier.

In any event, whisk the eggs, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth:

Then whisk in the flour and salt:

Toss in the milk, almond extract, and vanilla extract and mix it up right:

Pour all that shit over the almonds and cherries in your baking dish:

Bake at 350 F for 35-45 minutes -- I hit it for 40 minutes and it worked great - and pull that sucker out.

Let it cool, then dust with powdered sugar.

Bon appetit, bitches.