Month: November 2024

Light is a topic that’s come up a few times in my prepper discussions, and so I thought it deserved its own article. Light is defined as “…something that makes vision possible.” (Merriam Webster) We call the light part of our day, aptly enough, daytime. We can see to study, to teach, to learn, and to do. For hundreds and thousands of years, light has been of immense importance to human beings.

The first light was, of course, the sun. Light happened during the day, and night was when you huddled together and tried not to get eaten. The purposeful use of fire is the second light. Fire allowed us to do things in the dark. It kept predators at bay. It warmed our bodies, our food, and even our souls. Once fire was harnessed, it was more a matter of what method to invent to keep the light on at night, safely and effectively.

Some of the earliest lanterns were Canaanite oil lamps. These were basically pinch pots, or rather, a shallow bowl with a pinched spout at one end for holding a wick. These open candles go back farther than our written history. I can say with authority that they do work, too, having both made and used some myself. From a prepping standpoint, open candles can be made out of just about anything. A wick in a bowl works, especially if you can float the wick somehow. Consider an old cork with a hole in it to hold a wick, floating on an oil source.

Fuel oil in early times came from animal fat, or from nut oils. Tallow candles were used as early as 500 BCE, in Rome. They continued to be used until modern paraffin became easily available. Paraffin wax was quickly adopted, because it had almost no smell at all. Candles made from tallow or other animal fats were quite stinky.

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Nerd Stuff

Had all the parts in hand. I opened up the case. Proceed to install the new NIC, another hard drive. Realize I need to go fetch a SATA cable. Go to plug in the power to the drive… Who the heck only puts one SATA power connector in a modern computer power supply!

ARGH.

The drive is still in the box, the correct adapters will be here shortly, and I will power up that drive and add it to the cluster.

Bloggers stepping over the line

Thursday, Allyson was shown a post by her BFF. The gist was, “if you voted for Trump, you are dead to me.” It wasn’t directed at Allyson, but Allyson was part of the target group.

Emotions are running high. For me, it is a joy and lightness I have not felt in years. I have taken delight in poking the leftists that have been melting down.

I have lived with the knowledge that the left will vandalize my property if I show support for the Republican Party. I’ve kept my mouth shut and just kept on keeping on.

Allyson has been on the left for so long, she didn’t believe my fears of being attacked for not toeing the Democrat party line.

Yesterday, she learned in a very personal way. And it hurt.

She wants compassion from the left. She wants them to be the good people she knew them to be. To have people she loved, and respected become unhinged broke her.

She will be posting. She has asked me to moderate her replies.

She broke the rule. She was a dick. She made person, if veiled, attacks on individuals. This will not and is not tolerated.

I’m sorry that it got to this point.

The Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy Dance

There are two Supreme Court Justices that have expressed an interest in leaving the court. Another is thinking about it. A fourth is in bad health.

Our guys will not Ruth it up. They will retire after the Snope opinion issues. That is my opinion. I think we might see another of our people retire.

It would be horrible if illness forced the last Justice to leave the court, but it would move another seat back to the constitution.

If this happens, we will have a majority of originalists on the Supreme court for the next 30 years, or more.

Trifecta

Not yet. We have the Senate. This allows us to put more constitutional originalists in the inferior courts. This is great. It means we can confirm Supreme Court nominees over the objections of the Democrats.

We have the Presidency. Even if they were to succeed in assassinating Trump, at this point, JD will become the president. He would become President four years earlier than I expect. Not particularly concerned — now. Monday, it was an issue.

We do not, yet, control the house. As of 2000, Thursday, we had 210 seats in the House. There are 27 seats still to be called. Some races are very close. We need 218.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Friends and Family

I lost my Mother and my Father this year. They passed. I lost my brother when he exposed his evil side. I hope I gained family in The Cousins.

My parents were Republicans until they drifted in to the propaganda of CNN. I never felt that I would be disowned for still being conservative when they no longer were.

Many of us have had to deal with friends and family that cannot tolerate those on the right. They have removed us from their lives.

If you have had an experience where a friend or family member who has expressed that you are still loved or still a friend, regardless of your politics, please share those positive stories.

I really need some positive stories about people on the left.

Please have a great weekend

BLUF: Be compassionate. Yes, even if it hurts. Yes, even if they’re assholes and dickwads. I want to know that I picked the right side. I want to know that this is the side that isn’t lying to me.

Right, we have a new President Elect. Trump defied the odds, and he took it all. He is the President Elect. He won us the Senate. And it looks like he won us the House. I’m sure most of us have been celebrating in some fashion or another for the past couple of days. And now it’s time to buckle down.

The Right have decried the Left for having majorities and doing nothing with them. We have the majority across the board for the next while, and we NEED to be doing stuff with it. We need to enact those campaign promises. Better economy, getting dangerous criminal aliens out of the country, lower grocery costs, better housing market, and the list goes on. This isn’t going to happen overnight, but Trump must put himself to work immediately and start getting things done.

The Left is so aflutter with terror right now that there might actually be a teaching moment, if the Right can keep things together. For the next few weeks, between election results and inauguration, the Left expects to be treated like dirt. We can’t. We must act with compassion.

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Willful incel stupid

You would have voted for Kamala. But you are a stupid incel, so Trump is president-elect.

racist

It isn’t Democrat messaging that caused people to turn away from Kamala in droves, no, it was you were racist. Against the woman who can’t figure out if she black, brown, Indian, or something else.

uneducated

The uneducated population of America is holding the rest of the country hostage.

You uneducated want to weaken education, ban books and outlaw teaching BLACK history.

entrenched in tribal superstition, irrespective of all facts

You wouldn’t have voted for Trump. Because your mortgage, grocery, fuel prices will go up under Trump.

You need to understand just how wonderful the economy is right now.

didn’t vote for a convicted felon

Those 34 felony counts are real. For you to vote for a convicted felon is horrible.

knew that Trump is coming for your Social Security and Medicare

You wouldn’t have voted for him.

white supremacist and full of toxic masculinity

You would know that Kamala is right for America.

able to recognize bullshit coming from Democrats

The meltdown is incredible. My favorites have been the leftists claiming there was something fishy about this election because 15million votes have “disappeared”. There is no ability on the left to look at the numbers and think that 2020 was the outlier.

Why did they lose? Not their fault. It is your fault they lost. If only YOU had.

There is no introspection going on, only blame.

Sound up 😩 pic.twitter.com/HeVE74uvGh

— Sara Rose 🇺🇸🌹 (@saras76) November 6, 2024

And… it’s over. Election season is done. Yesterday (or earlier) everyone cast their votes. Today, we have a new President elect.

Of course, I’m writing this in advance. At the time of writing this, we’re still in the throes of early voting, and Election Day is still a bit away. I can’t say that I’ll be unhappy to see the election mess over with. I may change my mind about that by the time this is published, of course.

Here are my prediction, made about a week before election. Take from it what you will.

I think that Trump is going to get in. I’m afraid to hope for that, right now, but I just feel like that’s what’s about to happen. I can’t find a poll that I trust, so I really don’t know. Everyone I do trust is saying that this election is too close to call. Still, I’ve seen lots of Trump signs and a lot fewer Harris ones over the past few months. That must mean something… right?

If Trump gets in, I believe we’re going to see the cities burn. I doubt that the mayhem will erupt into rural areas, if only because rural folk don’t put up with that crap. I think that the cities will be hugely damaged by rioters of the Left. I expect there to be some loss of life in the days to come. I am sure that a number of people will play stupid games and win stupid prizes, and we’ll hear all about it on the news.

If Harris gets in, there are likely to be challenges over voter fraud. I am going to assume that if Harris gets in, even by a slim margin, all the challenges will be dismissed. I have some major concerns about a Harris presidency. She and her group have spent a lot of time calling the Right Nazis and racists, and that means they themselves are likely those things. We tend to accuse others of doing the things we don’t want to admit we’re doing ourselves. I’m concerned she’ll actually attempt to round up Trump followers and reeducate them.

I’d like to say that I don’t believe things will be All That Bad, but I suspect no matter who’s in office, it’s going to be bad. Trump, for better or worse, has become the face of divisiveness in politics. I know that’s 99% to do with the Left media distorting things, but it is what it is. It’s why I wanted to see Nikki Haley or Ted Cruz up there rather than Trump. But this is where we are.

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The last four years have been a shitshow. On the first day of Harris’s term as VP, Joe started signing executive orders to undo what Trump had accomplished.

Since that day, I’ve heard nothing but hate from the left with lies, more lies, and still more lies.

This article will be updated after we know the results.

Trump Wins

Keep your head on a swivel. Stay out of the cities, if you can. Stay away from stupid people doing stupid things at stupid times of the day. Hell, stay away from stupid people doing stupid things.

I expect the cities to start burning at any moment. The left is known to be very joyful as they burn down our cities and tear apart our country.

Please keep your Democrat neighbors in your prayers. They are hurting right now. Only laugh and dance in private. They need time to grieve.

Harris Wins (God, I hope this isn’t true)

Kamala has told us that she would not have done a single thing differently. It is going to hurt. Pray for the justices of the Supreme Court that hold our Constitution dear and treat it with respect.

Keep your eyes on a swivel. The left is known for being joyful in their destruction. They might decide to joyfully stomp those who disagree with them.

Remember, we will survive this.

Conclusion

This was writing at 2100 East Coast time. The first returns are coming in, and it looks good for Trump so far. The problem is that we haven’t heard from any of the battleground states.

I remember when Florida was in play as a battleground state, after they cleaned up their voting methods to reduce the chances of fraud, it seems to have gone strong Red. Correlation is not causation.

From the north to the south, from the east to the west, we all need to vote.

North

South

East

West

@vine.of.liberty I know I got cut off at the end. Go vote, that’s it. Wake up Wednesday and do your normal things. Do not let fear be your master. #vote #vineofliberty #politics #peaceful ♬ original sound – The Vine of Liberty

Look, you may not agree with some of the things I say, or value my opinions, but by all that’s holy, go vote. Everyone: left, right, centrist, whatever. VOTE. Not because the country is divided, but because it is your God given right to vote, and because it is your responsibility to vote. Make an educated choice, after listening to unbiased media, and/or listening to both (or all) sides involved. But vote!!!

I love this soup, and it can be made with just the squash, or with the pears as well. I think the sweetness of the pears really adds a depth to the soup that the squash alone doesn’t have. If you want to impress your family, serve this in a hollowed out large squash (such as a pumpkin or hubbard squash). What a centerpiece!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs butternut squash
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp minced fresh ginger root
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 Bartlett pears, peeled, cored, chopped into 1″ cubes
• ½ cup half and half

Preheat your oven to 375F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut your squash in half lengthwise, remove the seeds and stringy bits. Place the squash halves, cut sides down on the prepared baking sheet. Roast in your preheated oven until very soft, about 45 minutes. Allow the squash to cool slightly, and then scoop out the meat into a bowl. The skin can be discarded.

Melt the butter in a stout soup pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, garlic, ginger, curry powder, and salt. Cook and stir until the onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Pour the chicken broth into the pot, and bring it to a boil. Stir in the pear chunks and the reserved squash, and simmer until the pears are very soft, about 30 minutes.

Puree your soup into a smooth liquid. This can be done in a blender, but you must be careful and do it in batches with the pitcher only half full. I prefer to use a stick blender, which can be done right in the pot. You could also use a food processor, but I’d be careful not to have back splash.

Stir in the half and half, and gently whisk to combine. Reheat the soup before serving, if necessary.

If you want to make this pretty, to each bowl add a drizzle of heavy cream over the top and swirl gently with a spoon to make circles of white. Add a sprig of mint or oregano and a couple of pomegranate seeds, and serve.

Notes:

When I make this, I always double or triple the amount of curry I use. You want to be able to really taste the curry flavor. If you have people who are unable to tolerate heat, try using a shwarma blend of curry spices.  It packs a hearty flavor punch without burning the lips off. A spicier curry powder can be added at table, or red pepper flakes, for those who like heat. Alternatively, you can sprinkle a good quality chili pepper oil over the surface instead of cream.

An alternative and more meaty approach to this recipe is to add in leftover Thanksgiving turkey, and serve it the following day with leftover rolls or sliced bread.