Wolfbane

Napoleon was the greatest Western military brain since Alexander and yet he too let his ego put his chestnuts in the fire in both Russia and Spain. He rolled into Russia with more than 500,000 men and crawled out, mere months later with a few thousand. He reportedly once said: 'When you set out to take Vienna... you take Vienna!' He found out that Moscow was not Vienna and Russia was not Austria.

Was essentially kool-aid in tablet form with probably citric acid and bicarb so it fizzed and mixed itself when dropped in a glass of water. Many flavors and the root beer was very good. People used to have Happy Fizzie Parties. Sounds like a Pixie-Stick. In a tablet.

^^^^ But does it sound that much better?^^^^ $900 green better? Maybe they throw in a blonde? With a red Ferrari.

I'd read something about America's view of the world, and it didn't sink in until these recent threads. America produces movies that show its vision of reality. Most countries do, but they can still see what other countries are like. Not America. When America looks out into the world, it only sees itself reflected back to it. When I posted that there are countries where only police and criminals have guns, and yet the citizens don't live in fear, the first response was, "Where is that, Disneyland?" No, it's most of the developed world. Canada is the closest example. In England, even the police don't carry guns, except for special squads or circumstances, and yet life goes on. When there was talk a few years ago of all English police being armed, it turned out that 82% of British police do not want to be armed. Here's a Washington Post article describing five countries where policemen do not carry firearms: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/02/18/5-countries-where-police-officers-do-not-carry-firearms-and-it-works-well/ There is a total of just under 130,000 police officers in England and Wales combined: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2013/police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2013 According to this article, of all the police officers in England and Wales, only 5875 are authorized to use firearms, and the number is falling. In 2009, the number was higher by 1031 officers. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/armed-police-in-england-and-wales-only-fired-their-weapons-twice-during-14864-operations-in-2013-14-10378829.html Between 2012 and today, only two people were killed by armed police in England. Wouldn't it be great to see numbers like that in your country? Meanwhile, in America: "503 people in the USA have been killed by police using firearms in the first six months of this year - and in the first 24 days of 2015, American police killed more people than police in England and Wales have killed in 24 years." Could it be that the public is actually safer when the police do not carry firearms? When only criminals have guns (other than hunting rifles, shotguns and target shooting weapons), the bad guys are easy to spot and arrest. They're the ones with the illegal guns, which is most guns over there. Did you notice something important about the graph at the top? Most gun deaths are suicides, not homicides by criminals or terrorists. It's not hard to kill yourself by various means, but guns make it extra easy, and really easy to do on a whim if there's a gun in the house. Imagine the lives that would be saved if it was that bit more difficult for your depressed friend or relative to end it all. Nearly all of us have lost a friend or loved one to suicide. If they have to go out and buy a rope or other means, it's a bit more time to think and maybe realize that's not their only choice. In Toronto, there's a large road bridge, the Bloor Viaduct, which crosses the Don Valley, a large valley with the Don River at the centre, an expressway (the Don Valley Parkway) on the east side and Bayview Avenue on the west side. It's 40 metres/122 ft. high, and had a reputation as a "suicide magnet", just like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. People would jump off and land in the playground of a school that's below the bridge, or land on the DV Parkway. This happened once while a friend of mine was commuting to work on the Parkway, and the body landed just in front of him. It's an understatement to say his day was ruined. However, steps can be taken to prevent people from jumping off bridges. Toronto spent $5.5 million to install a suicide barrier, and since then there have been no deaths at the bridge. There had been over 400 deaths between the bridge's construction in 1918 and the barrier's installation in 2003. A similar barrier has been discussed for the Golden Gate, but the funds have not yet been approved. Meanwhile, the deaths go on. http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2010/01/10/the_fatal_attraction_of_suicide_magnets.html My point is that bridges can be modified to reduce or eliminate suicide attempts. Nothing comparable can be done with guns. If someone chooses to end his life and reaches for a gun, he's likely to succeed. When I was 7 years old, my father put a pistol to his head and pulled the trigger, during a drinking binge, in front of the family. It was not his gun, so he didn't realize it was loaded with blanks. He got a burn on his temple, but that was it. He never tried that again, and lived another 53 years. He was also sober for the last 31 years of his life. My mother was grazed by a .22 bullet when I was 5 or 6. We were at a neighbour's cottage, and there was a loaded single-shot .22 rifle on a shelf in the corner of the living room. One of the man's kids picked it up and luckily pointed it at the floor. The gun discharged, the bullet hit the floor and ricocheted upwards, grazing my mother's shoulder. My father, who was an infantryman in the Canadian Army at the time, couldn't believe what the neighbour did next. He reloaded the gun and put it back on the shelf. We never went back to that cottage, needless to say. One last family story: my brother used to live about an hour north of Los Angeles, and figured that if he was living in the US, he should have a gun, so he got one. My mother visited him sometime later, and noticed that the dishwasher no longer matched the fridge and stove. She was curious, and asked why. My brother was embarrassed to admit that he'd had the gun in the kitchen and it went off somehow, killing the dishwasher, which had to be replaced. Not a great loss, but he had two small children at the time, who were about the same height as the dishwasher, so you can imagine how easily a tragedy could have occurred. These incidents are not made up. They all happened. I could have lost one or both of my parents, and my family never even owned a gun. Due to my father's drinking, there was no way my mother my mother would allow it. She'd have taken my brother and me and left. Before anyone suggests it, this was in no way a challenge to his masculinity. My father understood and accepted that we'd never have a gun, mostly because there was no reason to have a firearm in the house anyway. He was not a hunter, and got to shoot rifles and Bren guns (similar to a B.A.R.) at work. When his hearing began to be affected and he got tired of digging trenches, he left the infantry and joined the band. I'm glad. With the number of members on this forum, I'd be surprised if nobody else had had any close calls or scary incidents with firearms, or is it too embarrassing to admit? Just a couple of things to add to the above. Some British police do carry firearms. Most Bobby's will not go into certain communities whether armed or not. Day or night. The US Constitution is essentially based on the English Magna-Carta Libertatum. Unlike Canada's Charter. it includes enshrined personal property rights and the 'right to bear arms'. Although the USC is more than 200 years old and long pre-dates modern automatic firearms it will take much more than an act of the Congress to change it. That leaves the US Supreme Court, but the Court has consistently over the last 50 years sided with the constitutionality of US Federal and State Gun Laws that favor easy access. People intent on harming themselves (or others if determined) can be incredibly resourceful in accomplishing their goal. If not with a firearm, knife or over a bridge rail then by car, a railway or transit line, pressure cookers, aircraft loaded with JP-90, with pills or fertilizer combined with a rudimentary knowledge of high school chemistry. You guys do know that there is no correct answer to all this and more importantly no one is likely to be persuaded of the logic of another's point of view?

So Jim, assuming you got it cooked, how did your brisket turn out?

What kind of beast was this???....... I don't know what kind of beast it is, but with a compression of 12.5:1 I can't believe he can run standard crappy gas station "high test" gasoline through it without blowing the engine like a hand grenade! I'm guessing he uses AV100 aviation fuel, some kind of octane booster or a premium canned gasoline mixed 50/50 with pump gas. Otherwise...boom! It was a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am which came from the factory with an anemic Pontiac 400/4bbl putting out decent torque but only around 220 hp at the flywheel. After the original 400 engine spun a bearing I pulled the 400, replaced it with a pretty stout 455 built for drag racing. I had a old buddy of my dad's who owned a machine shop (specialized in small block Chevy's). He and I found some Pontiac HO heads on a junkyard 400 which I helped him rebuild along with the short block (forged crank, hi-lift camshaft, extra- large oil pan, etc.) Small chamber heads on a bored out 455 (472cid) makes for lots and lots of compression. Premium pump gas in those days here were ~95 octane (i.e. not enough octane/lead). The local small airport was still selling leaded 100/130 av gas. They eventually converted to 100LL but by then that car went out the door along with the wife’s 1971 Cutlass. The only other mods were open headers (at the track), a professionally rebuilt transmission with a high stall torque converter, Mickey Thompson slicks and a drive shaft loop. I knew my way around Quadrajet Carbs (made by Rochester for GM) so I rebuilt and re-jetted it with the largest jets you could buy and added an electric fuel pump. With the original 323 geared rear-end I could run 11 second quarter mile times at the track and with heated slicks outrun most gas dragsters in the 1st 60 feet with a 4000lb car. Of the more common here GM vehicles of the late 1960's; 454 Chevs just didn't make that kind of torque. The real threat was other GM made 455's found in Buicks, Oldsmobiles and other Pontiacs. The 455 factory torque monster was the Buick in their GS-X.

You've got to look at it this way: 'Good food takes time to prepare' - written on the menu at the Steakhouse I worked at Mon-Sat evenings parking cars in the late 1970's. ... and not this way: 'Flush twice it's a long way to the kitchen' - written on the wall in the staff (men's) bathroom. Same restaurant, same time. You'll be fine. My 2nd smoked brisket turned out great!

I saw the sneak preview of Spartacus in a theater in 1960, with Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, (Curtis's wife) Janet Leigh, and studio people present. (I hasten to say I was very, very young!). The preview version was much more violent than either of the later release versions. People I chatted with afterward called it a "bloodbath," but still liked it. It was the most violent film I had seen until movies like Taxi Driver and Gangs of New York came out years later. Still, I'll bet there wasn't a dry eye in the house at the end. I saw the Director's Cut of Spartacus in the last ultra-wide screen here ~1990. An extremely well done film that still holds up today. Anything directed by Sam Peckinpah (e.g. his film The Wild Bunch) was also pretty graphic back in the day.

Football starts here in frozen north in early June and is over, except for the crying, by the end of November. NHL (Hockey) started last week and is the bigger draw in Canada. By far.

I, Robot (Will Smith) a gift around a decade ago.

As I said they really are 'pricey'. Too pricey for me.

I'm not selling anything here, or advocating the sale of anything. To you or anyone else. Link above revised to a US webpage with tweeter specs. I'm not affiliated with anyone/organization selling anything audio.

I've been using Sennheiser's wireless headphones for listening to tv news, etc. when I'm not in the same room or have the volume muted. I like then well enough to have purchased a 2nd pair when the original's bit the dust. It took years before they crapped out.

Anyone have or heard these in their Klipsch Heritage speakers? For specs on these see: http://www.usspeaker.com/beyma%20tpl150h-1.htm Kind of pricey for tweeters but a friend of mine is the new XXXXX distributor of Beyma including Beyma Tweeters. Edited to revise link to a webpage with Tweeter specs.

Wow, that may be an astute observation on your part! It also tells me you are a student of history. Never under estimate the capability of the Russian fighting man (i.e. grunt: cannon fodder, pilot: he's flying on a wing and a prayer special). Especially if you are ever foolish enough to invade Mother Russia. Napoleon and some crazed German guy both made that fatal mistake in the last 200 years. Charles the XII before them as well.

I feel bad for him!! What a whacked out, controlling monster she is! Wow Quaid's wife is indeed Canadian. Most, if not all Canadian women are both proper and polite. She's the exception that proves the rule! Reminds me of the George Clooney retort to Salma Hayek's stripper character role in the movie From Dusk to Dawn. Santanico Pandemonium (Hayek): "I'm not gonna drain you completely. You're gonna turn for me. You'll be my slave. You'll live for me. You'll eat bugs because I order it. Why? Because I don't think you're worthy of human blood. You'll feed on the blood of stray dogs. You'll be my foot stool. And at my command, you'll lick the dog shit from my boot heel. Since you'll be my dog, your new name will be "Spot". Welcome to slavery." Seth (Clooney): "No, thanks. I've already had a wife."

Quaid, like Busey after playing Buddy Holley, will comeback. I'm betting as Russel Casse in Independence Day II - his opening line has already been written: "Ha-ha-ha! Hello, boys! I'm BAAAAAACK!"

I agree with Paul Bremer's comment that they 'couldn't organize a one-car parade'. Maybe they got lucky or had a Russian in the cockpit.

^^^^ Pretty sure I take a bite of everything listed above. Except I'd leave the cat to the fish.^^^^ Thanksgiving here tomorrow, thinking of cold smoking a ham for a couple of hours today and finishing it in the oven, or hot smoker, without the wood, tomorrow. Low and slow.

Until you start looking like one of Smith Brothers or Karl Marx on Crack!

Consider the original source - see: http://globalnews.ca/news/2271086/iraqi-air-force-claims-hit-on-is-leader-al-baghdadi-defence-ministry-probing-report/

Having to drive out to the airport weekly in the early 1990's with Jerry Cans to keep my 12.5:1 engine compression happy. I do miss the unbelievable torque and ability to get street tires spinning through the 1st 3 gears.

... and listening at a higher volume because you already miss-spent your ears?

Pissed Top Cat off did ya?

Remember to check that the brisket remains moist as you get further in the cooking process. Some aluminum foil and a mix of mostly apple juice and water can help if you smoker does not allow you to put in a pan of water. Have fun!!