The Watercooler – 12/30/15 Open Thread

Opening Thoughts

Welcome to the Watercooler! Hard to believe that this is almost the start of a new year… and even though we had plenty of warning, it’s hard to believe that the man who made RedState the powerhouse it’s become is moving on to other ventures. Fair Winds & Following Seas, Erick, and thanks for the inspiration. Also, an overdue thanks to the site leadership team for allowing me this modest little contribution to the site despite my relative newness as an active member of the community and not exactly being classically-defined “Front Page Material”. New year, new hand on the throttle, and new adventures all around in general, huh?

On Kay Daly’s Latest Ad

Front Pager Jay Caruso overlooks one thing in his critique of NC primary-challenger Kay Daly’s latest ad attacking Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) 54%: People wouldn’t use such language if it didn’t resonate. Headlining with “… is a Child Abuser” may be a bit iffy, but one can easily see how so-called “intergenerational wealth transfer” COULD be called economic child-abuse. Sorry, Jay… but this argument was made because it speaks to a lot of people’s priorities in life.

“Hate Crime” or Inside Job?

Funny how everything that ever happens to a “preferred class” is a Hate Crime, but there’s been near-silence about an attendee’s Christmas Day arson of a Houston mosque. Couldn’t be that it Doesn’t Fit The Narrative, could it? Naah, that’s just crazy-talk…

Happy Birthday, Liberator

Yesterday marked the 76th anniversary of the WWII B-24 Liberator heavy bomber’s first flight. While the B-17 Flying Fortress got more of the glory and was generally a more survivable aircraft, the Liberator was preferred in some circles for its better payload, and in the PTO for its greater range–with the long overwater flights in the Pacific War, it wasn’t long before the famous Boeings’ presence was reduced to executive transports like MacArthur’s custom-built “Bataan”. Out of over nineteen thousand built, only fifteen complete airframes remain, and only four are still flyable. Hat tip to Warbirds News via AOPA ePilot newsletter for this one.

From the “Just Plain Weird” File

Hat tip to local news-aggregator Orbusmax on this one: Seems Northern California drivers have been having problems with a half-ton elephant seal that’s developed an inexplicable obsession with crossing State Highway 37 near Sonoma. Hopefully Fish & Wildlife’s sedate-and-relocate effort will help tame the problem…

From the Bookshelf

Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step, the latest in Todd Wilbur’s two-decade-strong series of “clone cookbooks”. The change in format with full photo illustration compared to the original “blueprints” took getting used to at first, but even a fundamentally hostile-to-change sort like me had to admit it is more functional this way. A lot of the book is new content, but there are also a lot of revisited and reworked old favorites, too. (I can attest to Wilbur’s results from experience; in a college Business class we did a blind taste-test between manufacturer-direct Almond Roca versus TSR homebrew as part of a Final Project on local confectioner Brown & Haley.)

Quote of the Day

Today’s QOTD is inspired by a lot of other members’ recent comments on Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) 47% & Co.’s hatred of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100%:

“Hate ’em back–works for me.”–Detective Martin Riggs, LAPD

Open Thread

As always, the Watercooler is an Open Thread. Got something on your mind that nobody’s posted a diary about, or you don’t think warrants a full diary by itself? Sound Off here!

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