Hey y’all, watch this!

Publick Notice

Posted on April 28, 2023April 28, 2023 by Mike

Just by way of explanation, the reason posting was so sparse yesterday and the Friday Eyrie went up a day early was an absolutely relentless bout of phantom pains intense enough to rip a shrill, girlish scream from me every 30-45 seconds or so all last night, until the horrible things finally let up around 5:30 this AM.

My GOD, but those pains ain’t no joke. Never have been run through with a K-Bar knife before, but I swear that’s EXACTLY what it felt like was happening to the foot I no longer have. Weird, weird stuff; the sensation feels just as real as it gets, but…you know intellectually that it isn’t, that it couldn’t possibly be. It’s all in your head, but your head is powerless to stop or control it just the same. Ain’t no there there, in a manner of speaking—nothing more than a self-perpetuating feedback loop composed entirely of mental vapor, and nothing whatsoever else.

And yet. Screaming, I remind you, which has never been something I was known for doing a whole lot of, except maybe in boisterous glee. Very, very strange.

So yeah, knowing the chances of getting much of anything done in the condition I was suddenly in, and the Eyrie post having been mostly finished anyway the previous evening, I went ahead and got what I could up there, while I still could. Dragged myself out of bed about noon today, and so far so good. Got a fair-ish bit of stupid deck-clearing crap to get done today, so we’ll see how things go this evening, posting-wise. If I don’t show up, don’t y’all assume it’s because I’m having just too much fun to bother, mmkay?

Daredevil done RIGHT

Posted on April 12, 2023April 12, 2023 by Mike

Evel Knievel shows us the way.

Perfect balance F1-F2=0
Evel Knievel #wheelie #1 #harleydavidson #bikelife #wheeliwednesday #og #legendary #daredevil #whodiditfirst pic.twitter.com/p2qd5yQCxr

— Evel Knievel (@evelknievel)

April 12, 2023

A Sportster, of course, the model he did all those crazy-ass jumps on. Harleys are notoriously difficult to wheelie on, but it’s by no means impossible, as my own Fakebook profile pic demonstrates:

Wheelie

Taken by my then-girlfriend Evelyn, on a visit to her mom; that’s the street one row back from Ocean Blvd where her Myrtle Beach crib was, a mere couple of blocks from the grand old Myrtle Beach Pavilion, long since tragically defunct.

The trouble with wheelies and older, factory H-Ds is multifaceted: excessive weight, lack of power, and a low center of gravity all add up to make the crucial balance-point quite high in comparison with the rice-grinders. The exception to that rule would be the also-long-defunct Buells; as with my extremely-modified 06 Sporty above, with those you actually had to go out of your way to keep the front wheel DOWN. Picking it up and carrying it a ways was almost the default..

Which, with the 06, was definitely the case, to my continual delight. When I romped down hard on the throttle in 1st gear, the front wheel would start to dance lightly as the motor “came on the pipe” and really started making horsepower; hit 2nd, and it would lift off the ground, daring you to keep it up as long as you could. Same in 3rd, incredibly enough.

Even my old boss Goose, who hated all Sportsters with a blazing passion, would jump on mine to give it a good, vigorous flogging now and then, eventually bringing my baby back to the shop not merely “rode hard and put up wet,” but “drenched in sweat, with its tongue hanging out,” as he liked to say.

I swear, it was the most fun bike I ever did build, no foolin’.

So yeah, for a bone-stock Harley, the wheelies can be a real trick. But as this guy shows, it’s always best not to make any assumptions when you’re out on the street.

Yep, that fella definitely knows what he’s about.

Update! Well, how about that: turns out Buell is NOT defunct after all. They’re still available, hand-built bikes orderable directly from the Buell factory.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men

Posted on April 9, 2023April 9, 2023 by Mike

Yes, yes, I know that Luke 2:14 quote is typically associated with Christmas. But seems to me it’s perfectly appropriate for Easter as well—or any other time, really. Be that as it may, whether you be a believing Christian or no, I do hope yours is a happy one anyhow. Here, enjoy yourselves a little Beethoven, from the old Charlie Brown Easter special.

The music in the above vid is adapted from dear old Ludwig Von B’s Symphony No 7 in A, Op 92, for those who might not’ve known.

Health issues

Posted on April 3, 2023April 3, 2023 by Mike

No posting today, either here or at the Eyrie, thanks to one of the worst toothaches I ever have had in my life—and believe me, that’s saying something. I swear, the left side of my jaw is so badly swollen I even took a selfie of it for the historical record—one of I think, like, two or perhaps three of the cursed things I’ve bothered to take. It looks as if Mike Tyson had reached all the way down to the bottom of his shoes to land one of his heyday haymakers right square on the button, no foolin’.

My troubles began shortly after I’d arrived back home yesterday from spending the afternoon working on my beloved Focus with some friends of mine, work which will hopefully be completed, to include a happy ending, towards the end of the week. The pain pounced on me all of a sudden-like, speedily escalating until last night became just a brass-plated bitch, wherein mass quantities of Orajel, ibuprofen, warm salt-water rinses, and anything else I could think of were applied, all to little or no avail.

I sure hope somebody got the number of that bus that ran me over, I’ll tell ya that much.

On the brighter side, though, after a couple of touch-and-go weeks in the hospital, my mom was released yesterday and came home. She’s a long way from being all better, of course, but her attitude has improved greatly, she’s responding to treatment again, and the outlook is one hell of a lot better than it was. Heartfelt thanks to all who kindly expressed their concern and offered prayers for the ol’ gal, either here or via personal email.

Yaaay, Precious!

Posted on March 11, 2023March 12, 2023 by Mike

Up now at the AoSHQ Pet Thread: a pic of my beloved cat Precious curled up in my small Revereware saucepan, something she used to do a lot of when she was a kitten but has way outgrown now. Many thanks to KT for posting it.

You ate WHAT update! As I expected (and hoped, admittedly), it didn’t take long before the Chinese-restaurant references started popping up in the comments over at yon Ace Place. Funny as hell, although Precious probably wouldn’t agree.

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Problematic

Posted on March 9, 2023 by Mike

I must say, this Tweet certainly nailed me to the floor.

What is an unpopular opinion you hold? pic.twitter.com/UalAmLbUIR

— Culture Critic (@Culture_Crit)

March 9, 2023

Errmmm…all of ’em?

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Testing, testing 1, 2, 3

Posted on March 1, 2023March 1, 2023 by Mike

First post after finally getting around to purchasing a license for the completely wonderful MarsEdit (what can I say, I’ve been a terrible procrastinator my whole damned life, so much so I even got called down for it in a note to my parents from my 1st-grade teacher, bless her heart), which I can’t possibly say enough good things about. Got used to limping along with that irksome WP posting interface for a goodish while there, but now I’m back, baby! Now if I can just remember all my custom macros and shortcuts…

Sincerest and most humble thanks to Barry for the boost. Yippeeeeee!!!

Wack!

Posted on February 23, 2023February 26, 2023 by Mike

One for Kenny, in honor of his comment here: The Young-Holt Unlimited’s unforgettable 60s soul classic “Wack Wack.”

Update! What the hell, while we’re on the 60s soul music, here’s two more for my old friend, legendary CLT lounge-lizard Mr Roy.

Great stuff, that. Might’s well throw in one of my own personal faves while we’re at it.

Background on Mr Roy: Roy is an elderly, diminutive black fella who also happens to be one of the most dapper men of any age I’ve ever had the privilege of hanging out barside with. Roy is a truly dedicated lover of the good old blues, soul, rockabilly, and zydeco music. To my knowledge, he never missed a BP’s performance at the late, lamented Double Door Inn, even with as loud and rowdy as we were notorious for being.

Every year, without fail, Roy would pile in his pristine Cadillac and make the 12-hour drive down to New Orleans for Jazzfest. Way back when, I made a pact with Roy that I was gonna make that particular trip with him sometime. Alas, the scheduling never worked out for me to be able to do it, to my everlasting regret.

Everybody around town knew and loved Mr Roy. A fixture on the local dive-bar and live-music scene, Roy could reliably be seen sitting on a stool at one bar or another sipping on a Scotch and milk, a bevy of dynamite young white chicks in close and hanging on his every word.

And what words they were, too; he had a store of catchphrases he would toss off, like “Mighty fine, might fine” or “I’m a charming motherfucker!” That one led to years of debate between me and Mr Roy; one night in some gin-joint or other, he declared me a “bad motherfucker,” whereupon I responded in the only way I could think of: “No, Roy, YOU’RE a bad motherfucker!” He shot back, “No, I’m a CHARMING motherfucker, YOU’RE the BAD motherfucker!” I can’t even begin to tell you how flattered I was by that. This good-natured ribbing was taken up again many times after that first night, and we’d both just about kill ourselves laughing when it did, every time.

So popular was Mr Roy and his catchphrases around here that a local artist got a snapshot of Roy, highball glass in hand, which he then did up in the style of those old Shepard Fairey posters—logoed with one of Roy’s notable catchphrases, natch, not “Obey Giant” or any of that later “Hope & Change” malarkey—and did a limited-edition run of them to give away at various local dens of iniquity. I had Mr Roy autograph my copy for me:

Had to take a photo, because it’s way too big to fit into my scanner. The lighting is all wrong, but hey, don’t hate me ’cause I’m beautiful, aiight?

I referred to Mr Roy in the past tense a couple times above, but having aged out of the bar/live music circuit myself a few years back after the curse of Viking Disease had junked my guitar-playing hands, I really couldn’t say if Roy is still around or not. I sure hope he is; there never was enough like him out there, and once they’re gone, they ain’t coming back. Whether he’s gone or still kicking, his poster will have a position of honor on my living-room wall wherever I may live, for as long as I do.

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New at the Eyrie

Posted on February 6, 2023 by Mike

The Monday Substack post is now up.

Moar Substackery

Posted on February 1, 2023February 1, 2023 by Mike

Humble thanks to the handful of folks who have signed up as subscribers to my Substack thang over the last few days. I still don’t have the place looking the way I’d like for it to; near as I can tell, customization options are, shall we say, limited, so it simply ain’t possible to tweak things too very much. As an inveterate tinkerer my whole danged life, with everything from cars to motorcycles to guitars to amps to recipes to websites, you can readily imagine just how severely that chaps my baggy white ass.

It does, however, bring to mind a query: what are y’all’s thoughts on the white text against blue background I’m using there currently? I was hoping to get this Eyrie endeavor of mine to as closely resemble this h’yar websty as I could, but it seems to me that the white text might be kinda hard on older eyes. Do let me know in the comments, please; that at least is simplicity itself to adjust, and I’ll be happy to do so if needed.

There’s also the email-notification-for-subscribers feature to consider, which I haven’t bothered customizing at all yet. Then there’s the multitude of other features, most of which I don’t even know what they are yet, nor what they do.

My original idea for this Substack whoopjamboreehoo was to offer original-content posts there once things get rolling steady, to go up on Mondays and Fridays å la James Kunstler’s joint. I’m less confident about being able to pull that twice-weekly commitment off now than I was, seeing as how I am unwaveringly determined that the dire need to generate some income due to my new status as World’s Greatest One-Legged Blogger (see right sidebar) shall NOT be allowed to infringe on Ye Olde Colde Furye Blogge in any way, shape, or form. I’ve been running this hogwallow for over twenty years now, no way I’ll just let it wither on the vine now. Not on my watch, bub.

On the other hand, though, since the whole idea is to make some dough, I want to provide decent bang for the buck at the Eyrie too, y’know? The benefit would be twofold, I’m thinking, with not only the income potential but the prospect of driving more traffic from there to here and vice the versa figuring into this messy mix.

In the final analysis, the blogging thing entire is about eyeballs and interaction, not money. The free exchange of ideas is the prime motivator, which is as it should be. We on the Dissident Right are sorely beset on all sides by a monstrous, malignant politico-cultural Leviathan; not since the Revolution itself has it been more vital that, as Franklin famously said back then, we all hang together, lest we all hang separately. As the gathering riptide of chaos, dissolution, and collapse threatens to overwhelm and wash away all that we once held dear, those words of wisdom must not be forgotten.

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Substackin’

Posted on January 31, 2023January 31, 2023 by Mike

There’s a brand new post up over at The Eyrie, which I initially put here by accident. Sorry ‘bout that, gang; my bad. I’m beginning to make some real headway on getting this whole Substack business sussed out, or so I’m telling myself. It’s available for all to read, but in order to comment you have to be a paid subscriber. I think.

1

Publick Notice

Posted on January 17, 2023January 17, 2023 by Mike

Since the native WP posting editor has begun to suck so horribly, and my reliable third-party standby for years, Ecto, doesn’t work at all with the new/old iMac’s decrepit operating system, I’ve been casting desperately about for months now in search of another blog-posting alternative that will run on this infernal machine. This casting about led me to download MarsEdit for a test run to see how it might suit.

I’m thrilled to find that it does indeed support custom macros, which is one of the primary things I loved about Ecto and have been missing most. Unfortunately, after a 14 day trial run I’m required to buy the damned software at a hefty 60 bucks, which after having shelled out 39.99 for Ecto already sticks in my craw pretty badly. If I understand things correctly, I can still use ME to write posts and store them locally, I just can’t actually upload ’em to the ol’ websty without purchasing a license first.

We’ll see what transpires on all that hoo-ha, I reckon, but for the moment I gotta say I’m thoroughly loving MarsEdit. In addition to downloading all my posts, categories, and pages from WP on CF’s server, it also grabbed all the media files I’ve embedded in past posts as well, something Ecto didn’t do. That means I’ll have a complete archive of everything but the actual database files ready to hand in case those Russian hackers get frisky and make another run at Ye Humble Blogge again.

Lots of new-to-me features with this ME thing too, some of which look likely to be right handy. Maybe I need to consider holding another fundraiser hereabouts when my 14-day trial period is about to expire…

Update! Aw yeah, this thing rocks for sure. SOOOO much better than that never-to-be-sufficiently-damned WP posting editor. Need to find some kind of YT embed next, see how that goes. Stand by…

KNOCKED OUT update! Man oh MAN, is this MarsEdit software amazing! Had I known about it before tonight, I woulda switched off from Ecto years ago.

See, in both the Ecto and ME main window, the main window shows a list of previous posts up top, below which is a preview of whatever post you click on and highlight. Well sir, I just learned that, with ME, you can download your blog’s theme template to be used for the preview. With Ecto, you could customize your preview template, but it was a right pain in the arse to do, so I never did bother with it.

This handy-dandy feature could well mitigate the need for me to hold off doing all the proofreading and editing until after the post has gone live, which is a good thing. Screen grab:

CF ME grab

Brilliant, no? Turns out, MarsEdit’s built-in Upload Utility allows you to resize the image, reformat it, &c before you even upload it, bypassing the need to further fool around as is required by the infernal WP editor. Yeah, it’s definitely looking more and more as if I need to come up with the sixty simoleons for this little gem.

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2

A real find

Posted on January 6, 2023January 6, 2023 by Mike

So I’ve found my new nomenclature for the criminal organization masquerading as a political party, the DemonRats, which I swiped from a comment I ran across someplace or other, can’t recall where:

D卐M☭CRAT.

Says it all, don’tcha think?

Upon finding the thing, I immediately tried command-C to copy, not really expecting it to transfer correctly. But lo, when I command-P’ed it into a plain-text doc, it worked like I charm. Don’t know what the hex code might be for the swastika/hammer and sickle characters, and I don’t care either; I love it! Expect to see a lot more of this one from here on out, y’all.

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Publick Notice

Posted on January 2, 2023January 2, 2023 by Mike

Another step along the long, tortuous road to dumping PayPal: you can now arrange a recurring monthly donation, at the low, low bargain-basement (do they still have those?) price of only a paltry 7 simoleons per month, through Stripe.

I began rasslin’ with Stripe a while back, eventually giving up when I couldn’t find the verification-code text messages they had allegedly sent to my phone. Turns out, the third-party texting app I use had automagically dumped ’em into the “blacklist” bin, unbeknownst to me. I changed the blacklist settings and tried again just now, and lo, what to my wondering eyes did appear but the eleventy-hundredth verification message from Stripe. So that little problem is now behind me.

For those who might be feeling particularly generous, I set things up so’s a body can do up to 5 (five) iterations of that $7 payment should one so desire, seeing as how several of you told me back when I set up the PayPal “Subscribe” link that I had set that particular bar WAY lower than I should have. Everything should be working as of now, I think. I THINK. As always, do let me know if/when you run into any issues.

Update! Okay, I have now removed all the PayPal links from the sidebar, although if you’re already a subscriber your subscription will still be active. I haven’t dumped my own PP account as of yet, and ain’t gonna until I get a few Stripe subs in the pipeline to replace the old PP ones. When that happens, I’ll definitely let y’all know out here on the main page.

I also installed a new “Recent Posts” widget in the left sidebar, and tweaked the “Recent Comments” one to show excerpts as well, and just make things more interesting generally. Sure wish they’d update that great old blogroll plugin that included excerpts there, but far as I can discern it just ain’t happening, which is a damned shame.

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Publick Notice

Posted on January 2, 2023January 2, 2023 by Mike

Yep, it’s a sad, sad day around these parts: no more Scrooge Picard nor Santa Bettie Page, either one. After much thrashing and flailing about, accompanied by some light screaming and pulling out of the hair by the roots, I finally got Angry Guy back up top, and all the colors reset the way I wanted ’em.

Tell your friends, wake the neighbors, send the word far and wide that Christmas is now officially over, as dead as…umm, Marley’s ghost, shall we say. Yes, it’s a bit earlier than I would usually take the CF Xmas theme-makeover down, but I figured it was the least I could do for CF Lifers with bossheads and/or angry wives and/or girlfriends who inexplicably felt nekkid Santa Bettie might have been just a wee bit much, having done the annual holiday rearranging around this here hogwallow earlier than usual this year.

Frankly, I’ve always found this to be the most depressing time of the whole year: the dead of winter; no more cheerful, merry lights and decorations all over the place; nothing to look forward to until early February, when my birthday comes along. And I gotta say, the more I pile up of them, the less there is to look forward to there too. Ah well, I do sincerely hope you all had a wonderful holiday anyhow. If not, here’s a little something to cheer ya up.

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