mikeintexas's Blog

We all know Twitter and Facebook have been censoring conservative accounts and groups for several years; Google has banned a number of conservative channels from YouTube and the leftist TDS  spread to RPG.net last October, but now to a knitting group?

We are banning support of Donald Trump and his administration on Ravelry. We cannot provide a space that is inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy. More details: https://t.co/hEyu9LjqXa

— Ravelry (@ravelry) June 23, 2019

What's next? Notice there are no white kitties on this home page!

And I was thinking of taking up knitting, darn it. <- see what I did there?   I was called a crochet-ety old b*stard the other day and wanted to play the part to the hilt.  Seriously, this trend has me on pins and needles!  A-hem. OK, I'll button it.  (can you see the pattern of my puns?  Simplicity!)

My ex used to get into all that, the sewing and knitting and embroidery.  She thought she was pretty good at it and applied for a job at the local garment factory, but they did not hire her, saying she was at best a mediocre seamstress. 

They didn't actually say THAT, only that she could just sew so so.

I can spin a good yarn, huh? (and don't tell me you're a frayed knot)

I guess I'll end this silly post that started out seriously.  I'm running out of material.

I'm glad we conservatives are all cut from the same cloth.  I just hope this post gets a lot of comments, make it a long thread.

A salute to the first day of summer.

I could be wrong, but the singer looks extremely stoned and the rest look a little baked, as well.



I don't know if they were on drugs, but Mungo Jerry is on Wikipedia

Re-posting entire article from MOTUS A.D.;  I know I shouldn't have but it was too spot on,not to mention funny, to let any of my fellow conservatives miss a word.

Stop Talking to Pint Sized Weasels. The World Will Be a Better Place.

Weapon of a$$ destruction

Orthodog exposed engaging in gas attack against peaceful Pusslims! Someone get the UN on the line pic.twitter.com/vU71M7BKf5

— Islamicat 💣😾🕌 (@_Islamicat) June 4, 2019

Don’t leave your girl around these guys @KFCradio pic.twitter.com/VmaY4VcoE0

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) June 3, 2019

Just too cute.  Never thought I'd ever say something like that, but it's true.

;

When I was a young boy I was introduced to Robert A. Heinlein's books by Mrs. Seitz, a gentle lady who became my very favorite teacher. I'm sure she was also a favorite of both of my sisters who also attended her classes.

It wasn't the first one I read, but my favorite "juvenile" Heinlein novel was Starship Troopers. The novel helped to shape my views on what a citizen owes to his country. (I should also say "her country" too, because Heinlein also influenced me as to the proper respect owed to women - not that my father did not as well.)

In Troopers, a young man, a rich and privileged boy named Juan "Johnny" Rico desires to earn his citizenship and enlists in what Heinlein envisioned the future Marines might become. When it became time to board the assault ship (the Roger Young) or to return to it from battle, the ship's loudspeakers would play "The Ballad of Roger Young" as a homing signal. RAH mentioned it several times in snippets "....shines the name, shines the name of Roger Young".

I was always curious about who Roger Young was, but couldn't find anything in the meager research resources available to me at that long-ago time. When I got a computer, it was one of the first things I researched.

This is what is on the very last page of Heinlein's classic novel:

Young, Rodger W., Private, 148th Infantry, 37th Infantry Division (the Ohio Buckeyes); born Tiffin, Ohio, 28 April 1918; died 31 July 1943, on the island of New Georgia, Solomons, South Pacific, while singlehandedly attacking and destroying an enemy machine-gun pillbox. His platoon had been pinned down by intense fire from this pillbox; Private Young was wounded in the first burst. He crawled toward the pillbox, was wounded a second time but continued to advance, firing his rifle as he did so. He closed on the pillbox, attacked and destroyed it with hand grenades, but in so doing he was wounded a third time and killed.

His bold and gallant action in the face of overwhelming odds enabled his teammates to escape without loss; he was awarded posthumously the Medal of Honor.

---

From a now-defunct R.A.H. fan site:

For Robert Heinlein, Rodger Young stood for that noblest of men--the soldier willing to put himself in harm's way for the sake of his people. Heinlein first mentions Young in 1952, when he recorded his piece for Edward R. Murrow's This I Believe show. Heinlein expands greatly on the theme in 1958 with Starship Troopers, a controversial novel which he freely admits having written in part to "glorify" the military. . .specifically the P.B.I., the Poor Bloody Infantry, the mudfoot who places his frail body between his loved home and war's desolation--but is rarely appreciated." In the story, Johnny Rico serves aboard the troop ship Rodger Young, and we have occasion to hear the boarding tocsin for that ship, a verse from Frank Loesser's "The Ballad of Rodger Young."

To the everlasting glory of the infantry
Shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young

The Ballad of Rodger Young

He was an unlikely looking hero, huh? He looks more like Radar O'Reilly than Audie Murphy.

Just goes to show *me* that heroes come in all kinds.

We know they won't acknowledge any Christian holidays, at least not in any religious context, but I've never known them to even give any type of patriotic tribute, either.   This was a surprise when I went to search a subject just now.

The "Taps" sound file was a nice addition.  Maybe they realize it's what they, Facebook and Twitter might be hearing for their own funerals* if they don't stop with their anti-Conservative bias.

*Metaphorically speaking, that is.

From my Blogger blog, about ten yrs. ago.  I was reminded of it after emailing back and forth with an L.P. friend about reading. 

(there's an "inside joke" about a link to another blog post I had made: "My Sister's Feet".  It still gets quite a few hits and it once had over a thousand visits when the search engines picked it up.  Besides my "Cast Away" movie posts, it and my post "Gay Irish Dwarfs" are the most visited.)

Click any pic for a larger view.

This statue is in front of the Pampa Lovett Memorial Library; it's one of a pair that were dedicated Jan. 9, 2005. (blog post about the other, Pioneer Woman)

Here is a closeup of the plaque on the base:

The statue was done by Don Ray of Channing and is named "The Lesson".

A closer look reveals the superb detail:

To me, the woman looks tired, but glad to take the time to help educate her young charge:

I like the expressions on both faces, but the one on the boy's seems to be a combination of love and trust, almost an amazement at what the woman had been reading to him.

The boy is barefoot, and the attention to detail by the sculptor is evident, even in a part that might be overlooked in favor of others.

(and no, I'm not trying for the unintentional hits that this blog received from "My Sister's Feet" )

Stepping around to the back of the statue shows more of the fine detail that normally wouldn't be seen...

...even down to the slingshot in the boy's rear pocket.

From the library's website:

Gift of R. L. Franklin: The sculptures are dedicated to all those women whose service to family, church, and community has brought and brings aspects of American life to what was so recently in historic perspective a dangerous and daunting land. Four women of such acumen and industry are: Virginia Green, Louise Franklin, Betty Henderson, Annie Buckler.

Savage animals are among us.  This one got bail, can you believe that? 

With evidence like this, I'm not sure how a jury could fail to convict.  We shall see.

I'm not going to say anything more; I don't want to sound as savage as this young "woman" actually is. 

Ever heard of the alt tag (sometimes also referred to as a "title tag")?  You may have noticed the option to use it when you insert an image into an LP blog or forum post.    Here's an example from my Blogger blog, a photo of a friend's mustang horse named "Ford".  ("Ford the Mustang", gettit?) Hover your cursor over the photo to see the description, often referred to as a "tooltip".



They're not necessary, but if you have your own website or blog, it's a good idea to use the attribute.  Why?

From Yola.com (and I've used the title tag in the following link):  What is alt text, and why do your photos need it?

1. If images fails to load – If for any reason an image does not render on a web page, the alt tag will display in place. This means visitors to that web page understand what image should be there even though they are unable to see it.

2. For Search Engines – Search engines, such as Google and Bing regularly crawl web pages. It is easy for them to understand text copy on a page, however, images are difficult to read. This is where alt text comes to play. Alt text is used to describe to search engines what the image is showing, allowing search engines to give users better results when performing an image search.

Alt text is a great place to include your main keyword to improve your image search ranking for that term. However, it is important to use appropriate text that actually describes your image. You should not include keywords if they are not relevant to the image being displayed, and if it doesn’t describe the image. If you do this, it could do more harm than good and negatively affect your website’s SEO.

3. For the visually impaired – The visually impaired tend to use screen readers in order to browse web pages. These screen readers will identify and interpret what is being displayed on their screen. Alt text is needed to explain and describe to people using screen readers what is on your page. For this reason, it is important to convey contextual information that will explain the image in more detail.

What made me think about it was a thumbnail on a YouTube recommended video I saw last night.  The title of the vid was hilariously truncated, so I took a screenshot of it as well as the title tag that appeared when I placed my cursor on it:

In this case, the title tag added the complete title of the video...thank goodness.

Here's the video if you want to watch it.  I never did;  I was too busy LMAO.

Warning;  crude language, sexual innuendo ... but darn funny. (and sadly true)

One of the greatest plays in baseball was made:

On this date: in 1976, protesters tried to burn an American flag at Dodger Stadium. @cubs outfielder Rick Monday wasn’t going to let that happen.
I LOVE IT!!! pic.twitter.com/mmwFhhnHWc

— Dana White (@danawhite) April 25, 2019