I tried talking on Facebook, and it's a disaster zone, as far as I'm concerned. I'd rather read you here than there anyway, not that such should or will matter. Ike, have you considered replacing Google Reader??? RSS didn't die, not yet anyway.

The crush of stuff required for serious DIY is staggering. Training is another matter, and pure time. Consider just simple metal work. Watch some of the hot rod shows on the reality channels for examples, and I don't even mean the water jet tables. OT, but speaking of Victorianism, have you seen Ripper Street on BBCA? Pretty good.

"If Piers Morgan had to advocate cannibalism to keep CNN from firing him for another week, he would have a BBQ pit on the show by tonight." That's what Daniel Greenfield had to say about Piers Morgan, and Alex Jones. I concur.

"America thinks there must be something wrong with all of us..."? America does not think that.

I suspect you'll dismiss this, but perhaps not -- viz the Arctic methane business: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/09/25/remember-the-panic-over-methane-seeping-out-of-the-arctic-seabed-in-2009-never-mind/ I only noticed it yesterday after reading your earlier link. I don't know why I bother bringing it up, except just in case someone else was nervous about a global atmospheric fireball.

I don't know -- will the Clean Air Act survive The Downside (whatever that is, though I can probably guess)?

It seems like a distinction without a difference. As a redneck (Peasant?), since it comes out of the pump and is burned by all my gasoline engines, I'm going to comfortably call it a biofuel. I will further stipulate, if queried, that it is an oxygenate, and if I'm feeling ornery, I will point out that it is federally mandated. And has, as stated, raised the cost of feeding animals, leading to higher prices at the butcher counter. FWIW, I've seen E35 for sale a couple of times around Texas. Given the high number of cattlemen & deer hunters in Texas, I don't expect it to be a popular alternative.

That's hard to believe. Do you have some supporting links?

"a dude he knew who watched Argentina go through collapse slowly but surely": maybe he's talking about this guy? http://ferfal.blogspot.com/ Interesting stuff, especially before he picked up sponsors. I've spent the spring, summer and fall of this year watching, harvesting, canning and eating a planned Texas garden. It's fascinating, and it's an enormous amount of work, and it's remarkably fragile -- one feral hog getting through a gap can wipe out an acre over night. All food production is fragile. See what the Midwest summer drought combined with ethanol mandates & subsidies have done to beef & pork prices. Can you spot the problem in that sentence? Flip over to RFD-TV sometime to get a good idea of the Flyover Situation. Naturally, right now, 8am Texas Time, they have the Polka Hour on. Oh, yeah...the varieties are out there. Pick up a seed catalog.

Interesting that you think this has legs. As an extreme right-wing survivalist gun nut, I wrote it off from the first commercial. It looked like just an absurdly liberal Hollywood cashing-in. I didn't know about "electricity doesn't work the way it used to", either. That kind of bums me, too. Perhaps I'll DVR it.

I have to believe that a respectable layer of internal insulation is a good idea on those South Dakota plains. Except the natives inevitably seem to be those wiry types. It's making me cold just looking at that video.

Reconciliation: they're both chicken-fried and soaked in bacon grease. Campbell isn't a Roy Clarke, probably isn't a Jerry Reed, but he's super-smooth, and probably was better than I'm remembering.

Definitely the Eagles. I'm the Big Lebowski in that regard. They ruined two genres of music and that's not easy. Glenn had his own TV show, man! Go YT some of his stuff. He's an awesome guitar slinger, and an Arkie root-hog done good.

Dear Lord in Heaven...Glenn Campbell is only a 'might have been' superstar??? I guess that's the diff twixt Texas and California.

I think I'm kind of pissed, because I haven't seen any OWS snark, except for that shirt-seller thing, which was pretty hilarious.

My uncle's always looking for a good hand at his Brahman breeding operation, if you ever feel like chucking it all.

That's a very nice and interesting bit of fusion, just wandering through his YT collection. Cool picking style, too. And that first video you embedded here, that's on the radio when the devil, wearing a white dress with black drawers, takes shotgun and you're headed to that little after-hours place out over the county line. I don't understand how one guy with one guitar and a bottleneck slide, in broad daylight, can make me so ready to do things my mama would not approve of. Guitar slingers, man...

Really? I want my kids and grandkids to think more of me than just a piece of ground. I think of my grandparents and my dad that way. Not where they're buried, but what I learned from them. Every day. Whatever is in your head, well, you called it. It's stupid. We honor the dead by learning their lessons, not by going to their funeral.

Fair enough, but you're not the only one who would say that, you know.

Holmes, you're in the fear business, just not that branch of it.

I'm sure I've said it before here, but Man On Fire is one of the greatest movies ever made, and Creasy is one of the greatest heroes on film. There is nothing not to like about this talkie. The general idea of calling this an "action" movie is an utter failing on someone's part. I want to call it Shakespearean, but there's probably a better comparison.

This is easily the most ridiculous comment thread I've ever read here. Exemplified perfectly by this -- "We're trying to learn something about whites" Keep digging, kiddo. Rude, my ass...I feel like I'm filling time on a damn NPR show.

In the immortal words of Bachman Turner Overdrive, you ain't seen nothing yet...

That's a total spit take. I can think of nothing that interests me in this latest union of circus poodles, not even in the remote, vague meta-feudalist sense you speak of.

Looks like my original reply got eaten, so, real quick: I like the Springfield XD lineup for pistols. I like the Springfield M1A for a rifle. It's all subjective, past a certain level, so try a lot of different platforms for both. And do reconsider that Mossberg: tough, cheap and versatile.