Happy Hour [5/11/21]

I need a drink

5/11/21 Hannibal 22

Happy Bonfire Night! It seems like such a fun holiday. It’s a shame we don’t observe Guy Fawkes Day in the US, instead of holding rallies in support of violent uprisings. I can’t really have a bonfire in my back yard but I can fire up the chiminea and sip my evening bourbon on the patio. There are a number of cocktails named in honor of Fawkes and his co-conspirators if you are so inclined.

Are you celebrating anything this weekend, Deadsplinters?

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22 Comments

  1. im considering blowing up the parliament

    i’d write a big manifesto..claiming guy fawkes had the right idea

    and when my day in court comes claim temporary insanity caused by nicotine cravings caused by the gubment taxing everything to high hell

    i’d get out in like a week

    (well…50/50 on that one…i mean..i am white…but the powers that be take a pretty dim view to people blowing up the powers that be)

    anyways im having a couple beers and nearing the end of my nicotine supply :p

    • There was a  time when we also took a dim view of folks blowing up government buildings, even if they were white guys. These days, not so much.  Good luck with  quitting nicotine.  It can be rough.

  3. Both daughters were going to come home this weekend but looks like only the closer one is.  Possibilities of snow in the pass might have made her friend that was going to drive cancel.  Too bad, she sounded like she really needed to get away.  No big celebrations but looking forward to at least seeing one daughter again.  My fresh hop beer is finally fully carbonated so will be celebrating that I guess.

  4. L is for Litigation

    https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/01/peter-jackson-and-the-airplane-thief

    It affects my hobby too as Jackson was the owner of a company called Wingnut Wings who burst on the scene in the late 2000s offering amazing easy to build (for biplanes which isn’t all that easy unless you enjoy rigging them) 1/32 scale models of WW1 planes for cheap.  I have bought a number of them (and built a few) because I am interested by the early days of flight and WW1.

    WNW went belly up during the early days of the pandemic causing a massive run on his kits (regarded as masterpieces) and knocked out several anticipated projects including a Lancaster bomber.  The cause was because Peter Jackson was having money issues and dealing with a fraudster/pilot/Maverick (Vanity Fair article) so his accountants/partners put their collective feet down and told him to do something or else so his model company and airplane company closed.

    Peter was in the process of working on a Dambusters film based on the WW2 Dambuster Raid (617 Sq of the RAF in Lancaster bombers dropped specially designed bombs that spun and bounced attempting blow up several German dams in an attempt to knock out a portion of the German electrical system) where the original film was the inspiration for the Death Star Trench Run.

    In that process, he decided to make a Lancaster Bomber 1/32 scale model.  It made a splash in Model World because it would have WNW quality and be huge/expensive.  A 1/32 scale Lancaster would have a 4ft wingspan and estimated then cost of some 500+ USD.  I wish I had the space, time and budget to build one, but I don’t have any of those things so I wouldn’t have bought one.

    That kit got lost in the implosion of WNW and money issues of Peter Jackson.

    The kit resurfaced this year because it seems WNW didn’t pay the Chinese mold makers and they needed to recoup the unreal costs of this kit (or they would have trashed the mold.)  Another company bought the molds, reworked them and is now ready to sell the kit (for 600+ USD!  Thanks inflation and COVID supply chain fuckups).  Jackson thru his lawyers has decided to say “YOU SHALL NOT PASS” ‘my’ kit for sale claiming they stole his kit. In an ironic twist, the Chinese mold maker and the model company has dared him and called him out for not paying his bills.

    So the saga continues.

    • That stinks. I have never built a model anything, but my brother was into it until my SIL developed Parkinson’s, and requires most of his attention. I know he misses it.

  5. …guy fawkes night is kind of a weird one…I think a lot of people pretty much think of the fireworks part like it’s filling in for the explosion that didn’t happen so it sort of lends itself to a view that pretty explosions might be nicer than parliament…but on the other hand the point of “bonfire night” is to throw an effigy of the guy who wanted to do it for real on the top & immolate him

    …it’s oddly contradictory…although things change…when I was a kid there was generally a bonfire & generally a guy…it even used to be a thing where kids would make one & then canvas for donations towards the fireworks…those had got more expensive even when I was a kid but the patter was still “a penny for the guy?”…more recent years…I didn’t see a lot of bonfires…& even fewer guys…pretty sure a lot of municipal events skip that part

    …suspect it had to do with “health & safety” but there’s something about keeping the fireworks & dropping the burning-in-effigy part of that tradition that seems more fitting every time I hear the latest thing jacob rees-mogg said…don’t tell me…it’ll come to me?

    • I used to be fascinated by the Gunpowder Plot story. But given the current political situation in America it’s lost a little of its charm. Still,I think I’d have enjoyed the effigy building and begging for pennies as a young Hannibal. It  does seem like it could be an opportunity for a certain type of person to create more than a fireworks spectacle though. So I can sort of get the health and safety thing.

  6. Nothing to celebrate, other than surviving the week. Last week I did stumble upon a bottle of Woodford Reserve that I did not know that we had, so I might possibly be sipping a glass of that tonight.

  7. Finished my first week at the new job. So far, so good. Kinda hustling because they haven’t had a content person in a while and things are backed up. I’ll probably put in a few hours this weekend to help catch up. But overall, good first week.

    So, observations about working remotely. I mean, I did it for 18 months but I half-assed it because I always assumed I’d be going back to the office.

    1. I’m making myself listen to the local radio show in the mornings. I don’t commute, so I need to stay up with things.

    2. I’m making myself listen to Sirius during the day. I’m paying for that shit and I’m not commuting. Gotta get my money. They got an app and I linked it to Alexa.

    3. I’m making myself leave my desk for lunch. NO EATING AT THE DESK. I just end up working all day without a break. LEAVE THE FUCKING HOUSE. Even if it’s just for a walk.

    4. PUT KEYS IN POCKET FIRST THING EVERY DAY. The worst sound in the world is when you walk out to check the mail or pick up the recycling bins and you hear the door click behind you. Don’t ask me how I know this. Don’t ask me why I didn’t take my phone. Don’t ask my neighbor why I was banging on his door and asking to use his phone. I SAID DON’T ASK ME.

    5. After one week I have decided to completely rearrange my home office. I expect this will continue for some time. It’s okay, I OWN THIS PLACE.

    6. I have a horrible story about drilling into an electrical wire and calling electricians and them coming on my first day of work and me telling my new boss I couldn’t talk now because electricians. We shall not speak of this again.

    7. My new policy is to meet at least one friend per week for lunch or happy hour. I am not a hermit. I am willing to put on something other than sweatpants. Well, once a week anyway.

    • It seems  like this job is a much better fit for you than the last one. That is worth celebrating. Your WFH rules are sound. But, about the electrician

      • It’s not so much eating at the desk as working straight through lunch and realizing around 3;30 that I haven’t taken any time for myself but I can’t do it then because the day’s almost over and people will be going WTF with this new guy working half-days. Better to set my status as inactive at 12:00 and go do something else for an hour.

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