A dollar bill is .0043 inches thick.
A stack of one trillion one dollar bills is 67,866 miles high.
The US national is now more than 30 trillion dollars.
That stack is now more than 2,000,000 miles high.
Yes, TWO “MILLION” miles.
That is a distance of 4 trips to the moon and back.
Ever drive cross country in the US?
That’s about 2500 miles.
Imagine dollar bills, standing on edge, tight up against the other, continuously from start to finish of your road trip.
You’d have to make that trip back and forth FOUR HUNDRED times to equal that national debt.
Neither you nor I will ever get our heads around those kind of numbers.
Nor will that amount of debt ever be paid for.
Once again, this rotten assed gov’t will pay the price but never even once count the cost.
Bravo! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ka_oevW2sc
John A. FlemingOctober 11, 2023, 2:24 PM
Interesting. This comment is meta.
I see the importance of a good picture to start discussions. Neo puts out new threads every two days, I look at some of the pictures and say to myself, “I got nothing.”. Other times, the picture inspires me to write.
So is it that in the temporal flow I’ve got something to say right now, or is it the picture that unlocks something that I might otherwise never say?
I think it was a blogging skill that Mr. Gerard was good at, he picked good pictures to go along with his text.
ghostsniperOctober 11, 2023, 3:00 PM
It was (1) his personal writing skill on topics I found interesting, and (2) his wide variety of subject matter to post. It was a veritable cornucopia of delights almost every single day. Sort of a readers smorgasboard for curious people.
Did I like all of Gerard’s stuff? No.
Wasn’t particularly taken with the poetry but then, I just never was much of a poetry person.
But prolly 90%+ of what he posted I found enjoyable and I always looked forward to the “new stuff” I found at AD. I surely do miss the content. Is it possible to miss someone that you have never met? If so, I do.
azlibertarianOctober 11, 2023, 6:59 PM
I miss his content too. His “Something Wonderfuls” were always a bright spot in my day, which has been hard to find in the last week.
We personally enjoyed Gerard’s handwritten notes he would send every so often. He was a brilliant and sincere and thankful man.
ghostsniperOctober 12, 2023, 4:06 AM
Tipping
You know, that little “something extra” for people that have done an exceptional job.
I’ve seen several articles recently about this so apparently it’s a thing now, as is most everything else these days. We don’t get out very often so I was unaware.
All I can say about it is, if they have to ask for a tip it is not a tip but rather a demand, and as a rule I generally refuse demands.
When the thug sticks the gun in my back and demands, “gimme da munny”, I pivot to the right quickly while raising my elbow and catch him on the side of the head at full speed. As he buckles I grab the heater and put 2 in the head. Refuse demands, always.
But honestly, isn’t all this tipping nonsense just one more “1st world” problem?
You may not be looking for violence but violence is looking for you. – Richard Marcinko
Casey KlahnOctober 12, 2023, 11:28 AM
This quote parallels exactly what Tolstoy wrote: replace the object, violence, with “war”. Best to be ready.
Chris Kappy (spelling) at Task & Purpose gives a war brief on Gaza, but it is actually a master class in current military affairs. The reason it matters to you is that it’s all coming to a theater near you.
The Gazans breached the fence around Gaza, which was only completed in the past 2 years. I did not know that it is a full length steel and tech. barrier and the envy of all Texans. Breached, blinded by the destruction of local cell towers, overflown by little swarthy versions of James Bond in Japan…coordinated and planned at no small level. It’ll be interesting to see if the Hamas planned a deep game, because they’re now looking like Bambi in the shotgun position and retribution is forthcoming.
My friends, you may not care about Israel, but you must admit you’re next, if we don’t get our ship together.
Sorry to be a lumber mill buzzsaw going a minute too long, but I get the feeling that the hour is late. All my best.
ghostsniperOctober 12, 2023, 12:17 PM
Her name was Little Nelly and she was a deadly cutey wasn’t she?
My greatest fear has been inside the wire all along.
I saw one of their forward troops a few days ago from a distance, as I like to keep them.
I hope I never pop up on the radar screen.
My opinions on this are unpopular. The longer a war goes on, the more savage and existential it becomes. All this wailing about the Palis being terrorists or fighters or gunmen. If you attack the opposing military, you are a soldier and are at least “honorable”. If you attack “innocent” civilians, you are a terrorist. This seems an agreeable definition to most. Now talk to me about Dresden and Tokyo firebombing. go ahead, try and argue that we are not terrorists. We too will do these things when the time comes. Look at the people here in the USA talk about bouncing the rubble, carpet-bombing, driving the Palis into the sea, etc. In modern war we all of us everywhere in every country do what we have to and lots of people die, including women and suckling babies. There is no functional difference between carpet bombing a city and sending in soldiers to do it one at a time, it’s just a different tactic to achieve the same result. The objective is to break the enemy’s will, or their capacity, to continue fighting.
It is a mercy to go big, go fierce, and win or lose. Protracted wars are worse for everyone. If you are going to go to war, then go to war. Quit pussy-footing around. We need to quit having these wretched AUMFs, and go back to the Constitution: either declare war and mean it, or stay home and out of it.
As for the innocence of civilians. Most civilians are “innocent”, in that there is nothing they can do except a general strike to affect the behavior of their government and military. If a person just keeps his head down and goes to work, they are supporting the government that rules them. Citizens in wartime are always between the devil and the deep blue sea: either your government or your fellow citizens will punish you, or the enemy will. There isn’t a neutral third way. Welcome to wartime. Make your choice and take your chances, expect to be dead either way, all that is left is to act honorably in the time that you still have left.
ghostsniperOctober 12, 2023, 2:13 PM
This whole izzy thing has been going on all of my natural life and I am so done with it. Like the negros. the izzy’s just piss and moan at every little whipstitch and the never STFU, ever. I really don’t GAS about anybody’s religion as long as they don’t inflict on me in any way.
As far as this war business, when you decide to do it you do it waist deep with all you got and you get it over with. Civilians? I can’t get all sad panda over where people choose to live.
This rotten assed US gov’t has been stirring the global pots for a very long time and having watched and experienced their terrorism up close and afar I will NEVER get behind them in any of their endeavors. Yes, I will leave the place of my birth if I have to. I have no loyalty to criminals and traitors and if I get the chance I will stick one in their eye if I can get away with it.
Finally, if the target is way over there and it absolutely, positively needs to get done, well they have them smoldering subterranean nitro cigars out in Wyoming for that sort of thing. Do it like you mean it. But guess what? They don’t really mean it. Just kinda. Never forget that ravenous MIC that needs to be lavishly fed, and that’s where the criminality of thing creeps in large. Sara Lee cupcakes my ass.
Casey KlahnOctober 13, 2023, 8:34 AM
I don’t see any unpopular opinions in your comment. I do see a fukton of mistakes about the military arts, but NM those because your overall point is clear and comes through unsullied. I don’t disagree with anything you’ve concluded.
Listening to Chris Kappy at Task & Purpose, I did formulate some more thoughts, BION. It seems the Hamas are trying to derail an Israeli-Saudi conference or treaty-making thing. They could try to sustain the war – given Israel has mobilized the living spit out of their regulars and reserves and that is draining and expensive and therefore the speedy violent strategy is in order – but I can’t figure out how the Hams could suatin a long war or force Israel really to do anything on the battlefield. The Hams have no depth. They are an NGO that turned into a nation. There are NGOs on all borders with Israel but they also lack depth. Iran is big but until they put up they may as well shut up. They’re in the cross-hairs of Israel, you can bet money on that. Probably Lockheed Martin is your best bet, if you know what I mean.
US involvement? I see nothing compellingly different about this Israeli war versus all the ones I’ve seen in my long life and the few that came before the age of casey. IOW if the US goes in in anything other than a commando raid or air support for the commandos, it’d be unprecedented and Mr. Biden would have his legacy move in that.
Application statement: knife attacks worldwide. If you want to know why, order up High Noon and watch it: they’re after you and running ain’t on the options list. Any number of knife wounds are fatal to you, and some aren’t but act as if you don’t want one. Use your arms and legs as blocking tools. Try never to get that close to a bad actor and watch your personal space and area like a hawk. Open up space between you and your attacker. Watch his eyes. When you cut a throat, cut outward; stick the tip in behind the CA and slice away from center mass. Profile people.
Bob ClarkOctober 13, 2023, 8:32 AM
I think ghostsniper’s posts are what keep this website going for me in my humble opinion. They are educated, varied, detailed where you need them to be, and even include a soupҫon of things he would usually shy away from. I really really appreciate ghostsniper’s contributions. Thank you, ghostsniper!
ghostsniperOctober 13, 2023, 12:05 PM
Thanks Bob!
I ain’t no Gerard.
And I just can’t let go.
I wish more of the “regulars” showed up and offered their comments and links.
Snakepit KansasOctober 14, 2023, 5:02 AM
Man’s natural state is to be at war. That is not going to change. At the moment, we are all sitting here fat, stupid and happy. Don’t want to work? Free food and health care. How about a free Obama phone along with that? Nobody here is in fear for their life. Once the average American soccer mom has a constant fear for her children, then nobody is going to give a shit about civilians near an enemy target. We think we are too sophisticated and moral? No. I believe the desire for self preservation is born into us.
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
Thank you.
A dollar bill is .0043 inches thick.
A stack of one trillion one dollar bills is 67,866 miles high.
The US national is now more than 30 trillion dollars.
That stack is now more than 2,000,000 miles high.
Yes, TWO “MILLION” miles.
That is a distance of 4 trips to the moon and back.
Ever drive cross country in the US?
That’s about 2500 miles.
Imagine dollar bills, standing on edge, tight up against the other, continuously from start to finish of your road trip.
You’d have to make that trip back and forth FOUR HUNDRED times to equal that national debt.
Neither you nor I will ever get our heads around those kind of numbers.
Nor will that amount of debt ever be paid for.
Once again, this rotten assed gov’t will pay the price but never even once count the cost.
Bravo!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ka_oevW2sc
Interesting. This comment is meta.
I see the importance of a good picture to start discussions. Neo puts out new threads every two days, I look at some of the pictures and say to myself, “I got nothing.”. Other times, the picture inspires me to write.
So is it that in the temporal flow I’ve got something to say right now, or is it the picture that unlocks something that I might otherwise never say?
I think it was a blogging skill that Mr. Gerard was good at, he picked good pictures to go along with his text.
It was (1) his personal writing skill on topics I found interesting, and (2) his wide variety of subject matter to post. It was a veritable cornucopia of delights almost every single day. Sort of a readers smorgasboard for curious people.
Did I like all of Gerard’s stuff? No.
Wasn’t particularly taken with the poetry but then, I just never was much of a poetry person.
But prolly 90%+ of what he posted I found enjoyable and I always looked forward to the “new stuff” I found at AD. I surely do miss the content. Is it possible to miss someone that you have never met? If so, I do.
I miss his content too. His “Something Wonderfuls” were always a bright spot in my day, which has been hard to find in the last week.
We personally enjoyed Gerard’s handwritten notes he would send every so often. He was a brilliant and sincere and thankful man.
Tipping
You know, that little “something extra” for people that have done an exceptional job.
I’ve seen several articles recently about this so apparently it’s a thing now, as is most everything else these days. We don’t get out very often so I was unaware.
All I can say about it is, if they have to ask for a tip it is not a tip but rather a demand, and as a rule I generally refuse demands.
When the thug sticks the gun in my back and demands, “gimme da munny”, I pivot to the right quickly while raising my elbow and catch him on the side of the head at full speed. As he buckles I grab the heater and put 2 in the head. Refuse demands, always.
But honestly, isn’t all this tipping nonsense just one more “1st world” problem?
https://www.usatoday.com/money/blueprint/credit-cards/tipping-fatigue-growing-in-america/
You may not be looking for violence but violence is looking for you. – Richard Marcinko
This quote parallels exactly what Tolstoy wrote: replace the object, violence, with “war”. Best to be ready.
Chris Kappy (spelling) at Task & Purpose gives a war brief on Gaza, but it is actually a master class in current military affairs. The reason it matters to you is that it’s all coming to a theater near you.
The Gazans breached the fence around Gaza, which was only completed in the past 2 years. I did not know that it is a full length steel and tech. barrier and the envy of all Texans. Breached, blinded by the destruction of local cell towers, overflown by little swarthy versions of James Bond in Japan…coordinated and planned at no small level. It’ll be interesting to see if the Hamas planned a deep game, because they’re now looking like Bambi in the shotgun position and retribution is forthcoming.
My friends, you may not care about Israel, but you must admit you’re next, if we don’t get our ship together.
Sorry to be a lumber mill buzzsaw going a minute too long, but I get the feeling that the hour is late. All my best.
Her name was Little Nelly and she was a deadly cutey wasn’t she?
My greatest fear has been inside the wire all along.
I saw one of their forward troops a few days ago from a distance, as I like to keep them.
I hope I never pop up on the radar screen.
I spelled it rong.
If you didn’t know who Little Nellie is, see here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallis_WA-116_Agile
My opinions on this are unpopular. The longer a war goes on, the more savage and existential it becomes. All this wailing about the Palis being terrorists or fighters or gunmen. If you attack the opposing military, you are a soldier and are at least “honorable”. If you attack “innocent” civilians, you are a terrorist. This seems an agreeable definition to most. Now talk to me about Dresden and Tokyo firebombing. go ahead, try and argue that we are not terrorists. We too will do these things when the time comes. Look at the people here in the USA talk about bouncing the rubble, carpet-bombing, driving the Palis into the sea, etc. In modern war we all of us everywhere in every country do what we have to and lots of people die, including women and suckling babies. There is no functional difference between carpet bombing a city and sending in soldiers to do it one at a time, it’s just a different tactic to achieve the same result. The objective is to break the enemy’s will, or their capacity, to continue fighting.
It is a mercy to go big, go fierce, and win or lose. Protracted wars are worse for everyone. If you are going to go to war, then go to war. Quit pussy-footing around. We need to quit having these wretched AUMFs, and go back to the Constitution: either declare war and mean it, or stay home and out of it.
As for the innocence of civilians. Most civilians are “innocent”, in that there is nothing they can do except a general strike to affect the behavior of their government and military. If a person just keeps his head down and goes to work, they are supporting the government that rules them. Citizens in wartime are always between the devil and the deep blue sea: either your government or your fellow citizens will punish you, or the enemy will. There isn’t a neutral third way. Welcome to wartime. Make your choice and take your chances, expect to be dead either way, all that is left is to act honorably in the time that you still have left.
This whole izzy thing has been going on all of my natural life and I am so done with it. Like the negros. the izzy’s just piss and moan at every little whipstitch and the never STFU, ever. I really don’t GAS about anybody’s religion as long as they don’t inflict on me in any way.
As far as this war business, when you decide to do it you do it waist deep with all you got and you get it over with. Civilians? I can’t get all sad panda over where people choose to live.
This rotten assed US gov’t has been stirring the global pots for a very long time and having watched and experienced their terrorism up close and afar I will NEVER get behind them in any of their endeavors. Yes, I will leave the place of my birth if I have to. I have no loyalty to criminals and traitors and if I get the chance I will stick one in their eye if I can get away with it.
Finally, if the target is way over there and it absolutely, positively needs to get done, well they have them smoldering subterranean nitro cigars out in Wyoming for that sort of thing. Do it like you mean it. But guess what? They don’t really mean it. Just kinda. Never forget that ravenous MIC that needs to be lavishly fed, and that’s where the criminality of thing creeps in large. Sara Lee cupcakes my ass.
I don’t see any unpopular opinions in your comment. I do see a fukton of mistakes about the military arts, but NM those because your overall point is clear and comes through unsullied. I don’t disagree with anything you’ve concluded.
Listening to Chris Kappy at Task & Purpose, I did formulate some more thoughts, BION. It seems the Hamas are trying to derail an Israeli-Saudi conference or treaty-making thing. They could try to sustain the war – given Israel has mobilized the living spit out of their regulars and reserves and that is draining and expensive and therefore the speedy violent strategy is in order – but I can’t figure out how the Hams could suatin a long war or force Israel really to do anything on the battlefield. The Hams have no depth. They are an NGO that turned into a nation. There are NGOs on all borders with Israel but they also lack depth. Iran is big but until they put up they may as well shut up. They’re in the cross-hairs of Israel, you can bet money on that. Probably Lockheed Martin is your best bet, if you know what I mean.
US involvement? I see nothing compellingly different about this Israeli war versus all the ones I’ve seen in my long life and the few that came before the age of casey. IOW if the US goes in in anything other than a commando raid or air support for the commandos, it’d be unprecedented and Mr. Biden would have his legacy move in that.
Application statement: knife attacks worldwide. If you want to know why, order up High Noon and watch it: they’re after you and running ain’t on the options list. Any number of knife wounds are fatal to you, and some aren’t but act as if you don’t want one. Use your arms and legs as blocking tools. Try never to get that close to a bad actor and watch your personal space and area like a hawk. Open up space between you and your attacker. Watch his eyes. When you cut a throat, cut outward; stick the tip in behind the CA and slice away from center mass. Profile people.
I think ghostsniper’s posts are what keep this website going for me in my humble opinion. They are educated, varied, detailed where you need them to be, and even include a soupҫon of things he would usually shy away from. I really really appreciate ghostsniper’s contributions. Thank you, ghostsniper!
Thanks Bob!
I ain’t no Gerard.
And I just can’t let go.
I wish more of the “regulars” showed up and offered their comments and links.
Man’s natural state is to be at war. That is not going to change. At the moment, we are all sitting here fat, stupid and happy. Don’t want to work? Free food and health care. How about a free Obama phone along with that? Nobody here is in fear for their life. Once the average American soccer mom has a constant fear for her children, then nobody is going to give a shit about civilians near an enemy target. We think we are too sophisticated and moral? No. I believe the desire for self preservation is born into us.