Michael Hopcroft

I think they just want ours.
 

They have a Christmas party at a local bar in port, invite the Marines, then provoke a glorious brawl., Afterwards the Marines wake up in jail and are presented with the bill for the damages.
 
NT: Subtle signs your employer is the reincarnation of Ebenezer Scrooge.

Okay, we'll try something else....
 
New Topic: Which superhero is getting his/her own reality show?

[Wednesday]Have you ever considered wearing black? It would look good on you.[/Wednesday]

After hearing about the shooting of protesters in MInneapolis, I was almost sick to my stomach.
 
I am still sick -- sick to my soul.
 
When did we become a country where it was acceptable to use this sort of violence as a political tool? When did it become OK for gun-toting "vigilantes" to march through minority neighborhoods and try to scare worshipers away from mosques? When did mass internments and deportations become popular policy? When in this country has fanaticism become so popular and profitable?
 
I have two nieces and a nephew. What sort of a nation am I leaving them?

Odd how generosity has come to mean "buy super-expensive trinkets for your friends to show they you are capable of buying super-expensive trinkiets -- even if you're not." Every Christmas most families get deeper and deeper into debt.
 
Want to be generous? Feed a stranger who hungers and don't tell another soul in the world that you did it.

David Bowie music video.  Lovecraftian science fiction. Madness!
 

Odd how generosity has come to mean "buy super-expensive trinkets for your friends to show they you are capable of buying super-expensive trinkiets -- even if you're not." Every Christmas most families get deeper and deeper into debt.
 
Want to be generous? Feed a stranger who hungers and don't tell another soul in the world that you did it.

Step one is to turn them into liquor. Step two is to drink it. Step three is to form a new rock band, The Smashed Pumpkins, and play the local bar circuit.

PirateCon just ended. And with NinjaCon going on this week good luck finding any sake.
 
NT: Subtle signs Batman needs to go home and sober up.

Some people like to talk about "the war on Christmas".
If Christmas didn't want a war, it shouldn't have crossed the borders of Thanksgiving to attack Halloween.

Odd how generosity has come to mean "buy super-expensive trinkets for your friends to show they you are capable of buying super-expensive trinkiets -- even if you're not." Every Christmas most families get deeper and deeper into debt.
 
Want to be generous? Feed a stranger who hungers and don't tell another soul in the world that you did it.

Odd how generosity has come to mean "buy super-expensive trinkets for your friends to show they you are capable of buying super-expensive trinkiets -- even if you're not." Every Christmas most families get deeper and deeper into debt.
 
Want to be generous? Feed a stranger who hungers and don't tell another soul in the world that you did it.

Mars called, Dr. Watney. She misses you. All is forgiven.
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMkKH7hOqq0

I've SEEN the Russian naval base in question, not so many years ago. I know it features prominently in discussions between armchair strategists online, but I don't think that it has the slightest interest to Putin or the Russian military at all, except as a propaganda piece. It's a tiny harbour with a few rusting corrugated iron sheds, with two cranes, one of which has rusted out, and fallen over into the harbour. When I saw it, the floating piers were derelict and there was a rusted sunken ship at one wharf. It was, in a word, desolate. The Russians are entirely smart enough to know that a small, useless harbour in an area where they cannot reliably project airpower is not a military asset on the global stage, but a liability, which is exactly why they've left it to decay. Promises to rebuild it so that it could host aircraft carriers or cruisers have so far produced bupkiss, and the current Russian buildup isn't even in the area of the port. Edit: and the Russians are actually using their access to the much better port at Limmasol in Cyprus rather more than their Syrian option anyway. I don't know what the status is now, but prior to the war, their "naval base" had a staff of 4.
 
No, Putin's interest and his whole foreign policy - which has been pretty consistent for the last decade and a half - is built around one thing: maintaining Russia's ability to intervene in global energy markets. That's it, period, finito. Every action he has taken in the past has been consistent with that goal in mind, including his intervention in Ukraine and now his intervention in Syria. Putin is irrevocably marked by the collapse of the USSR and the USSR collapsed because - like today's Russia - it was critically dependant on energy revenues for foreign exchange. When OPEC pulled the plug on oil prices in the '80s, that was all she wrote for the USSR. Putin - in his own ham-handed way - is trying to ensure there is no rerun, and for that, he wants a seat at the table in the Middle East. Syria - and the Assad regime - is the last proxy the Russians have left in the area, although they are attempting to cuddle up to Egypt again. The last thing he wants is a new government that is supported by the US or Saudi Arabia becoming dominant in Syria. And that's why the Russians are not hitting ISIS right now, instead hitting the more moderate rebels pressing the regime forces. It suits Putin just fine to have unrest in the Middle East, and ISIS is, quite frankly, useful to him at the moment. As long as they are not strong enough to tople Assad, the worst he is likely to send their way is harsh words. It's also why the Russians moved into Syria at right this moment, as soon as Turkey and other NATO members started taking a more active role.
 
cheers, Mark

Q: Why is that entire flock of sheep running away in terror? (JK)
 
A: And the jailer man, and Sailor Sam were searching everyone...

Swedish humor. See if you can stay with it.
 

Only one response to that:
 

The doghouse in your neighbor's yard. On the positive, though, it's a really terrible doghouse unsuitable for the local climate. The dog will thank you for the opportunity to convince the neighbor to let him live in the house where it's warm.

Q: I just arrived at the L-5 colony. What's the going rate for oxygen and water?
 
A: I'm going to have to science the [bleep] out of this.

whom everyone quarter
 
Since they wouldn't be random if I chose them, a random word generator was used.

Pass out fake final exams and give the students ten minutes to finish them. The questions should either be incredibly advanced copncepts that students at that level can't possibly grasp or utter nonsense. The collect the papers, shred them in front of the entire class, and hand out the actual syllabus,
 
You will have to think of some way to stop the class from hating your guts for a month if you do this.

Q: What was the post-game interviewer too polite to say to the coach of the Chiefs?
 
A: And that's why vampires are lousy at putting on makeup.

Beethoven Symphony no. 3 in E flat, Op. 55

Not coming to a console near you: LEGO The Borgias. Rated M for Mature if the publishers are lucky. You've never seen a minifig do this!