Finally, a new miniature!

To take a break from the political rants, here's the first miniature I painted since taking a break due to the move . . . .
From Reaper, 3405 Black Orc Hero.

I'll call him "tabletop plus" quality. Definitely not by best, but still fun to paint.

I'm really enjoying sculpts by Tre Manor. Over-muscled, brutal-looking figures. Lots of muscle detail. He's selling his own minis over at Red Box Games.

On another gaming front, GenCon looms! I'm excited, since I've got a bunch of money burning a hole in my pocket. Dozens of miniatures will likely be purchased, as well as RPG supplements and board games (like Carcassone and Cold War).

All told, about 34,000 games will descend upon Indianapolis in a fit of geekiness, nerdiness, and downright dorkitude. The Colts are still going to try to have a pre-season game against the Vikings that weekend. Hopefully, they've learned that booking hotel rooms in advance is a good plan. On the other hand, I'll laugh myself silly if they goof it up again ( like when the Jets came here several years ago), and the Vikings need to stay at a Super-8 up in Lafayette.
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For Fred

I found some pre-production sketches of Voyager.
Check out ScienceFictionModels.com for more pictures.

Even More Adventures in Irony.

So, I am pretty peeved off about the Federal Government spending money that doesn't even exist like drunken sailors on shore leave.

I even contacted my two senators about it. I haven't heard anything from Senator Richard Lugar, but I did get two very nice messages back from Senator Evan Bayh.

The first one contained this paragraph:

It disturbs me that the Federal Government borrows billions each year from foreign creditors, such as the Chinese and Japanese central banks. The growing indebtedness of our country to our competitors raises troubling questions about America's independence and the ability of foreign countries to influence our economic and trade policies in ways that might not be in our national interest.

and this:

For these reasons, it is imperative that we spend every taxpayer dollar wisely. In January, I supported a resolution of disapproval regarding the release of the second half of the funds for the Troubled Asset Relief Program from the Treasury. It concerns me that these funds may have been used improperly, rather than to stabilize our banking system as intended. It is now more important than ever that our government demonstrate the accountability that we taxpayers deserve.

Oh yeah, there's this, too:

I was also one of two Democrats to vote against the Fiscal Year 2010 congressional budget resolution due to its lack of fiscal restraint. At a time when so many American families are tightening their belts to make ends meet, Congress should be equally committed to living within its means. The budget I opposed projected an unsustainable level of deficits spending. The national debt today stands at over $11 trillion and is projected to reach $17 trillion by 2014 under this budget. We cannot pass that burden on to our children and grandchildren.

Got all that? Sure sounds like Senator Bayh is very concerned about all that money we're spending . . . .

So, here's how the second message starts off:

I strongly supported President Obama's $789 billon economic recovery plan, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which was enacted on February 17, 2009. While this legislation is not perfect, it does make job creation and tax relief for the middle class top priorities. It is critical that the government play an active role in stimulating the economy to keep thousands of businesses from failing and millions of people from losing their jobs.

What? I thought you just said . . . .

The economic recovery plan provides more than $17 billion in funding for biomedical research, public health, and other health-related programs within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is an important contribution to Indiana's premier life sciences sector. Specifically, ARRA provides $10 billion to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for biomedical research and extramural research facilities; $2 billion for the modernization of health records and health information technology (HIT); $500 million for health center grants and HIT acquisition; more than $1 billion for comparative effectiveness research; $1.5 billion for health center renovation and repair; $500 million for the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) and other health workforce programs; and $1 billion for disease prevention.

Wait a minute, I coulda swore your first message was all about fiscal responsibility . . . .

I have confidence that the economic recovery plan will continue to save and create jobs in Indiana and around our country, improve our transportation system and existing infrastructure, and eventually improve the quality of health care for Americans. Please rest assured that I will keep your views regarding health care funding in mind as Congress debates these important issues.

Seriously, Senator. W. T. F?

Sounds like someone's fixin' to get a phone call from me soon.

More Adventures in Irony.

The Kindle is supposed to be the "next big thing" in books. An electronic book, capable of storing your entire library, allowing you to read great classics anywhere.

Until a publisher decides he doesn't really want electronic copies out there, and convinces Amazon.com to yank them back.

The best part? Amazon yanked freaking Animal Farm and 1984, both by George Orwell.

Now, not that I'm a smart-ass or anything, but if someone were to go to another site in another country where Orwell's works have passed into the public domain, who am I to stop them? Naturally, I would never, ever link to such a site. That would be wrong. But as they say, some wrongs are more equal than others. :)

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/o/orwell/george/

Vacations are good things

No, that's not me. That's Jeff. But I was taking the picture, if that makes you feel better.

I went up to the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Very nice and peaceful (minus the niece and nephew). I didn't get as much fishing in as I had wanted. The mornings just didn't lend themselves to getting up at the buttcrack of dawn. We did manage to get out to a river once, where we found thousands of crayfish, but only about 3 fish. None of which we caught. The river (part of the Rainbow Flowage) was beautiful, with lots of boulders providing a picturesque landscape. But, the river flowed too slowly to crave out deep ruts and holes that could have provided shelter for smallmouth. Oh well, guess I'll just have to keep trying here in Indy!

But, I did get a few shots of eagles. There was a hunting perch where these two eagles sat, keeping an eye out for food.

That's about as good as my camera can do. Beautiful, and fun to watch. I managed to see them pluck a couple fish out of the lake. They did better than we did.

More miniature pictures coming someday. As soon as I can figure out how to work my camera again. I hid the setting notes somewhere . . . .
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Obama's Recovery Plan - Even Higher Unemployment!

Continued from here . . . .

Now, this is the projected number, not the actual number (the guys over at Innocent Bystanders are on it, though).

Unemployment increased AGAIN!!! Despite the Glorious Leader Obama's plan to Bankrupt Us All.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

And these numbers don't include what will happen when the Cap and Tax carbon emission debacle . . . er . . . plan goes through. Or Universal Health Care That Will Mean You Die Sooner. Or the necessary tax increases to pay for all our wonderful government services that the Glorious Leader Obama will provide for us.

For the record, what do you think the media would be saying if these unemployment numbers occurred under George W. Bush? Instead of "Unemployment lower than expected" we'd be seeing "Economy worsens to historic proportions."

If the economy keeps getting worse at a slower rate, we'll soon be up to 10% unemployment. No doubt our ruling class will proclaim that it would have been so much worse if we were fiscally responsible.

Bastards.