Game of Thrones In One Chart

With the start of the latest season of Game of Thrones, you may need to catch up on the characters and how they relate to each other. Here's pretty much everything you need to know in one chart.

Time to gird your loins.

Top Ten Traitors in History

Interesting list, but Bobby Petrino should be on there somewhere.

Saturday Morning Piano Music

A little Franz Liszt to get the morning going.

Bostic/Sanford Debate Highlights, Guns, and Easter

I didn't follow this debate last night for several reasons. First, I was doing something actually enjoyable - watching the Gamecock Baseball team come from behind to beat the Aggies 3-2. Second, I don't watch debates between people who I'm not eligible to vote for. Third, debates are pretty boring. I'd almost always rather watch Olympic women's curling. (The Swedish women aren't bad.)

In any event, if you're interested in the Sanford/Bostic race, check it out. If you're not interested in politics, you can enjoy some chicks with guns here.

Happy Easter

If You Get Lonesome for Italy...

...go eat some spahgetti.

City of Columbia To Buy Compress Warehouse

BAD IDEA. The City is going to raise taxes by $7 Million to buy the building and land for $5.65 Million.

The City of Columbia should not be in the real estate market.

The Best "Cold War" Movies

I was inspired by a comment someone made over on Brad's Blog that ALL the Rocky sequels were "awful". First of all, that's an incorrect statement. Only Rocky V was actually "awful", but I digress.

Anyway, I was thinking about how Rocky IV was a classic "Cold War" movie. It was made in 1985, at the end of the Cold War (although we didn't really know it at the time) and has a great dynamic between the Soviets and the Americans in the context of boxing and how it bleeds over into the political and the personal.

So what are my other top "Cold War" movies? In no particular order:

1. Rocky IV (1985): Great battles in the ring between Ivan Drago, Apollo Creed, and Balboa. Culminates in my favorite Rocky "training" scene when he goes to the Russian countryside to train.

2. Red Dawn (1984). The Soviets invade Texas to start WWIII, but Charlie Sheen, Patrick Swayze, and Jennifer Grey fight back in guerrilla style combat. I hate that they tried to remake this movie.

3. War Games (1983). Matthew Broderick and a computer almost bring the Soviets and the Americans to a nuclear exchange by accident. Great ending with teaching the computer that nuclear war isn't really "winnable".

4. Miracle (2004). Again, made well after the Cold War, but set in 1980, which was a very low point for the USA in terms of the morale of the American people. If the locker-room speech before the game doesn't get you going, not much will.

5. The Hunt for Red October (1990). Although it was made after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the movie is set in 1984, and is one of Connery's best roles outside of the Bond series. It's probably the coolest submarine movie ever made, and it's extremely quotable: I would liked to have seen Montana.

Once more, we play our dangerous game, a game of chess against our old adversary - The American Navy. For forty years, your fathers before you and your older brothers played this game and played it well. But today the game is different. We have the advantage.

 Red October is probably my favorite of the bunch.

This Day In History (Victoria Cross Award)

The Victoria Cross is Britain's version of the Medal of Honor. The Victoria Cross is the highest award that Britain can award to a member of the military for "valor in the face of the enemy". It ranks higher than all other decorations or medals, and is traditionally presented by the monarch.

On this day in WWII (March 26, 1943) action took place that led to the the Victoria Cross being awarded to a native of New Zealand, 2nd Lieutenant Ngarimu.

Lt. Ngarimu was a Marori, which is the name for the indigenous people of New Zealand. Basically, this would be analogous to a Native American Indian winning the Medal of Honor. Lt. Ngarimu's citiation for the Victoria Cross is as follows:

During the action at the Tebaga Gap on 26 March 1943, 2nd Lieutenant Ngarimu commanded a platoon in an attack upon the vital hill feature, Point 209. He was given the task of attacking and capturing an under-feature forward of Point 209 itself and held in considerable strength by the enemy. He led his men with great determination straight up the face of the hill, undeterred by the intense mortar and machine-gun fire, which caused considerable casualties.

Displaying courage and leadership of the highest order, he was himself first on the hill crest, personally annihilating at least two enemy machine-gun posts. In the face of such a determined attack the remainder of the enemy fled, but further advance was impossible as the reverse slope was swept by machine-gun fire from Point 209 itself.

Under cover of a most intense mortar barrage the enemy counter-attacked, and 2nd Lieutenant Ngarimu ordered his men to stand to and engage the enemy man on man. This they did with such good effect that the attackers were virtually mown down, 2nd Lieutenant Ngarimu personally killing several. He was twice wounded, once by rifle fire in the shoulder and later by shrapnel in the leg, and though urged by both his company and battalion commanders to go out, he refused to do so, saying that he would stay a little while with his men. He stayed until he met his death the following morning.

Darkness found this officer and his depleted platoon lying on the rock face of the forward slope of the hill feature, with the enemy in a similar position on the reverse slope about twenty yards distant. Throughout the night the enemy repeatedly launched fierce attacks in an attempt to dislodge 2nd Lieutenant Ngarimu and his men, but each counter-attack was beaten off by 2nd Lieutenant Ngarimu’s inspired leadership. During one of these counter-attacks the enemy, using hand grenades, succeeded in piercing a certain part of the line. Without hesitation this officer rushed to the threatened area, and those of the enemy he did not kill he drove back with stones and with his tommy-gun.

During another determined counter-attack by the enemy, part of his line broke. Yelling orders and encouragement, he rallied his men and led them in a fierce onslaught back into their old positions. All through the night, between attacks, he and his men were heavily harassed by machine-gun and mortar fire, but 2nd Lieutenant Ngarimu watched his line very carefully, cheering his men on and inspiring them by his personal conduct.

Morning found him still in possession of the hill feature but only he and two unwounded other ranks remained. Reinforcements were sent up to him. In the morning the enemy again counter-attacked and it was during this attack that 2nd Lieutenant Ngarimu was killed. He was killed on his feet defiantly facing the enemy with his tommy-gun at his hip. As he fell he came to rest almost on top of those of the enemy who had fallen, the number of whom survived testified to his outstanding courage and fortitude.

2nd Lieutenant Ngarimu

Wow. The acts of heroism and valor in WWII are simply to numerous to count.

Content - Ain't Nobody Got Time For That

Yeah, today's pretty light on content here at the ol' Permanent Press homestead.

 

 Content. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Create McDonald's Food at Home

I know this is exactly what some of y'all have been dreaming of. McDonald's tasting food coming from your own kitchen. It's really detailed and worth a glance.

 

Note, all of these recipes are from the methods of the 1950s - 70s. All I can say is that you're going to need a lot of lard.

Weekend Open Thread - Break the Rules

The weekend is upon us. Don't feel constrained by the man and his rules that keep you down.

Friday Morning News 3-22-13

Happy Friday, y'all.

In the news today, the temporary tax on New York's high-earners has become permanent. Is anyone really surprised?

Also, Colt is making noises about possibly leaving CT due to the anti-gun climate up there. It would be awesome if they relocated to South Carolina. However, I bet the workers at Colt are probably really great, and I would feel bad for them if a few knuckle-heads forced a long-standing company to pull up it's roots and move.

Apparently, people on food stamps don't want to be told what they can and can't buy with them. It seems that Nikki Haley, Mayor Bloomberg, and Michelle Obama all agree that regulating what people eat is a good idea. As I type this, I'm eating a big ol' piece of bacon. So there.

That's all I got for today. Enjoy your Friday.

Can Government Solve the Stay-At-Home-Mom Debate?

This piece from The New Republic (via Althouse) explores the phenomenon of highly educated, high-powered women who opt to be stay-at-home-moms, rather than push ever higher in their professional lives. It also offers a solution.

To understand why female lawyers, doctors, bankers, academics, high-tech executives and other, often expensively pedigreed, professionals quit work to stay home, you need not search their souls for ambivalence or nostalgia....

I'm not sure I entirely agree with that. I think that many high-powered, professional women are somewhat conflicted or ambivalent about it. I know that they are at least afraid of being judged by women who are in the other camp.

Specifically, stay-at-home-moms are afraid of being judged as not ambitious by the women who pursue successful careers. On the flip side of the coin, I think that some professional women are afraid of being judged as not being as child oriented as they could be. It certainly takes long hours to climb the ladder in certain professions.

To reject a high-flying career, as this man did and so many women have done, is not to reject aspiration; it is to refuse to succumb to a kind of madness.

I certainly agree with this. The old feminist mantra was that as a woman, you could "have it all". That's just not possible, especially if you're in a profession where you have extreme demands on your time if you want to beat everyone else out for advancement.

Achieving professional success is admirable, but what's the point of making all that money if you don't have a life? I think it's a question of what each person finds to be most fulfilling. That will be different for everyone, and it doesn't mean that either choice is better in the abstract. The bottom line is that life is full of trade-offs. You can't have it all. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either a fool or is selling something.

The problem with this piece is the solution it proposes. The proposed solution is to have the government come in and mandate maximum working hours for professionals. Everyone will be barred from working long hours, so the folks who want to spend more time with their families don't have to compete with those who sacrifice family time to achieve professional success.

The main reason white-collar workers can be driven to work 80-hour-or-so weeks is that very few of them have government protections. Most of them are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act, which mandates the 40-hour-week and overtime pay. American managers aren’t allowed to join unions. Other countries have laws that protect against overwork even for professionals, such as standard or maximum number of hours anyone can work in a week.

This would never work here in America, and it's a horrible idea. Can you imagine a law that mandated the maximum hours lawyers could work in a week? The bell rings at 5:00PM and all the lawyers go home for the day? Oh, you had an issue that needed some extra attention on Friday? Sorry. We'll get to it on Monday.

Or for doctors? Oh, you went into labor at 6:30PM on a Friday? I guess we'll just keep you in a holding pattern until Monday morning. The doctor has already done her government mandated time. We could just let a nurse do the delivery for you, though.

A fundamental part of the American ethos is hard work. Hard work separates the great achievers from the slackers or those who choose not to work. Everyone isn't equal, and you can't just tell the folks who want to sacrifice their home life for their careers that they have to go home now. Different people have different priorities.

Wow, talk about a restriction on choice, too. This sounds like a prohibition on ambition. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not taking sides in the stay-at-home vs. career mom debate, but the government can't simply solve this problem by requiring that people only work 40 hours a week.

Hey! You can't work so hard and go the extra mile because there are others out there who choose other priorities, and it wouldn't be fair to make them have to compete with you.

Life is full of choices. Be a grown-up. Make your choices and live with them. The government isn't here to make everyone the same.

 

Garden & Gun Southern Food Bracket

I'm not filling out a bracket for squeaky-hoops, like our President and millions of other folks. Instead, I just filled out the Garden and Gun Southern Food Bracket. You should do this as well, because we can't let Fritos beat Palmetto Cheese.

Just looking at the bracket, I'm going to predict a Coca-Cola vs. Krispy Kreme final.

SEC Football Teams as Game of Thrones Characters

A law-school friend of mine found a CBS piece that compared all the NCAA Basketball teams to characters in Game of Thrones. I don't watch bouncy-hoops, so I decided to do the same thing for something that everyone actually likes - SEC Football. If you don't watch Game of Thrones, or know anything about it don't bother reading any further. Go back to watching whatever girly show you watch. Even though it's not actively football season, Game of Thrones will be starting Season Three at the end of this month.

Here's how I would align characters with SEC Teams:

SEC West

Alabama – Tywin Lannister. This was the easiest character to do. The Elder lannister lord is calculating, ruthless, and controlling. Just like The Tide. They have a huge army, and their color is red. No one outside of their house likes them very much.

Auburn -Jaime Lannister. Auburn wishes that it could be Alabama, and Jamie wishes that he could be his father Tywin. Auburn has had brief moments of victory, much like the Jaime “the Kingslayer” Lannister, both Auburn and Jamie are overconfident, impulsive, and without morals. They both relish their image, and there’s incest going on.

LSU – Daenerys Targaryen. The more I think about this one, the more it makes sense. Daenerys is a survivor and can manipulate some super-dangerous dragons with magic. Likewise, LSU brings live, dangerous beasts out on the field during games, and Les Miles certainly has some magic in that ol’ hat of his. He conjures fire and somehow always walks away from what should be certain death. Neither is to be underestimated. The followers they both have are really fanatically crazy.

Arkansas - Petyr Baelish a/k/a LittleFinger. Baelish is sneaky, underhanded, and mainly exists with the aid of his spies. He’s always looked down on by the tougher other houses (Alabama, LSU). Arkansas is always ready to fight, but they do it with their own style of play that will beat a lesser opponent before the eventual beat down that comes at the hands of skilled fighters.

Texas A&M - Robb Stark. Robb is the new heir to the Northern Kingdom after his father is executed, and he immediately runs out and attacks (with success) the strongest army in the land. TAMU has done the same thing with Johnny Football at the helm. They are new to the power and they’ve really stung the traditional power (Alabama/Tywin Lannister). It remains to be seen if they can keep the victories in the field of battle going.

Ole Miss - Bran Stark. He’s the youngest of the [one of the younger] Stark children, and he can’t really fight. He’s great at entertaining himself by climbing walls, but he gets pushed off the wall by Jamie Lannistser, and almost dies. He’s then attacked again, and almost dies. He’s now suffering from crazy dreams, which is not unlike what happens to you after an afternoon in the Grove. Ole Miss just keeps getting beat up by the bigger kids. They aren’t ready to fight yet.

Mississippi State - Arya Stark. She’s learning to defend herself a little bit – in a cutesy sort of way. Every once in awhile she’ll hurt someone, and everyone cheers for her. The cowbells at Mississippi State are kind of a similar subtle threat. We all pat them on the head and say “that’s cute, they’re ringing bells” in the same way a little girl with a sword is cute.

SEC East

Florida - Joffrey Baratheon. Really crazy and really into hurting people. Brandon Spikes anyone? All the Florida players seem to now just really enjoy beating the hell out of their opponents physically, because the offense can’t seem to get it in gear, kind of like how Joffrey beats the prostitutes rather than sleeping with them. Both are dangerous and unstable.

Georgia - Stannis Baratheon. Stannis is a brooding, humorless man, and Georgia fans are a brooding bunch. They are high nobility from times past, but they’ve fallen on unlucky times recently. They keep looking to their new running backs as saviors; every Georgia fan thinks the next running back is “the next Hershel”, just like Stannis commits himself to the new high priestess of fire. Ultimately, the Bulldogs end up almost always losing to Florida, in a similar fashion to the battle of King’s Landing.

South Carolina – Tyrion Lannister. You can’t help but love all the one-liners from Tyrion or Spurrier. Both Tyrion and the Gamecocks are looked down on as poor fighters, and both still enjoy partying, and drinking despite poor showings on the field. However, both Tyrion and the Gamecocks want to prove themselves worthy of being in their house (the SEC East) and have moments of great defense (Clowney is the Wild Fire that Tyrion uses to utterly destroy Stannis’ fleet).

Tennessee - Cersei Lannister. Both UT and Cersei are evil, manipulative, and cruel. The Volunteers still think of themselves as nobility, but they are simply clinging to the past victories just like Cersei is only really important because she used to be married to the former king. Both now spend their time plotting their return to power, although everyone knows that it will end badly for them both.

Kentucky - Sansa Stark. She’s just stuck waiting for events around her to take their course. She waits for a marriage, then it doesn’t work out. She’s totally at the mercy of everyone else. Kind of like the Kentucky football program.

Vanderbilt - Jon Snow. Everyone kind of cheers for Jon Snow. He’s the nice guy who always finishes last, but he’s starting to toughen up in the Night’s Watch, just like Vanderbilt is that loveable loser that is starting to actually build a solid fundamental program. All the nobles make fun of him, but he’s confident that he’ll eventually take his place in the world, just like Vandy grads know they’ll eventually be asking Alabama grads for super-size fries.

Missouri - Bron. The guy comes from nothing, and is new to the scene, but he works his way up fast. He's a good-natured guy, but is also ruthless. If you turn your back on him he'll surprise you.

Assault Weapons Ban Shot Down By Democrats

When we last left the senior senator from California, she was being ruthlessly overwhelmed by a simple legal question from the junior senator from Texas, which left her sputtering and unable to respond in any logical, relevant manner.

Now, it appears that her own party has abandoned her. (After seeing her performance, can you really blame them?) The senate majority leader has decided not to include Feinstein's assault weapons ban in the gun control package that he will bring to the floor for discussion.

After a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday, a frustrated Feinstein said she learned that the bill she sponsored — which bans 157 different models of assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines — wouldn’t be part of a Democratic gun bill to be offered on the Senate floor. Instead, it can be offered as an amendment. But its exclusion from the package makes what was already an uphill battle an almost certain defeat.

We can expect lots of whining from the gun control crowd, and I'm sure they'll be very upset about all this. Just so you don't think I'm all heartless, I've got a "cheer you up" picture below the "Read More" jump for any person who's having a bad day. Senator Feinstien, you're welcome to click as well.

SC's Spring Turkey Season

After shooting quail and pheasant (and thousands of clay targets) I'm going to try my hand at shooting something big this spring - a turkey. South Carolina's turkey season is in the spring to coincide with the turkey's mating season. So, from April 1 - May 1, South Carolina hunters have the opportunity to bag a gobbler.

However, just because the turkey is walking around in the woods doesn't make him easy too shoot. Turkey's have a very keen sense of sight, so they can spot the smallest detail that you don't have camouflaged. That means in addition to camouflage pants and shirt, you have to cover your face and hands as well.

Also, turkeys move through the woods with a purpose in the springtime - they're looking to mate. Accordingly, to attract the dominant male turkey, you have to sound like a hot female turkey looking to get it on. I've been driving Mrs. Permanent Press crazy with the turkey call that I have. Pretty much the only place that I can practice is in the car. This is the sound I'm trying to imitate.

I've done a little preliminary scouting, and it's been enjoyable to just walk through the woods and try to figure out where the turkeys are. I actually got a turkey to call back to me on my last scouting trip. It was amazing to be interacting with a wild animal like that.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get a gobbler in my sights this season. I'll keep you updated on the progress. Any tips, hints, or advice is always welcome.

Cyprus Banks to Stay Shut Until Thursday

The EU just decided to take money from everyone who had a savings account in Cyprus. Oh, you want to get your money out of the bank? Too bad, the banks will be closed until Thursday.

This is not going to end well. There are going to be some nervous folks in Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and Portugal right now. Would you keep your money in a bank in one of those countries?

Archduke Franz-Ferdinand could not be reached for comment.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! [Musical Interlude]

Whether you're going to Five Points, running in the race, or just enjoying your Saturday, have a happy St. Patrick's Day. Here's some music.

"Luca" the Cool Medic Dog

This is “Luca” with the 4th Stryker BCT.
 

He's the coolest dog on the planet right now.