Chef Mojo

It's A Conspiracy!

Via NRO comes this neat little compilation of popular and obscure conspiracy theories:

The World's Weirdest/Stupidest Conspiracy Theories

(in no particular order, with each theory's author or main proponent in parentheses)

- The driver shot JFK. (the late William Cooper)
- The Beatles were designed and sent to the U.S. by the British Psychological Warfare Division, to undermine the morals of American teenagers. (Lyndon LaRouche)
- Christ's Crucifixion was staged. (Hugh Schonfield) Christ eloped with Mary Magdalene, and one or both of them fled to France to raise their family. (Baigent/Leigh/Lincoln)
- Christ and his disciples were a magic-mushroom cult. (Dead Sea Scrolls scholar John Allegro)
- HIV/AIDS was created in a lab.
- HIV does not cause AIDS.
- Man never landed on the moon. It's not even possible. But there is an alien base there. (see Wikipedia; for an artful and very funny parody of how these theories can be patched together from unrelated material, watch the mockumentary Dark Side of the Moon)
- The Zapruder film is entirely fake, even though it contradicts the findings of the Warren Commission. (Jim Fetzer)
- Stephen King killed John Lennon. (Steve Lightfoot)
- WWII was staged. It never really happened. The Illuminati employed elaborate special effects, stage magic, and phony journalism to scare the world into pacifism. (Donald Holmes)
- Queen Elizabeth I was a man. The real Elizabeth died as a child.

And the list goes on...

But the real fun is watching the commentors bring teh crazy. It's like dumping chum in the water.

I love the smell of Troofer in the morning...

(crossposted at Daily Pundit)

I Guess There's A Certain Logic To This...

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Columbia University:

In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country. We don't have that in our country. In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who has told you that we have it...

Yeah. I guess he's right...

They must have been drug dealers...

The Lady & Thomas Dolby

Thomas Dolby put on a fantastic show the other night at the Birchmere, accompanied by the Jazz Mafia Horns, and was kind enough to come out after the show to meet with some fans.

Needless to say, The Lady had a wonderful time!

Presented Without Commentary...

Via Gizmodo:

The Hillary Nutcracker

Collect Them All!

Hiëronymus Bosch figurines.

In my perfect world, these are what would be inside a Mickey D's Happy Meal...

Hell's Happy Meals!

Say, would you like a side of Post Medieval allegory with that burger?

(tip 'o' the hat: S. Weasel)

Zoomin' and Boomin'...

Gizmodo:

This aircraft sitting in a Langley parking lot is the A-12, a supersonic spy plane which was the precursor of the SR-71 —and according to the CIA, even while they look similar, in some ways it was more advanced than the famous Blackbird. It's one of the ten which survived the 15-plane OXCART program, which has been officially unveiled by our dear friends at the CIA. The story of this Mach 3.2 technological wonder starts in 1957 and, like all secret flying things full of gadgets, it's fascinating.

When the CIA gets it right, it really gets it right.

It's a pretty neat story. Read the whole thing, as they say...

Things I've Learned This Week

A couple of things I’ve learned this week:

The plasterboard they used in the 1930’s? Same stuff they armored Sherman tanks with in WW2. I witnessed a sawsall blade reduced to smooth metal in less than 5 minutes of wrestling with this stuff. It’s also very heavy.

Chisels and prybars are your friends.

75 year old framing lumber is also pretty tough.

Old wiring is…well…tricky.

Vintage cast iron claw foot bath tubs and radiators are f*%king heavy.

A Jeep Cherokee will transport a vintage cast iron claw foot bath tub, a radiator and 300 pounds of coarse sandblasting sand. Barely. Felt every pebble on and every crack in the road.

Sandblasting a vintage cast iron claw foot bath tub and an old radiator is not the walk in the park I thought it would be. However, I now know how to sandblast something.

Said sand gets everywhere.

I can prime cast iron tubs and radiators for painting.

I've been up in New Windsor at Avalon helping C&P work on their house this week.

The home in question is a rather large Federal style brick home built in 1812. The bathroom in question was shoehorned into a space between two rooms in the 1930’s. The task entailed removing a modern fiberglass bath and shower, removing a hallway closet and a closet for the library, reframing the bathroom window, rewiring the light switch, installing a wall sconce and a wall socket and refinishing a radiator and a vintage cast iron claw foot bath tub, which will be installed at a future date. The end result will change their bathroom from a claustorphobic water closet to a rather spacious and airy bathroom with lots of light.

It has been an interesting week, to say the least. I am very sore. Especially after last night, when I fell down a step, landed on my left knee and twisted the other knee. It might have had something to do with the ginger beer.

Oh, yes. I also brewed 4 gallons of ginger beer at the beginning of the week. The grown up kind of ginger beer. Very good, and perhaps a little potent.

I've got access to The Lady's lap top while she's away at the Virginia Scottish Games selling jewelry for Robert Piland, who is an extraordinary artist and craftsman.

Well, I'll get back to my latest task. We took the front doors off the house. One half is laid up on saw horses and I'm stripping the old paint off with a heat gun and a putty knife.