Ted Cruz responded to Trump’s “birtherism” with this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4ZGKI8vpcg
Just the right touch, wouldn’t you say? *heh*
UN-Freaking-Believable
I recently read a fantasy novel by a 30-something kid who writes like a literate (for a seventh-grader) junior high school student. Irritating. He’s apparently a self-inflicted victim of the Dunning-Kruger Effect, from the evidence of the kinds of glaring errors he makes that would have been easily avoided had he done his homework.
*sigh*
Example: horses and horseback riding are featured throughout the book (and from what I have seen in preview material, the next book in the series as well, where the snippet I saw mentioned horses braying *shudder*). One would think that if horses and riding horses were significant elements of a novel, then the writer would at least casually pick up a copy of Horse and Rider or maybe even stroll on down to a stable to get a wee tad of realism to use. Oh, wait! Talk to a real person with experience with horses! Nah. Too hard.
Nope. Instead, Every. Single. Thing. Wrong. Completely stupid. Way to massacre any chance of suspension of disbelief, doofus.
It’s a long story. . .
. . .but for many reasons, I really like this commercial.
This is what happens. . .
. . . when subliterate grups write blurbs for their own self-pub books:
“thriller that will have you bolted to the edge of your seat”
#gagamaggot
Historically Clueless, Unable to Reason
This is how the writer of a PM article sums up the revelation of one Cold War contingency plan:
“The document is a frightening alternative history of what could have been, during one of the most tense eras in our nation’s history. Thankfully it didn’t come to this. There’s no telling to what extent the Eastern Bloc may have retaliated.” [emphasis added]
Moron. The plan as described would have virtually obliterated any possible response before it could be initiated. That was the point: to develop a plan for an overwhelming response to an attack.
MAD was not insane. It relied on a basic human need for self-preservation. As such, it may have stretched dependence on rationality, but its very credibility was integral to winning the Cold War. . . which the US did, before throwing the fruits of victory to the winds.
Don’t Worry. You Can Trust M$. No, Really. . .
The article linked below mentions some of the reasons I have Win 10 only on a third tier, non-critical, easily replaceable computer that has no (or obfuscated) “personal” info and extremely limited access to other devices on our network. I also nuked every piece of “phone home to M$” that I could, just because. . . 😉
Windows 10 covertly sends your disk-encryption keys to Microsoft
Virgin Birth
Everyone is born a virgin.
Thatisall.
Killing Little Grey Cells
OK, so I started reading a novel. The premise: a “rogue” archeologist makes an amazing discovery. Yeh, Dan Brown-ish, but maybe it’ll get better. Problem #1: this “brilliant” archeologist is a moron. I find myself almost immediately wanting to take her by the scruff of her neck and shake some sense into her. Dislike much? Yeh, much.
So, enter another character: the archeologist’s estranged husband who is supposedly some sort of mountain climber of note. Yeh, problem #2: he’s a dislikable moron, too. Within about a page and a half of this character’s entrance, I wanted the writer to kill him off–quickly! Dislike much? Yeh, much.
Asked myself if I were willing to put up with the crap I’d have to in order to read a book built around two characters who’d be better written out of the story so it could be transformed into a much more pleasing story about Jack the Ripper’s rebirth or some such. Answer: nah. These are “people” whose story I do not want to know. Buh-bye!
What little I read was better than a similar sample of Dan Brown dreck, but that’s damning with no praise at all. At least it was free, even if I may never recover from the brain cells it killed.
Just In Case You DO GARA. . .
New Year’s Resolution for any American who does give a rat’s ass about how government impacts his life: resolve to read Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville in 2016. . . and then do something about the disconnect between the America he wrote about and what exists today.
Volume I: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/815
Volume II: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/816
Go. Read. Learn. Do.
Interesting Times. . .
A very brief (~2 seconds) look at the small creek out back of Third World County Central™ shows that, an hour ago, it was still about 6-7 feet below overflowing our neighbor’s property, allowing another 2 feet or so before the lowest portion of our property would experience an inflow.