Author: David

Over-educated Curmudgeon, Bit-Bucket Tuner and Budding Brewmeister.
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War on Poverty? #gagamaggot

This has no particular scriptural inspiration in back of it, but for some reason it occurred to me sometime w/in the last hour or so. So, FWIW,

The so-called “War on Poverty” has, it seems–if the record of the last 50 years is simply invoked with an eye to looking at the data honestly–resulted in more of the same and even more violence mostly isolated in pockets of “War on Poverty”-created micro-societies. So, why not make it a REAL war on poverty by devoting at least some of the wasted “welfare” funds on REAL welfare, and arming all the folks being oppressed by both “gummint bureaucraps” and gangs/thugs in their ghettos? Maybe if we as a society simply ceded the problem to Darwin. . .

😉

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The Essence of Good Manners and Polite Behavior

“Your rights end where the other fella’s nose begins.” Conversely, the other fella’s rights end where your nose begins. That is to say, mind your own business, do not infringe on others’ rights and vigorously defend your own.

That does not, BTW, mean one can be excused for standing by while an aggressor assaults the rights of a person just acting innocently within their rights. Rights come with responsibilities (many) and one of them is to NOT merely stand by and watch someone being assaulted or having their rights infringed upon. That does NOT mean that one should automatically escalate to physical violence. Prudence is also one of those responsibilities of exercising one’s rights and duties.

Example, back 40-*mumble* years ago, my college roomie and I lived in a downstairs apartment off campus. It was one of eight apartments in two separate buildings. At one time, we had an upstairs “neighbor” who thought it a good idea to place his stereo speakers directly above our bedroom and crank ’em up to “pound the floor” levels late at night.

That was definitely impinging on our “noses.” We asked politely. We asked more firmly. We appealed to the buildings’ owner.

No joy.

So, one late night, I was awakened by his floor-pounding speakers yet again. I banged back on the ceiling. He took offense, and pounded down the stairs and then on our door. My roommate, who was still awake pulling a late cram session, answered the door to physical and verbal abuse from a guy nearly twice his size. I wandered in wearing my typical sleep wear (nothing), walked up between them and decked the guy. Most authoritatively. While he was trying to regain his breath, I told him to turn his stereo OFF and leave it off at night or he could expect to see me again, and I would NOT be so gentle next time.

He moved out.

Now, I am not a big guy, certainly not as big as the jock (he was on one of the university’s sports teams) asshat, but I do NOT long suffer fools, as it were.

And that is how we all should be, but no. We must meekly accept the Norms of a society that would have us all simply bend over and beg, “Please. May I have another?”

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This Is Rich

[With a tip o’ the tam to Ori Pomerantz, via John Lambshead]

Soldier Decapitates ISIS Thug with Spade in Afganistan

This is rich on so many levels. The primary story, sure: prevailing against odds with whatever weapon is to hand: great. But. . .

Calling a spade an “espada,” so to speak, and making it so: really rich.

spade?espada I like the etymology, too: [Gr] spatha? [L] spathan? [Sp] espada, especially since “spade” itself also shares some of those roots (pre-grecian). Using a spade as a [Middle Dutch] “spade” (sword) seems particularly fitting for a British subject, since the House of Hanover has roots in nationalities where “spade” also once meant “sword.”

Then again, root words for “spade” also meant “spoon” or “paddle” at times, in different languages, so “paddling” the ISIS thug to death with a “spoon” also makes me smile.

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FWIW (a brief note on worship)

Many, many people worship Satan without ever considering their actions as such worship. As an Authority on the subject once said to some such,

“You are of your father, the devil (diabolos = slanderer, false accuser), and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies.”

Just sayin’. . .

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Missed It? Here.

Interesting lil tidbit that comes up every “supermoon” (a term I had never read until 2017, strangely enough) is “perigee-syzygy” (a particular alignment of three celestial bodies–a term I had read/heard long ago). It refers to the particular Earth-Moon system condition that results in what is apparently called a “supermoon.” *shrugs* I find “perigee-syzygy” more congenial and felicitous as a term.

BTW, you can try again on the 31st, if that’s a thing for you.

Continue reading “Missed It? Here.”

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Writers Who. . . Shouldn’t

Writers who have not bothered to become literate and who are too cheap, stupid, or stuck on the lefthand side of the Dunning-Kruger Curve to obtain the services of a literate editorial staff just should not write. No, seriously. Wading through knee-high sewage to get to the occasional flower worth plucking gets old.

Oh, the signs are Legion, but I’m sure you know them well. Here are but a few:

1. execrable grammar and punctuation

  •  inability to use tenses properly
  •  apostrophe abuses/neglect
  •  comma splices
  •  misuse of objective case/subjective case pronouns
  •  etc.

2. basic vocabulary failures:

  •  using words of which they wot not the meaning (and I don’t just mean inexplicable misuses of prepositions *sigh*)
  •  utter incomprehension of when to use/not use compound words1
  •  confusion of homophonic words with disparate meanings
  •  etc.

I could go on, but won’t. *sigh* Someone(s) needs t tell these people to JUST STOP. They are polluting the English language with their illiterate, childish crayon scrawls. That was once the gatekeeping function of traditional publishing houses, and while I’m sure it resulted in some worthy manuscripts being dumped in the reject pile, at least it did not so frequently result in utter crap being published as is all too frequently the case with the self-pub democritization of publishing nowadays.

Folks who write books without bothering to become literate, with no serious intention of even submitting their work to literate proofreaders before publication, are insulting their readers. And this issue is quite apart from the issue of folks writing “authoritatively” on subjects they quite obviously know NOTHING about. That is another rant entirely.

DO NOTE: I have read some VERY well-written and edited self-pub books, however that minority represents less than 10% of the self-pub books I have tried to read. *sigh*

Continue reading “Writers Who. . . Shouldn’t”

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Let It Snow!

So, front porch thermometer said 25°F. Car reported 24°F. Aaaaand (as usual) the report from the rural electric temp display in the bottoms (less than a mile away) was 15°F. Occasional flecks of “angel dandruff” in the air.

Checking on *meh*-start on my Wonder Woman’s car. Less than 2-year-old battery. Required wearing proper gear for weather and battery check, so t-shirt and old BDU blouse, nitrile gloves. *heh* “Sealed” battery had several cells low. Topped up with distiled water (thankful for clean turkey baster 😉 ). Attached trickle charger. We’ll see.

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

Despite some of the *cough* “unique” *cough* construction choices made when this house was built, one choice has stood us in good stead: the routing of the HVAC ducting and the water lines. As long as our heating unit is working, we are pretty darned safe from freezing water lines. . . inside the house. Oh, there is one area that is unheated: a storage area under the house directly below the laundry room. But, the storage area is enclosed and has power, so I have a small, thermostat-controlled, electric heater plugged in down there which has kept those pipes from experiencing freezing temps for several years (it’s the successor to earlier iterations). Still, even 10 years ago in the aftermath of a severe ice storm that left power out throughout the county for about a month, we’ve never had problems (knocks on head as closest wood *heh*) with frozen water lines in this house. *shrugs*

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Wannabe (Usually 20-Something) Writers Are almost Cute, Sometimes

It’s almost cute how some wannabe writers try to emulate literacy. It usually shows up in more than a few misused words that are homophones (or close homophones) with whatever word they are groping for or other word misuses indicating a lack of familiarity with well-written text. . . or a dictionary, for that matter. Oh, here’re a couple: using “appraise” for “apprise” or “reign” for “rein” (usually in “free rein” or some such). Kiddy writers who have heard (or THINK they have) a word but have apparently never read the correct word used in a proper context.

One can also just head on over to any list of misused words on the Internet and count on seeing them misused in some self-pub books written (and “edited”) by subliterate kids who’ve been awarded participation trophies all their lives (most likely including their attendance certificates called “diplomas”).

Oh, and comma splices and apostrophe abuses seem to be particular favs of 20-something subliterate kiddy “writers.”

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Rakin’ in the Goodies

Two fav Xmas gifts that have come my way this year:

In addition to my “rescue kitty,” my Wonder Woman found a 1946 printing of the 1943 edition of The Joy of Cooking for me. *heh* It’s actually in better condition than the well worn 1970s era copy [someone] gave us as a wedding present.

Then, of course, Son&Heir gave me a knife. ALWAYS welcome. I can already tell it will be one of my EDC knives. 🙂

Lovely Daughter and Estimable Son-in-Law are coming to share a meal with us Dec. 26, and I can hardly wait to see how Estimable Son-in-Law likes the gifts designed to fit into his latest “thing.”