"In a democracy (‘rule by mob’), those who refuse to learn from history will be the majority and will dictate that everyone else suffer for their ignorance."
“Do you know more about the news than the average American?”
To which I answered, “Yes. *duh* I pay as little attention to the Mass MEdia Podpeople Hivemind as possible. I watch no television ‘news’ programs, never read national newspapers except to do casual research into where the Hivemind’s narrative is headed, etc. So naturally I am better informed than the average American!”
Then I took their silly lil quiz.
. . .when I get serious about finishing up electrical work here at twc central.
*profound sigh*
I do so very much dislike doing electrical work, but the only electrician I really trust here in America’s Third County retired a couple of years ago, and I really, really, really don’t want to pay someone to just screw things up, so that leaves me, my “consultant” (“Hey, X, can you tell me what to do/where to go for parts/etc., for such and so?”) and my several references on electrical work, codes, etc.
See, there are several ESSENTIAL circuits. Some I’ve already reworked, and they’re OK, but there is one seriously, majorly [messed up] circuit that serves stuff all over the house in ways that make no rhyme or reason that I’ve been putting off simply because it is the single weirdest electrical circuit I’ve ever run across. It serves parts of serveral rooms and one room entirely–the small room I have used as an office that is now pretty much simply a computer junk room and place with my most comfy chair for sitting at a computer.
(Yeh, yeh, I know, whine, whine, whine.)
Well, that circuit decided today was the day to go crazy. Dead. Live. Dead again. No, the circuit breaker doesn’t pop. It’s the live bus bar in the main box. *sigh* Yeh. Best solution is simply to replace the main service panel. *groan* I do NOT want to do that. Second best: call the manufacturer and order a new bus bar. Now, while that’s nearly the cost of a completely new circuit panel and still involves working around the live mains, I can do that. (Good insulation all over, including properly insulated tools, gloves, shoes, etc., then terminating the live mains with appropriately-sized insulators; still a PITA and still a bit scary. *shrugs* I have life insurance. :-)) But that, of course, will still leave me with rewiring to do, since circuits wired by a jackleg electrician and added to later by someone’s retarded pet monkey still need to be cleaned up (*cough* rewired completely *cough*).
Ah, well, in th meantime, I can bring in those three (or four–there is room in the box) circuits someone added to the house in a box outside about 30 years or so ago (going by the manufacture date of the circuit panel outside). . . coming straight off the mains! *sigh* I suppose I could cut off two of the rooms on this bad circuit and use one circuit apiece from the outside box for them. That’d (temporarily, in a hash-up sort of way) solve a world of ills. Another for an appliance circuit that I think is overloaded, although it’s never had any problems. I could almost do that recycling the conduit that’s outside, although I’d want to use new wiring.
Looks like my Spring task list has pretty well filled up, cos I do electrical work v e r y s l o w l y.
So, since we–very uncharacteristically–have a refund due us from the fedgov this year (primarily due to some rebates on “energy efficient” home improvements and to lower income *sigh*), we filed as soon as all the correct forms were available.
Son&Heir filed a couple of weeks later.
Whose return was processed first? You got it.
Reason #1,386,237 why I hate the IRS.
Mini-project: Cleaning up and configuring a used, but otherwise nice, older Vaio desktop for use by a (very nearly*) first time computer user who’s nearly 90. Purpose of the computer? “I want to be able to do email with my children and grandchildren.”
A worthwhile use for a computer, but it doesn’t require all that much. So. notebook or desktop was the first question. (Tablet or “smart” phone? Nope. Nixed by user.)
There were several barriers to a notebook: cost, screen size, cramped keyboard and any kind of touchpad were some of the stated barriers. But size mattered, in some senses, as well because of limited living space.
Nice discovery: a nice-sized, high-resolution (1080p) TV with an analog video computer input that sits within pretty close viewing range from the user’s most comfy chair. Desktop that’ll fit into the user’s entertainment center? The right fit.
Internet access. Limited, fixed income. Relatively high medical expenses (relative to fixed income). But. The assisted living facility does sport a wireless network with Internet access, and the wireless password is in my password book. . . Now, if only the user can access it from her apartment, Internet access is solved. Hmmm, a small parabolic dish to improve reception and transmission from a 5db base antenna on a wireless adapter? Could be.
Other minor concerns:
Would have preferred a Linux OS with desktop links to Internet/Email, but (sort of computer literate) adult children would not be all that comfortable helping the user with that OS as an environment, so some sort of Windows environment. Oh, dear. It is a slightly older computer. Only 512 MB RAM, and only room for expansion to a max of 2GB (one pair of expansion slots effectively X-ed out, because one of them is has a small issue: broken clip). That’s not all that bad, since the computer’s limited to a 32-bit OS, anyway. Maybe Win7 wouldn’t be best, though. So, WinXP Pro, 32-bit it is. (Hmmm, seems to run very nicely with the 512MB it has. With installation of software blocked, it might just do as is! But. . . another 1GB would only be about $25. Decisions. . . ) Fully updated, WinXP Pro SP3 will certainly serve the user well enough and be familiar to family who may want to mess the computer up. *heh*
After those trifling concerns were met, the rest has been easy-peasy.
Necessary software:
A decent browser (Opera) configured with useful extensions (WOT, LastPass, Adblock Plus) and Speed Dial selections (the user’s webmail address, several sites fitting user’s stated interests, etc.). Links on desktop to Internet/Email.
Basic security software–Microsoft Security Essentials.
OpenDNS set as DNS resolver, and free account set up for customized filtering.
Irfanview–better for viewing family photos than the XP built in viewer.
TeamViewer8 for the most computer-savvy relative to use for remote management.
. . .and a few other little details, like the mini-manual with outlined user tips.
With a little luck on the Internet connection (via the assisted living facility’s existing wireless network), I think this will serve the stated needs pretty well.
Fun lil mini-project.
(Kudos to JDS and MES for the donation of the computer.)
Every now and then things long misplaced just pop into focus from long-ago memories. Here’s one from those after school snack times in front of the TV (B&W, of course) before heading out to play for a bit before dinner (well, actually “supper” in our home :-)). Every afternoon about four a brief video of a jet in flight accompanied by music and the reading of “High Flight” would hold me for a very short time:
The poem
“High Flight”
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air….Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace.
Where never lark, or even eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
– Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.–John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
Just one more memory, burnished by time, softly glowing. I can still hear it as one of “the voices in my head”.
One thing I hate in movies is over-production and absolutely stupid direction that manufactures such absolutely stupid physical business that anyone with more active brain cells than are found in a used Kleenex will experience a complete dissolution of suspension of disbelief.
I saw a video (yeh, a pirated video of a TV pilot for s show that didn’t make it past the pilot *shrugs* Good/bad: interesting concept, well-acted, poorly directed and overly post-produced) recently that threw me off in just about every third scene.
Scene: “burglar” (gal “sneaking” her mom’s home late at night) but post production added excessive shoe noises, overly loud openings and closings of doors, etc. I mean, even just walking around normally on our hardwood floors, I can’t MAKE myself walk that noisily, and no normal door opens and closes (latches, hinges and door itself) as noisily as the post-production sounds made those doors seem to. Just stupid.
Then: protagonist shadowing a hit man driving a glaring puke yellow muscle car. OK, that’s jarring. But… the protagonist is driving an almost fluorescent green car. And stakes out the hit man overnight in that “LOOK AT ME!” color car. The hit man does an obvious 360 sweep checking for suspicious activity both before settling in for the night and before entering his car the next morning AND MISSES THE FLUORESCENT GREEN CAR (which he has seen WITH the protagonist before) WHICH IS PARKED ALMOST DIRECTLY ACROSS FROM HIS OWN!!!
*sigh*
And I’ll just bet you that most folks who did actually see the thing when it aired (and flopped) weren’t affected at all by such things.
BTW, despite the bad directing and bad post-production effects (good direction would have required a fix of the script and props, etc., and KILLED the crappy post production shiite), the concept, casting and acting in general carried this particular example to “low-to-moderately-enjoyable” range.
But examples of stupid directing and post-production abound, nowadays, and make it into even main stream movies. *sigh* I’m at about 50% on the Amazon instant videos I check out. About half of them don’t last past the 15-20-minute mark because of crap like this.
[OK, I’m all over the map on this post, but maybe some of it will spark a thought or two. I blame lack of sleep and caffeine deprivation, both. 🙂 ]
The strange thing to my eye about this post by, urm, David Post in response to an article titled, “The Monster of Monticello,” is that he uses the words of Lincoln, a man I suspect was truly decent in many ways, but also truly blind to his own hypocrisy (just one example: see the hypocrisy of the words of the Gettysburg Address spoken by someone waging a war AGAINST self-determination and the very foundational principles of federalism and the very Constitution he swore to defend) to support Jefferson’s place as a truly great champion of freedom, though his personal practices as a slavemaster were at stark odds with the principles he championed.
While I agree with Post’s general viewpoint that yes, Jefferson WAS a great champion of liberty even though he was an individual example of some of the worst practices of slavery, I’m surprised his defense wasn’t simply, “Ad hominem arguments are invalid on their face,” and just leave it at that. After all, reasonable people would agree that attacking the ideas and principles a person utters (and even fights for) by attacking their character is unreasonable, while unreasonable people will just be unreasonable anyway, so ANY reasoned argument is worthless with such.
Ad then there’s the implicit hagiography of Lincoln in the post. *sigh* I’ll not go down that path right now, but using Lincoln’s words to defend Jefferson on the matter of championing liberty is a briar patch I’d certainly not want to throw myself into, but then I do GARA about the facts of Lincoln’s exercise of power leading up to and during the War Between the States. It’s not a matter of Mr. Lincoln’s personal character but of his very well-spoken propaganda in support of his exercise of office.*
So, hypocrisy abounds, but great men can still do good. I believe Jefferson was by far the greater of the two men and has been a far, far greater force for good, but Lincoln did at least manage to kill over 600,000 Americans with his war. That alone makes him a great man in any history.
Oh, and he said a lot of really nice things, as president, that his actions as president–not as a private citizen–contradict. I’ll be happy to take his words and embrace many of them and their ideals. Just spare me from another hypocritically Lincolnesque president.
Jefferson’s slaves never had it as bad as the men Lincoln had shanghaied and sent to their deaths.
Continue reading “Holes and Gaps, Cognitive Dissonance and Hypocrisy”
This A.M., during our M-Th-F “carpool”, my Wonder Woman and I had one of those “partner telepathy” things that have become more and more frequent over the years. Windshield just looked dewy, not frosted, so I just flipped the wipers for a one-wipe. Nope. “Hmm, looks like it’s a little frosty. I may have to rename today.” Pause. “Maybe I’ll call it ‘Robert'”.
“Funny,” she said, “I thought I’d say ‘Jack’ but then thought ‘Robert’ myself.”
Married long enough yet?
I’ve taken to putting a water-soluble dietary fiber powder in my coffee. No discernible difference in taste or texture, but I do have a rather moving experience several hours later… 😉 Maybe I should also have some jalapeño ice cream with it?
What’s the deal with The Zero? Trying out a new comedy routine or an IQ test for Republicans? “So here’s the deal: you give me $1.2 Trillion in tax hikes and I give you bupkis. Pretty good deal, eh? *wink-wink-nudge-nudge*”
If Repugnican’ts were to get brain transplants (so they can qualify as real Republicans) they’d all voice their severe disapproval of his proposals and then abstain from votes on The Zero’s them and let the Dhimmicraps OWN the resultant disasters. “See? we didn’t stand in the way of The Zero getting what he wanted, while we voiced our disapproval with abstentions. It’s not OUR mess. It’s all on The Zero and his cronies. It’s THEIR policies that have created what we have and you can blame them, not us. So there. Nanny-nanny-boo-boo.”
One last appeal to anyone who may be considering a “protest” vote today: Bill Whittle’s “Falling on Principle”
Consider carefully who and what you vote for today, from local races all the way to DC.
Here in America’s Third World County™, polling places were open at 6:00 this morning, and parking places at our polling place were thin on the ground. All the voting “booths” were filled when we walked in, but there was almost no waiting (apart from having our drivers licenses scanned and signing the electronic “register”), because people were, for the most part, voting quickly and getting back on the road to work.
Yep. No Odumbo bumper stickers on the cars outside at all, at all.
I know a number of Ron Paul die-hards America’s Third World County™ who were planning on sitting this one out, but the sheer weight of Makers here in the county as opposed to Takers (many of whom around here cannot legally vote anyway, since they’re illegals*) means that I’ll be hugely surprised if Dhimmicraps receive more than 10% of this county’s votes this year. Seriously.
Would that this county were a microcosm of the rest of the country, third world infrastructure and jury-rigging tightwaddery and all…
In a more perfect world, Frank J. Flemming’s views of government–which are more in line with the goals the Founders had in mind (as the Constitution and the Federalist Papers, the Anti-Federalist Papers, et al point to) than those any politician now on the stage declares–his views would hold a strong majority of the electorate, but in our real world, we must fight the fight we have.
If you want to vote against statism, make your vote count. Yeh, the Republicans on your ballot are still very likely drawn from the shallow end of the pseudo-conservative swamp that has, for the most part, given us wannabe elite country club Repugnican’ts since the G.H.W. Bush camp’s slaying of the Reagan revolution lion, but driving toward a cliff at 75mph still gives us more room for maneuver and time to salvage something than driving toward a cliff at the Dhimmicrappic Party’s current 120mph.
Throwing some bubblegum at the vehicle’s tires by casting a protest vote just isn’t going to help anything, and saying, in whatever principled fashion, “All the candidates from the two major parties are scoundrels, so I’ll not vote for any of ’em. Let the country get what it deserves. Maybe when it all crashes down, we can resurrect something worthwhile from the ashes,” is just a libertarian/liberal embrace of the socialist Cloward-Pivens principle that Obama and his ilk have instituted with a vengeance.
Seriously. A “principled” protest vote is nothing more or less than an attempt to do the same ruinous things Obama and his co-conspirators, fellow travelers, cronies and useful idiots have spent the last (nearly) four years doing: burn the house down in a belief that YOUR views will emerge from the ashes.
Tuesday will be the first time since I began voting that I will vote a straight party ticket. No exceptions. Oh, there is one local candidate who’s a Democrat who is OK. He’s done as good a job as anyone else in living memory in the Sheriff’s position (which is somewhere between so-so and “not quite corrupt enough to catch out”–about par for the Sheriff’s job around here from time immemorial, I’m told *sigh*). But this year, quite apart from a late-blooming appreciation for the few points where the Republican presidential candidate does truly shine (and a grudging acknowledgement that he’s mostly all right on more than a few points), my only criterion for voting for any other candidates are that they NOT be Democrats.
It’s my own small way of voting a “punishment” vote on the general Dhimmicrappic agenda. I DGARA if any of the other Republican candidates are genuine Republicans or just country club wanna-be elite Repugnican’ts. I can deal with either of those (although genuine republicans aren’t genuinely conservative enough for me, for the most part), but I will not now, or ever, vote again for a Dhimmicrap, unless the party is utterly broken and remade with genuinely liberal principles the Founders (who sought to CONSERVE, in the sense of Burke’s conservatism, the more liberal traditions of expanding liberty protected by government that had become a British tradition from the Magna Carta onward) espoused.
Just call me a one-issue voter this election. That issue is, “Is the candidate or ballot proposition a Democratic one? If so, consign him/it to the eighth level of hell.”
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