Category: I do these sorts of things so you don’t have to

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Some Non-Random Musings on the Current Scene

N.B.: I frankly DGARA about foreign affairs, except where developments might have a local effect because of “feddle gummint” stupidities or deliberately malicious intent (toward citizens) in policies. So, by “current scene” you can expect me to comment on what was once quaintly known as “the home front,” for the most part.

Today’s topic: Censorship, “feddle gummint” skulduggery, Sharyl Atkkisson, First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, and a possibly appropriate citizens’ response.

By now, anyone with at least one firing neuron who’s not been living under a rock knows that our dear “gummint” placed spying software on Sharyl Atkkisson’s computers. Anyone in denial about the runaway skulduggery in effect in nearly every agency of the “feddle gummint” is either delusional or a part of (or expects to benefit from) the underhanded, nefarious, unscrupulous behavior that seems to now be the norm for “feddle gummint bureaucraps.” Heck, even the WaPo is “viewing with alarm” the appallingly stupid, criminal “feddle gummint” spying on a journalist.

If the feds can do it to her, they can do it to you. “Evidence” of “computer crimes” on ANYONE’S computers is now subject to The Sharyl Atkkisson Caveat: if the feds can plant things on her computer, who’s to say they didn’t plant stuff anywhere else they wanted to?

From now on, any claims by the “feddle gummint” to have found “evidence”–of ANYTHING–on a citizen’s computer should be loudly and raucously mocked.

Citizen response? So far, just the usual “view with alarm” stuff like the WaPo article. Sound and fury, etc. What would be appropriate, I think would be for a “vigilance committee” of patriotic hacker citizens to engage in a “Manhatten Project”-style effort to crack open every government computer system possible and flood the net with everything they want to hide from us. Snowden? He should be so far back he wouldn’t even be visible in the rear view mirror. Of course, it could happen that _some_ secrets could be minimally detrimental to national security, but I seriously doubt there are many such. Most “national security” secrets are more than likely just bureaucratic turf building/protecting.

Sadly, I do not have the skills necessary to make a contribution to the effort, and nor do I any longer have an audience/readership to influence toward that effort, since my work to remake this blog into nothing more than exercise space for “the voices in my head” has borne fruit. *heh*

In further mind-boggling abuses of rights supposedly protected under the First Amendment, while a student who is a Sikh has rightly received a pass on carrying a knife (“ceremonial dagger”) in pubschool, for religious reasons, Christian students who carry or read their Bibles, share their faith with other students or who are seen or heard praying or even just expressing opinions informed by their faith are continually oppressed. (Sure, schools pretty regularly lose in lawsuits over this, but the push against Christians practicing their religion in a pubschool setting is regularly, improperly, assaulted).

And cognitive dissonance never sets in with the left, because. . . it requires cognition? *sigh*

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Feeding the Baby Trolls

Every now and then, a baby troll will drop in here at this place. Always, always, always, these baby trolls are illiterate, woefully uninformed/misinformed/disinformed (and proud of it!) morons who refuse to use facts and reason, and who litter their verbal vomit with misused words, incomprehensible punctuation and grammar that would gag a maggot (demonstrating again a lack of ability to engage in logical thought, for syntax is the linchpin of logic in language).

In the past, these trolls have been primarily either Loony Left Moonbats or Muslims, but the sheer volume of baby trolls on the interwebs now that any illiterate moron with a credit card can obtain some sort of Internet capable device beggars the imagination, and so even here, at this modest lil place where I can just let “the voices in my head” run around and play, using casual speech, combined with verifiable fact and sensible opinion, baby trolls do occasionally come calling.

And what do I do?

I feed them (and in doing so perform a public service, but more on that later). And how do I feed them? Well, if they are simply illiterate morons who are proud of their ignorance and proud of their woefully uninformed/misinformed/disinformed, I may just tweak them for a while, though I will almost ALWAYS enjoin them to do their homework, somewhere down the line, and I’ll usually even give them hints to aid them in their homework.

But, alas! That will not do for baby trolls. Most are offended when anyone notes the profound stupidity of their comments, and so immediately start the slide to the Godwin Fallacy. No, really! it’s inevitable. [Edit: it is especially hilarious when Leftists and Muslims do this. They never see the irony.]

So, as long as it amuses me, I will continue with these baby trolls, allowing their almost “spamtardish” comments and responding with vicious, cruel, heartless deconstruction of their stupid comments, and even lading invective and vulgarity in response to such things as veiled death threats and the like. (Come to my house and try that, putzes. No, really. We do have a Second Amendment for good reason, you know. Just ask the Supreme Court about Heller. *heh*)

As to “performing a public service,” well, first, it’s like my tactic for dealing with Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormon “Missionaries”. I usually try to consume as much of their time and resources (I ALWAYS ask for any “literature” they may have), in order to limit their time and resources available to spend elsewhere. I also spend time arguing with them, and supporting my arguments with facts from their own precepts that are easily refuted from sources they (falsely) claim to respect. [Edit: I also used to go visit them at their places of abode and spend time expounding views antithetical to their heresies. Tit for tat, as it were. *heh*]

The differences in tactics between dealing w/JWs and MMs as opposed to baby trolls? JWs and MMs are usually much, much more intelligent and literate than baby trolls on the interwebs, and have yet to resort to ad hominem attacks (such as the Godwin Fallacy) and threats, and those stupid behaviors are reason enough to lade invective on baby trolls. It amuses me, and it calms and soothes my mind to do so, and, from the evidence of their commentary, it reduces them to foaming at the mouth, for all the world appearing to be on the verge of stroking out. Thus, egging baby trolls on and encouraging them to vent their spleen in ever greater degree, gives me hope that they are thereby shortening their own lives.

So there: my modest public service vis-à-vis Internet trolls. It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it. That it’s also amusing, relaxing and just downright fun is just a bonus.

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Calling All Screenwriters!

A movie just waiting to be written and produced, based on King Putz’s administration: “Feebs: We’re the government; we’re here to help (ourselves)”

king-putz-the-petulant

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Pubschool Education is in the Very Best of Hands. . .

. . . or not.

[Names and location withheld to avert–justifiable–assault upon the guilty.]

Read/seen somewhere else. Woman happy to report via selfie that she and her friend were “Getting our nails did.”

A grade school teacher.

*sigh*

Oh, and the nail work was disgusting. Bad taste AND non-existent connection to logic and grammar. No, I wouldn’t dare “share” the pic. Why open myself up to charges of causing blindness. I had to exercise strict self-control to keep from putting my own eyes out after seeing what I can never unsee. . . The horror!

Remember: I do these things so you don’t have to.

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Pejoration of Language is Inevitable

But why does it always seem to stem from illiterates and liars?

Illiterates, for example, tear down useful words and phrases through simple ignorance and sometimes stupidity. An example from something I read recently will illustrate this point: “[I]t’s the exception that makes the rule.” This corruption was obviously drawn from the old adage, “The exception proves the rule,” which actually means, “The exception TESTS the rule.” The writer of “the exception. . . makes the rule” never bothered to learn what the original adage actually said and so his corruption makes at least some sort of (non)sense, based on his poor literacy.

Worse are those who wittingly corrupt words, terms and phrases to mean something opposite of their once common senses. Take for example a self-proclaimed “liberal democrat” whose words and deeds prove him to be a tyrannical statist bent on corrupting democracy.

That’s why I so often call out and condemn both illiterate and disingenuous abuse of English. “Rage, rage against the dying of the light,” as it were.

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In a Civilized Society. . .

. . . you know, one that actually recognized private property rights, the natural progression illustrated below would be perfectly acceptable.

A simple statement, easily understood, establishing a clear boundary saying, “Not yours. Stay out.”

no-trespassing

If a trespasser were to proceed, then a second warning might justifiably be issued by an exceedingly patient and forbearing landowner:

no trespassing

If that failed to deter a malefactor, then *sigh*. . .

final-warning

OK, MORE than excessively generous, kind and gentle landowners might include, between #2 and #3 (or #1 and #2), a sign stating,

Fence and “No Trespassing” Signs

Security/Surveillance System

Guard Dogs

Armed Response

For clearance to enter the property try calling 1-800-UGO-AWAY

Is “No Trespassing” Clear Now?

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Holes and Gaps, Lacks and Losses. . .

I read too much and have done so for darned near all my life. That creates a few problems from time to time. For example, recently, my problem with reading books on history has been too many moments of getting into a book and either saying to myself (over and over), “Know that already,” or “Oh, you flippin’ idiot,” or “Liar!” *sigh* Every now and then, though, I do manage to run across a decent history (or related) book I’ve missed. For example, how I missed Thomas Babington Macaulay’s “Lays of Ancient Rome” for so many years, I’ll never know. Strange the lacunae one can find in one’s reading list. . .

Another problem is in reading fiction (well, and non-fiction for that matter). By now, I know all the plots. My reading/recognition/comprehension vocabulary is. . . probably excessive. Heck, I enjoy reading dictionaries and even puzzling out probable etymologies on my own before checking authorities, etc. I have read enough well-written text that, while I don’t always show it in my own casual writing here and elsewhere (for which I am NOT PAID), I’m familiar enough with good writing (grammar, word usage, etc.) that I’m offended by people who expect to be paid for writing crap.

And do NOT let me get started on contemporary “poetry”! Please! “Crap” is far, far too kind as a description of most of it.

It’s a burden. Be glad I bear it so you don’t have to if you don’t want to. *heh*

(Both of my regular readers here are literate enough to bear the burden as well, but can feel free to let me do so *cough* alone *cough* if they wish. ;-))

OTOH, one of the very real joys of reading a “lottamuch” is the discovery of those holes and gaps, lacks and losses in my education and. . . filling them.

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Did I Say That?

Juuuust in case things should ever “get real,” 1776-style, having such things as FM3-07.22* and other military manuals to have some ideas how to counter the counters, as it were, might be handy. . . *heh*

*”Counterinsurgency Operations. Knowing what “counterinsurgency” might entail would be useful to those seeking to restore rights as the Founders were forced to do. Do keep in mind that I’m not advocating another American Revolution to overthrow illegitimate government, though our “feddle gummint” has certainly delegitimized itself. After all, the Founders themselves counseled overthrowing an illegitimate government only as a last resort. But should it ever become necessary, “know your enemy” is wise counsel. . .

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4th Thoughts

Thinking about getting a lil place to raise pigs. I’d call them all “Mohamed”. . . just cos.

Could raise chickens, too. Rooster’d be “King Putz”.

Don’t care what inducements anyone might offer. Not raising baboons. One Congress is one too many.

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When Windows Borks

I had occasion, recently, to do a *meh* “rescue” *meh* of a different flavor to the procedure(s) described in a previous post. A hard drive began causing Windows errors on a Win7 installation on my most-used Windows notebook and imaging the drive to a newer, larger drive seemed the perfect solution, once I determined there were no unrecoverable errors in the OS itself.

It was, except. . . As usual with Windows, the story didn’t end with complete success. When a Windows OS borks for any reason–even if it’s not actually the OS’s fault exactly, any fixes tend to complicate things.

And so it was. The Windows install booted just fine, and everything worked. Scans with a few low- and mid-level tools said all was well with the OS and the data.

Cool.

Except, next day: Windows popped up the “Windows Genuine Advantage” notice that my installation of Windows was bogus. It offered to resolve the problem online, which resulted in being notified that M$ would be MORE than happy to “fix” my problem. . . for $200 (by selling me a new license key).

*arrrgggh!*

Nope. Not going to happen. Ran other checks with built-in and add-on M$ tools (MGADiag, slmgr.vbs) and they returned reports saying various things, but nothing indicating the OS was not genuine. Windows property page noted no problem, and the watermark warning that a bogus Wininstall is supposed to place on the desktop didn’t appear. Nevertheless, I got the error message and Windows update reported the WU service was not running, even though services.msc did report it running. System file checker run in scan and repair mode reported corrupt files it could not repair. Ran it in Repair Mode/command prompt, pre-Windows. Again, no joy, but a more verbose response (added a coupla switches).

Dropped to an elevated command prompt and did numbers of things (stopping/starting services, checking key registry files, etc.). Nope. No useful info, so. . .For whatever reasons, I don’t see that kind of thing often, and it took me a while to recall “slui 4” to load the lil app to allow phoning for a code to eliminate the WGA notice. (The “slui 3” command would just allow re-entering one’s product key, and I already knew that would be a waste of time. Other parameters would do other also useless things.).

Finally, after a pleasant time visiting with a nice guy somewhere on the Indian subcontinent, I had my verification code and all is now well. I hope.

We’ll see, won’t we? 😉

Yep. Message gone. Windows Update works. Other errors reported by MGADIag, et al (“tampered file” this that or ‘t’other, etc.), all gone.

All this might seem like a real PITA to some folks, but it was a little fun for me, especially since it got me back fiddling around at the command prompt for a while, banging on “the little grey cells” to recall appropriate commands, parameters, switches, etc. . . . and then “solve” the problem with a phone call and entry of a 48 numeral key. Toughest part was dealing with Indian accent, telephone speaker and my tinnitus. *heh*

UPDATE 2: Woke this A.M. to a WGA notice, no access to Windows Update, etc.. ?!? Rebooted a couple of times and *poof* No more notice, Windows Update available, etc. Needed more reboots? Oh, so tired of this silliness and almost ready to scrub this notebook (my most casually-used computer) and just use a ‘nix OS on it. Almost. I’d lose my 5,557-to-0 score in Freecell, though, so. . . *heh*