Category: Hmmm-what?

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Leveling Up

I have Leveled Up several times in the “Achey-Breaky Body” game. I have dislocated a knee rolling over in bed and dislocated a hip by just laying there, unmoving.

And then there are those “rough patches” of clear, smooth, open floor. . . Dangerous when barefoot or in shoes that give good traction, ya know. Socks or smooth-soled slippers, dude. Less likely to trip over a stray cat hair.

And lest you think it’s all age-related, nope. Pretty much been this way my whole life, with the rare decade of well-coordinated, healthy, fit body wedged in.

Of course now, what with New Guy puppy* and all that, it’s fun working downfield past a VERY active Defensive Tackle; it’s challenging. . . *heh* (I dunno why he’s working so hard to take me down when he has rung his Doggy Door Bell to go out, but I guess that’s the game, eh? *heh*)

*At least, as a puppy, he needs about as much sleep as he does activity, so I do get a little bye on heading “downfield,” at times. 😉

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Comparatively Speaking. . .

Glitter is often so horribly misused that, at times, it seems to have been spawned from hell, but any reasonable person would prefer a “whoop” of preschoolers tweaked on a sugar high and given unlimited bags of glitter at a funeral to a drag queen show in kindergarten.

That’s all I’m sayin’ about that.

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Check Different Angles Out, First

I occasionally see/hear frustrated people writing/muttering (or louder) about revolution as the solution the “feddle gummint” seems to be pushing its citizens subjects towards.

Better think long and hard on that, is my first council. We’re a loooooong way from needing a “solution” that, urm, revolutionary. Besides, as a “Dwarven Rifleman” (interesting fictional character) observed,

“It may seem a fine thing in song or story to be ankle-deep in the blood of your enemies but in reality it’s slippery, smells bad and is nearly impossible to get out of your socks afterwards.”

Yeh. Think long and hard before electing to pursue a course that would likely ruin every pair of socks you own. . . Just reconsider, mmK?

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Finally, a Little Character…

Nothing earth-shattering (Kaboom!), but of passing interest to me…

Like Marat, I like to use a nice long soak for other things besides just “bathing”–notably reading and sometimes writing. Unfortunately, I don’t have a nice lil “bath desk” like he apparently did (according to the artist, at least), so reading eBooks–unless I wanted to do so on my Palm, which is on its last legs and so could be sacrificed to an accidental dunking–or writing a blogpost Is Not a Good Idea. Fortunately,though, no one’s assassinated me during a nice long soak… yet.

But I may have cause for a bit of paranoia in that department (is it paranoia if someone really is out to get you?). Let me back up a bit…

When Lovely Daughter moved back in for a short while in order to save money and retire a few debts (a Very Good Thing!), she brought with her a cat that has proven to be the most boring cat I’ve ever known. Most cats I’ve known or “had” (the jury’s out on who was the “haver” in those relationships) have been real… characters. Our current chosen (again, who really did the choosing, I sometimes wonder, as he wandered up one day and decided he belonged here) feline “roommate” is a very interesting character who sometimes wanders around carrying on conversations with his invisible friends and who plays ball with himself, when he doesn’t manage to finagle me into playing fetch with him. Yes, he really does return his balls to me and watch expectantly for me to toss them for him again.

But Lovely Daughter’s cat? Just “Food, now!” and “Pet me!” Boring.

Recently, though, he’s taken to pushing open the bathroom door while I’m doing a soak/read, if the door’s not been latched well enough. Then? He perches on the rim of the tub and stares (glares?) at me in a threatening manner. *heh* Even more recently, he’s begun stepping onto my chest and pushing himself in my face with a big “Pet me, or else!” demand.

I have begun wondering if Marat’s fate awaits me if I were to refuse.

Then again, I’ve started contemplating some sort of retaliation for the harassment. Perhaps a quick sweeping motion dumping him into a full bath…

Well, at least he’s finally showing some sort of character.

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Schrödinger’s Cat And Public Policy

Schrödinger’s cat is a famous thought experiment summed up this way,

A cat is placed in a box, together with a radioactive atom. If the atom decays, and the geiger-counter detects an alpha particle, the hammer hits a flask of prussic acid (HCN), killing the cat. The paradox lies in the clever coupling of quantum and classical domains. Before the observer opens the box, the cat’s fate is tied to the wave function of the atom, which is itself in a superposition of decayed and undecayed states. Thus, said Schroedinger, the cat must itself be in a superposition of dead and alive states before the observer opens the box, “observes” the cat, and “collapses” it’s wave function.

Of course, the problem with thought experiments like this when used to analogize scientific issues is obvious. Let me pop the bubble around this one: how long is the cat in a “superposition of dead and alive states” while closed in this sealed box?

Just long enough for its air to run out so that it suffocates.

Geniuses just don’t seem to think these things out. Einstein discussed Schrödinger’s hypothetical cat with the guy for at least 15 years without ever noting this simple problem with the thought experiment, as far as I can tell. That’s just one of many reasons why I don’t trust the smart people in government to decide what’s best for me. They just don’t seem to look at (or care about) any of the options outside their own paradigm.

Besides, they might just be the kind of person who doesn’t like cats and will put ’em in boxes to suffocate to death.

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More Kind Than Deserved

Dennis Prager, in excessively kind and gentle fashion, takes Charles Johnson, of Little Green Nutballs (which I will not link) to the woodshed (kindly, gently) with, An Open Letter to Charles Johnson.

For those of y’all who may have missed the blogospheric kerfuffle, Charles Johnson once ran Little Green Footballs (still not linking it), which, once upon a time, long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, used to be a place where he fought against the evils he today defends. No, not just defends; virulently, slanderously–in many folks’ opinions–attacks those with whom he once allied himself.

Prager reiterates Johnson’s list of “justifications” for his switch and rebuts them all. Here’s #9, a typical example,

9. Anti-Islamic bigotry that goes far beyond simply criticizing radical Islam, into support for fascism, violence, and genocide (see: Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, etc.). [Johnson]

I saw Pamela Geller’s site (The New York Times Magazine article about you cited it — Atlas Shrugs — and mentioned nothing remotely approaching your charges against her or her site) and I’ve interviewed Robert Spencer. Your charges against them only cheapen the words “fascism,” violence” and “genocide.” [Prager]

As I said, Prager takes Johnson to the woodshed most convincingly (read it for yourself) and, IMO, all too gently, especially given the fact that I have read the positions and assertions of all the parties Johnson condemns and have a good idea of their place in “the right”. Johnson’s place? IMO, Little Green Nutballs is juuuust the place for him… until someone can get commitment papers in order, for his own good. Then, of course, if a physical etiology for his psychological issues can be diagnosed, perhaps medical treatment could return him to sanity.

Of course, if there’s no one in his family who cares enough about him to begin commitment proceedings, he’ll likely spend the rest of his life frothing at the mouth and baying at the moon.

Continue reading “More Kind Than Deserved”

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Watch Your Kids, But for Heaven’s Sake, Don’t Stop Them…

Typical output of some over-paid government weenie with too much time on his hands:

Don’t you dare say, “Only on the Left Coast,” cos it could happen in your town just as easily.

h.t., Dave Barry

(And yeh, I know raccoon droppings have the rap of potentially being laced with rabies or Baylisascaris procyonis–a roundworm that burrows into brains, but really: kids that’re dumb enough to eat feces probably already have are worse problems… Heck, they’d likely grow up to vote for a libtard. “Yum, gimme some more o’ that, Mr. Congresscritter! I just loves that shit!” Worse: they probably already do vote for libtards via the “any vote fraud is good enough for us” program run by the Dhimmicraps.)

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Tin Foil Hat Time?

Or not?

Thanks to The English Guy’s Networks and Security blog, I did catch up-a couple of days late-on the Security Now! show where Steve Gibson revealed his research that leads him to believe that the WMF vulnerability was actually intentionally put in Windows from Win 2000 on by Microsoft or “someone at Microsoft” as a backdoor into Windows. Read the transcript or listen to the podcast via this link. Also available at the link is Steve’s first version of a WMF vulnerability tester based on his research to date.

Do note: Gibson is sure at this point that the “vulnerability” (he used the scare quotes himself to describe it) was put into Windows deliberately, but he is clear in stating he has much more work to do to define just when, and that he may well discover information that contradicts his current view.

Gee. I wish more “scientists” (like those getting so much press on “climate change” scare stories) would take such an approach.

Nailed to the door at The Conservative Cat and The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns.

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Poor players, strutting and fretting their hours upon the stage…

The Stupid Party needs to get some schooling in Texas Holdem, cos the Demoncraps are taking their shirts:

“Game Theory and Media Bias” by Todd Manzi:

It used to be that the press would report the happenings of politics. Somewhere along the line, the process became perverted, and politicians began playing to the press and engaging in behavior that was motivated solely because of the prospect of media coverage. The tail wagged the dog, and politicians learned they could manipulate the press. Today, the message of politics is delivered through a liberally biased prism. Not only do Reid and the Democrats make moves designed to get media coverage, they take full advantage of the premise that the people reporting the news are predisposed to liberal ideology.

And infusion of testosterone and an ability to call the Dem’s bluffs every now and then might make a difference in how the game is played in Washington…