"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."
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.)
Another repost. Heavy-handed sarcasm.
The American electorate’s amazing literacy, deeply informed knowledge of history, economics and current events combined with superb analytical skills and a deep committment to participatory government have inexorably led to the development of the wisest government in the history of the world.
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.
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…
I haven’t done a “Around and about” roundup in a while. About time.
First up: Alexandra’s blunt presentation of (if I may paraphrase in some vernacular or whatever) There ain’t no such thing as a Palestinian. Nah, she didn’t say it that way. She has more class than that. But that’s what the info she presents means, and it’s bang on the money.
Woody has a great pointer to a talk by Michael Crichton that’s a must-
read for folks who have to deal with eco-freak-fearmongerers. It’s a straight, fact-based followup to State of Fear. Oh, and after you read the Crichton talk Woody links to, try this one, too. One of my favs. Crichton gets all cranked up on the topic “Environmentalism as Religion“.
Battling takes on the week’s “big” article on the fate of Western Civilization by Mark Steyn: The Real Ugly American and Big Lizards (the discussion in comments there is nearly as good as the post itself). My take distilled to a (not at all accurate) one-sentence precÃs? Prophecy can tend to affect outcomes… if the prophet’s words are headed. It’s all over the place. Cruise around with a google on Mark Steyn and you’ll probably pick up a bunch more.
Sharia banking-for-Islamic-bigots-only at Michelle Malkin‘s. Yeh, there are other takes. All she does is report. You decide (I have). Look around yourself. If they can have their own fun-damn-mentalist banks, then I wanna see fun-damn-mentalist Bapticostal banks that can say, “No Dogs, Islamofascist murdering savage S.O.B.s or Lutherans allowed” and Pope-friendly banks that can say, “No pill-popping feministas, Dunkin’ Bapticostals or Jean Fraud sKerrys allowed.”
heh
A reminder: Windows users PATCH YOUR SYSTEMS. Maybe…
Cos… *sigh* I really don’t want this to become the “Windows Metafile Vulnerability Blog” but… hackers claim they have broken through the official Microsoft patch to the vulnerability. Plus ça change and all that. BTW no user interaction at all is required for the vulnerability exploit to be used to infect users. See the linked article. And see Rick Hellewell’s take on protecting yourself.
Personally, I backed off the M$ patch on Win2K machines (only). Disabled WMF viewing (by de-registering the dll that makes it possible) and applied the third party patch once linked at Steve Gibson’s site (and alas, apparenttly no longer available). I don’t need WMF functionality, so it’s gone. YMMV. (One reason I cite Hellewell is cos he disagrees with the measures I took. It’s a crapshoot.)
Doing linkfests? Check out Linkfest Haven. G’wan, ya know you wanna. What can N.Z. Bear do to you, anyway? heh
Haven’t been to Rick Lee’s place recently, have you? *tsk-tsk* Depriving yourself of some great eye candy. Or in some cases, nutritious produce blogging.
Romeocat says it’s time to hook Pat Robertson off the public stage. How loudly and enthusiastically can I agree?
Click on over and appreciate the memories, music and musings of Kat’s Keep the Coffee Coming. No. Not gonna link just one post, cos they’re all worth your time.
And I’ll just bet I’m not the only one who can second most of Christine’s New Year’s Resolutions. Yep. Definitely a doable list (except for those movie and tea things–heh).
Diane and Mel are going strong on their Bloggers Without Butts Week. Click on over to their blogs and drop ’em some notes of congrats and encouragement, willya?
The Mary Hunter posts a picture of a typical DemoPol. heh. Pure evil.
Well, there’s a lot more, but I just had some utility I did NOT install chime at me from another computer letting me know “Time’s Up! Get off your… “
Awww, shuddup, already.
Noted with all due decorum at TMH’s Bacon Bits and Imagine Kitty Magazine (Helloooo Kitty!).