Month: April 2010

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“There Will Always Be An Island Off the Coast of France”

It used to be that it was said, “There will always be an England,” but it ain’t necessarily so anymore.

Caravanner, 61, prosecuted for having Swiss Army knife in his glove box… to cut up fruit on picnics

A disabled caravanner who kept a penknife in his glove compartment to use on picnics has blasted the authorities after being dragged through court for possessing an offensive weapon.

Rodney Knowles, 61, walks with the aid of a stick and had used the Swiss Army knife to cut up fruit on picnics with his wife.

That’s right, folks” a 2.5-inch bladed Swiss Army Knife. Evidence of obvious intent to commit mayhem.

*sigh* And here in the USA, more of the same, as the TSA will confiscate any lil teen-eintsy bladed “weapon” from once-free citizens, when they’re not going full court press to fine and imprison folks for whatever strikes the Thousands Standing Around as an appropriate expression of their goonery.

This in a land where my grandfather and his brothers once took their Model 1895 Winchesters to school–talk about school safety! Imagine some idiot trying to hold up a school where the teacher and students were all armed to the teeth! Ah, but those were different times, you say. Yes, they were, more’s the pity.

As for that “island off the coast of France” thing, well, that may not even be “always” if the Calip-hate has its way… With a completely disarmed populace, how long until Londonistan is added as “the chief city of an island in the Calip-hate just off the coast of Francistan”?

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Department of Education

Jerry pournelle is always worth listening to, and never more so than when he speaks about public education, and especially about the effect of the “feddle gummint’s” Department of Education.

In 1983 the National Commission on Education, headed by Nobel Laureate Glenn T. Seaborg, wrote that “If a foreign nation had imposed this system of education on the United States, we would rightfully consider it an act of war.”

Go ahead and read the rest of his brief comments at the link.

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Asshats in Comments

My post on “unintended consequences” brought a SPAM comment from someone who “respectfully disagree[d]” with my analysis, claiming to be the “Chief Medical Officer of URL Pharma” saying that “There is no such thing as ‘generic colchicine.'” [The inappropriate placement of the second ‘ is in the original.]

Asshat. My post didn’t even use the word “generic” so it’s easy to tell that this was either just a spider-crawling comment or one written by someone who’s too subliterate or lazy for any response from me more than mocking.

On top of that, had I referred to “generic colchicine” I’d have been correct in doing so, since generic=something that is general, common, or inclusive rather than specific, unique, or selective in its primary sense, and “generic colchicine” has thus been in use for the treatment of gout for “six centuries” (according to the historically illiterate FDA–it was first described in use for such treatment over 2,000 years ago in De Materia Medica by Pedanius Dioscorides, but what are 14 centuries difference to an FDA bureaucrap?). The asshat goes on to make other offensively disingenuous commentary, but what can one expect from some auto-response to folks blogging about a company and the FDA conspiring to screw folks yet again?

But let me be clear: I LOVE asshattery in comments, because it gives me a way to blow off steam that doesn’t involve “kicking the cat” as it were. Feel free to return for more mockery, jackass.

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Almost Annoying

I like Fun With Words, but this was a tad irritating:

Glossary of Fun Words – What word means to throw out of a window? To dance a child on one’s knees?

Couldn’t they at least choose some relatively obscure words instead of the oh-so-common “fenestrate” [see Random Yak’s correction in comments :-)] and “dandle”? Oh, well, I suppose I’ll check out the link anyway.

Now, this is more like it:

Glossary of Linguistics and Rhetoric – What do euphemism, hendiadys, cacophony, and procatalepsis mean?

I actually had to stop and think about “hendiadys” for a couple of seconds. I can’t recall the last time I used the term in conversation, either, although I am known to commit the heinous act from time to time. *heh*

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VAT? Just Say “No Thank You”

Or, say something less polite to get the attention of the anarcho-tyrannical statists. Vats are for boiling oil and such like to pour on the invading barbarian hordes…

*heh*

As opposed to the very open and transparent FairTax plan, a VAT is a stealth tax that hides its burden at various levels of production and delivery of goods and services, just as the current taxation model does. As George Will says in a recent article, strangely in (a semi, half-hearted, limp) defense of a VAT,

Corporations do not pay taxes, they collect them, passing the burden to consumers as a cost of production. And corporate taxation is a feast of rent-seeking — a cornucopia of credits, exemptions and other subsidies conferred by the political class on favored, and grateful, corporations.

While this is a simplistic model, it’s good enough for the purposes of defending axing the 16th Amendment and the whole array of IRS levied taxes it supports, as Will suggests. It is not a good reason to advance a VAT, though, since VATs tend to hide the costs to the economy (not just the end consumer) just as the current tax model does. The FairTax model keeps the tax right up front where the purchaser of whatever (NEW) good or service can see it and be reminded of just what his “feddle gummint” is costing. And that’s a central reason why many politicians *spit* do not like it. The more obscure and hidden from direct view the costs of government are, the easier it is for them to play nearly brain-dead sheeple.

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Oh, No I Didn’t!

Oh, yes I did… *heh*

OK, so thinking on the “If This Thing Had Thumbs…” post led to thoughts of Kzin Cubs which led, not-so-directly, to this (don’t ask how. No, I told you not to ask!):

“WHO PUT THE TRIBBLES IN THE QUADROTRITICALE?”

(to the tune of “Who Put the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy’s Chowder?”)

by Jean Lamb

We were down on Sherman’s Planet just about a week ago,
And our gallant crew decided to put on a show.
The Science Staff brought down a bin with seeds of a new strain–
Its fruitfulness would bring the rival Klingons lots of pain.
Mr. Spock, he opened it, and blushed a pure clear green,
For where the precious grain was, only tribbles could be seen.
The captain, he got screaming mad, his eyes were bulging out!
He got on Communications, and loudly he did shout:

(Chorus)

“Who put the tribbles in the quadrotriticale?”
Nobody spoke, so we interrogated daily.
It’s a Klingon trick, it’s true,
And we’ll lick the clique that threw
The tribbles in the quadrotriticale.

Mr. Spock, he nodded grim, and said he had to then.
Then he started looking for a man called Cyrano.
Uhura picked up one of them, and it started purring fine;
Then she walked by a bureaucrat and it began to whine.
The Klingon spy confessed at length, then pleaded for the fuzz.
Even Federation jail was better than a tribble’s buzz!
Mr. Spock let Cyrano Jones out of his makeshift jail,
Picked up his synthesizer, and it began to wail:

(Chorus)

Now the tribbles have a home across the leap of time,
While littering the corridors of Station Deep Space Nine;
Worf is angry and frustrated, till he’s almost sick,
And Quark is offering customers Roast Tribble On A Stick.
The Chronocops are wondering if all is truly well,
So Sisko takes his refuge in the phrase, “Don’t ask, don’t tell!”
When Klingon ships arrive to conquer where the beasties dwell,
They flee in panic to avoid this awful Tribble Hell!

(Chorus)

Which did cause me to wonder what the heck “Who Put the Overalls In Mrs. Murphy’s Chowder” sounded like, so:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jspZ-I8a-WA

And that, of course, led to this:

And, from a 1901 (hence really, really public domain) wax cylinder recording found reproduced here:

[audio:Who-Threw-the-Overalls-in-Mrs-Murphy’s-Chowder.mp3]

Continue reading “Oh, No I Didn’t!”

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Lazy Man’s Restore Points for Win7

Those of y’all using Win7 (or Vista, if there be any such critters reading here :-)) who’re lazy as all get out might find this Quick Restore Point Maker mini-app useful. Note: the link’s been fixed and now points to a download page insted of attempting to point directly to the download itself.

And here’s another download page touting a pdf file with a (nearly) exhaustive list of Keyboard Shortcuts for Win7–that also mostly work in earlier versions.

And for those who’re tired of Win7 talk, here’s a download page for Puppy Linux and one for PC-BSD (the latter for folks who want to try an OSX-like OS without the Apple straitjacket *heh*).

This has been a “value added” compgeeky post. Don’t tell the feds or they’ll try to tax it to death.

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Right In Their Faces

OK, so it was a notebook in a bright, outdoor setting, but really: people just don’t pay attention.

OTOH, KDED 4.X is a really slick GUI. I think I’ll ad a Mac-like Dock to a KDE skin and see if people like “the new Mac OSXI” better than OSX. *heh* (Or, just to be really mean, add a “MacDock” app to an old XP computer–yeh, it’s an easy thing to do–and see what they think.) Sure, I’d have to cripple whatever mouse was connected (or use a crippled-from-the-factory Mac Mouse ;-)) to make it seem more realistic, but that’s do-able. *heh*