We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
The first of these is a location story, the second is the ol' online-vs-retail story. Both make the same point while coming at it from different angles.
About five years ago I needed a tire for my Firebird. The guy who owned it before me apparently wasn't a very good parallel parker and the right-front was all chewed up.
Being on a Firebird, it was a pretty hefty piece of meat, so I knew it was going to be a little pricey.
I first called a Cuban buddy of mine up in Miami and asked him if he had any buds in the biz, which he did. I gave him the size, he did some inquiring, and his buddy's best price was $135. Given that the local Goodyear place wanted $168, that sounded like a winner.
But then I figured I should probably call the local tire shops and ask them if they had any 'specials' going on. You never can tell. I called two of them.
"Hi, got any specials going on?"
"Nope."
"Okay, thanks, bye."
Then I noticed some tiny place called something like "Bill's Tires". This time I didn't ask about any specials, just explained what I needed. Ol' Bill fumbled around in the catalog for a minute.
$89.
The shop was a block away.
Bought the tire, it looked just the others, worked perfectly.
When it all began, I would have bet you that $89 that (1) the most expensive quote I'd get would be here in our exclusive little tropical island paradise hideaway, and (2) my buddy's buddy, who owned a tire shop up in Cubantown, would have the cheapest.
$89 instead of $135. One block away.
It pays to shop around.
And, given what we've seen in past online-vs-retail stories, this next one is a little bizarre.
♪ Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light... ♫
While I don't think any of these would fall under the heading of 'earthshakingly critical', there might be the odd occasion, like the above, where it would be fun to throw one or two into a comment or email.
For standard special fonts (is that an oxymoron?), like é con acento or the tilde in señor, they're all right there on the top panel of the Character Map program, found in Start Menu, Programs, Accessories, System Tools. First select 'Arial' at the top, double-click on the character you want, hit the 'Copy' button to copy it to memory, then hit Ctrl-V to paste it into the editor.
And you have zee perfect résumé!
Pic: Sorry, the artist screwed up. He thought I said special founts.
There are, however, a handful of oddball fonts that only reside in some offbeat font set or in only one common set in an odd place on the panel. The hitch is that we only have the default Windows fonts to work with, which basically means Arial, Verdana, Tahoma and Times New Roman. If you use a special font from a different font set and the reader doesn't have that particular font on their system, it won't be displayed.
As the earth continues its petty refusal to cooperate with the warmists, we've been having loads of fun watching them get more and more desperate. We've recently had terrorism, violence, war, $80 trillion in damage and the North Pole turning into a picturesque lake officially linked with AGW, and then I noted in my post last Sunday how they're also elevating the scare tactics.
Today's clever ruse is brought to you by the good folks at RealClearPolitics, and a nice — if not downright informative — piece it is. It's always good when some science guy does his best to dispel misinformation.
It's a pretty straightforward process. He gives one page for each of the ten main scientific controversies of our day. Yes, Virginia, evolution is real. Yes, animal testing is necessary. Yes, embryonic stem cell research is important. No, vaccines don't cause autism. Yes, 'alternative' medicine is (generally) bunk.
That last one, however, only gets ½ point because of a personal story. My mom fell off a horse when she was 9 and suffered a small neck pain for something like 55 years. She tried everything, from neurologists to acupressure, as well as a couple of chiropractors. One day a friend mentioned some old semi-retired guy who had performed some chiropractic miracle on a friend of hers. My mom went to see him. After the second visit, she was cured forever.
And no, Virginia, the Hadron Collider won't cause a black hole to gobble up the earth. And, I'm sorry to say, cold fusion is pure bunk. Nuclear power, however, is quite safe. Finally, yes, GMOs, or genetically-modified organisms (food in this case), are perfectly healthy.
Oops, wait, I forgot one. It was slipped into the #9 slot and I accidentally clicked past it.
Climate Change Is Largely Manmade
As it clearly states:
But in truth, among scientists who study the Earth's climate, there is no controversy whatsoever. The rise in global temperatures over the past few decades is undoubtedly caused by human activities.
Uh, hold on a sec, will ya? Something about that is ringing a bell.
(thinking)
Oh, right, that "past few decades" part. The past few decades is how long it's been since it has warmed up. I remember now.
But an excellent try, nonetheless, RealClearPolitics, and a big gold star for the 8½ items you did get right. As I said, it's always admirable when someone steps up to the plate and tackles the tough ones.
Even if it is only a fake-out to couch the real message.
Kim Komando was one of the first online gurus. While she's a little too theoretical and not enough 'in the trenches' for my tastes, she's still much smarter than the average online "computer expert", like all those bozos who declared Windows Vista to be "bloated". For those of us who actually are down here in the trenches, we know that by simply turning off a few pesky background programs magically transformed the "bloated" Vista into a smooth, quick, quite stable operating system.
Kim recently came out with an article titled 5 Bad Tech Habits -- And How To Break Them, so I thought I'd skim through the piece and toss in a few tidbits. She's right on all of them, but some need a bit of elaboration or clarification. I suggest you read the article first.
From the top:
1. Forgetting to clean
So, clean your tech gear as often as you'd clean any other germ or bacteria magnet. Keep some tech-friendly antiseptic wipes near your computer and phone charger.
She's 100% correct about using some kind of handy-wipe for anything with buttons on it, like a phone or keyboard. You get the the littlest bit of something like 409 under the buttons or keys and it'll turn into a thick sludge over time. I spray 409 onto a paper towel for the chore, but you have to be careful not to use too much.
As for maintaining a clean keyboard, I adhere to a rule I've been using almost from the beginning. If I get up and actually do anything, like step outside and touch something or lift up a box or whatever, I give my hands a quick rinse before returning to the computer. I'm not trying to be antiseptic; just knock off whatever's on the surface.
President Obama meets with his advisers on this most serious of issues
As far as I can tell, roughly 95% of both the MSM and the blogosphere still believe wholeheartedly that Assad gassed his own people. There are just three eensy little problems with this:
1. He gave the UN inspectors complete run of the place in their investigation. Compare that to Iran giving the UN nuke inspectors extremely limited access.
2. He was already handily beating the rebels back and thus had no reason to throw himself into the spotlight and incur international wrath.
3. al-Qaeda has long expressed its strong desire to use chemical weapons against the West and the Syrian branch has been caught red-handed with Sarin gas in their possession.
You know how those crime shows are always focusing on motive?
And there's a secondary meme that's evolved in recent days that I believe is off the mark. This blurb from the Washington Times incorporates both:
While saying he sympathizes with current public distaste for more war, President Obama on Friday made the case that the U.S. must live up to its global responsibilities, and for the first time raised the possibility that additional military action — beyond what’s on the table now — may be necessary if Syrian President Bashar Assad uses chemical weapons again.
In my opinion, it has nothing to with a 'distaste for more war' and everything to do with the following. Even site favorite James Taranto is on board the 'Assad Did It' bandwagon, and, as sharp and focused as he is, he seems to have completely overlooked the one key word in his column here. Let's see if you can spot it:
There are reasons to suspect that the effort may be losing rather than gaining momentum. Congressmen respond to their constituents, and the Washington Post reports (with a Fox Butterfield twist): "Americans widely oppose launching missile strikes against the Syrian government for its alleged use of chemical weapons, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll that finds little appetite for military action across the country despite a growing drumbeat in Washington."
Alleged. And, James, if something is only alleged, then only a total moron would take such devastating and possibly far-reaching action on it. Far-reaching, that is, if you count Iran closing down the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation.
The bottom line is that Americans don't like going to war over an alleged anything.
Another media-driven misconception that's been there from the start is that the rebels are 'moderates' and thus are the good guys. Kerry's used the word "moderates" in every speech he's given on the subject. But such is hardly the case.
Secretary of State John Kerry's public assertions that moderate Syrian opposition groups are growing in influence appear to be at odds with estimates by U.S. and European intelligence sources and nongovernmental experts, who say Islamic extremists remain by far the fiercest and best-organized rebel elements.
And here's yet one more meme the protectionist media is pushing, the 'reluctant' president:
The most amusing part of the entire drama, of course, is watching the squishy liberal media dance around the issue. Saddam Hussein gasses 250,000 Iraqi Kurds, Bush wants to stop him, and that's a bad thing. Assad gasses his people, Obama wants to stop him, and that's a good thing. Gosh, I wonder what the difference in those two wildly-opposed attitudes could be?
Then you throw in the doubt of who really gassed the citizenry and, if it actually was al-Qaeda, now you're saying we should fight on the side of al-Qaeda?
As to why all of this is taking place, let's just ask science:
In the name of al-Qaeda, we thank the infidels of the West for removing the largest obstacles in the path to attaining our glorious future World Caliphate, where Allah (Peace Be Upon Him) shall reign supreme forevermore.
Up to this point, our righteous path has been blocked by Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Bashar al-Assad of Syria. Thanks to the combined efforts of America's military, the European Coalition, NATO and America's right-wing bloggers, we have already disposed of three of these obstacles, with only one left to go. Although Iraq was briefly in Western hands, it shall soon be ours once again.
Our special thanks go to sites such as Hot Air and PJ Media, who encouraged us at every step in both Libya and Egypt. Their constant praising of us as "rebels" and "freedom fighters" was especially encouraging to the troops in the field.
A blogger by the name of Walter Russell Mead recently wrote a very important article titled Why Syria Isn’t the Big Story This Week, which a number of bloggers, including Instapundit and Hot Air, linked to.
...to punish a bloodstained government for its use of chemical weapons against its own people.
Yes, that's who did it, Mr. Mead, as Assad's most mortal enemy, the Israeli Mossad, will helpfully corroborate.
He then goes on to describe how, even though the world might be in flames next week and you'll be paying $12 a gallon the week after that, the 'real story' was India's economy.
Again, we thank the West deeply for its support, praise be to Allah.
As for Syria, after our first successful gassing of the citizens (their martyred souls shall rise to Heaven, praise Allah!), the present plan is to wait until the perfunctory bombing begins, then stage another attack, blame it on Assad, then watch the bombing escalate to the point where he must relinquish the kingdom.
Even if the bombing fails to dispose of this tyrant, he will still be tremendously weakened, and we should have control of every city except Damascus within a few years.
Understandably, Bird Dog usually takes a while to get into gear the morning after a trip, so here are a few goodies to tide you over if he's a tad late.
Pic: Just back from his vacation, the big guy feels fresh and invigorated.
As I've noted in past NASA posts, I've been a huge fan of the space program from the beginning, and have watched all of the major launches over the years. When Story Musgrave and his valiant crew fixed the Hubble back in '93, I was hitting the sack at 9 in the evening and getting up at 3 to watch it live.
The problem is that they've had half a century to deal with the first problem, and that ol' 'treadmill routine' just isn't cutting it. And they're just as clueless — if not just as helpless — with the second problem.
So it's actually kind of sad to see articles like these floating around, misleading people into thinking that whole 'space exploration' business is doable at this point in time:
It was 1973 and I was working at a high-end stereo shop in Keene, NH. Owning a 12-string, I was obviously very intimate with guitar-tuning. This was the dawn of PC chips, remember, and suddenly one came out that could 'read' audio frequencies. It occurred to me that you could incorporate twelve of them to look for a specific frequency and send a plus or minus signal to a mini-servomotor attached to each tuning key, telling it to turn one direction or the other. You'd strum the guitar once and they'd all kick into gear.
Alas.
And we have a fun new twist on the global warming front. You've been told that violence and terrorism and war and 98% of all species dying off and continent-destroying hurricanes and all the rest are going to be a direct result already happening now, as they attempt to scare you into believing. But this guy takes it to the next level.
Sensing such dangers, most people have an instinctively negative reaction to climate geoengineering. The reality, however, is that unless we deal seriously with the climate change problem (which we are not) the siren call of geoengineering will grow. And, when we get to the point where burgeoning concentrations of greenhouse gases are causing undeniable catastrophes -- tornados, hurricanes, droughts, coastal flooding, wild fires, mass extinctions -- on a scale orders of magnitude larger than we are experiencing today, the temptation to seriously consider a technological fix will become irresistible to many.
Since it's Sunday and we're just horsing around, I'll run through his little list, just for practice:
Tornadoes — We're currently at a 10-year low in twister activity — despite an ever-mounting rise of 'killer carbon', CO2.
Hurricanes — Also at an historic low, and some global climatologists are now starting to think that warmer waters reduce the number and strength of hurricanes.
Droughts — Our current drought is nothing compared to the barn-burner of the Dust Bowl 30's.
Coastal Flooding — Ah, you can always tell somebody who grew up in a landlocked state. It's like he's never even seen an oceanside beach. He's picturing the entire surrounding land mass as being at or near sea level, whereupon a few-feet rise in ocean level would devastate everything for miles around. Yet San Francisco, for example, surrounded on three sides by water and obviously one of the first to be washed away, is 15 feet above sea level.
Furthermore, I-
Hold on, this just in:
DATELINE 5/23/2033 (UPI): San Francisco Tourists Shocked At What They See
"I couldn't believe it," said Betina Wilkenson from Flatbush, Arkansas. "We drove all the way out here to kick back on the beach, and there's at least 10 less feet of sand than in the brochure!" Longtime resident Bud Ferris is also upset. "When we moved here back in my youth, there was at least fifty feet of sand running down the water. Now, after all this global warming, we're lucky if we've got forty feet!"
San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom II vowed to take corrective measures. "We long ago outlawed gasoline-powered vehicles, so the obvious next step is to outlaw electric vehicles, since energy is energy and it's obviously all bad."
When asked about the state resolution of 2028 that converted the great agricultural valley into the clean-energy Big Valley Wind Farm, he scoffed. "That wind stuff is okay when it comes to charging up your laptop or cellphone, but a car? Forget it."
Where we we? Oh, right.
Wildfires — We have definitely seen bigger and bigger wildfires in recent times, and will continue to do so. And it has everything to do with poor brush management and the poor clearing of old timber and not maintaining a proper airborne fleet and nothing to do with the weather.
Mass Extinctions — As I point out in my own AGW treatise, the funny thing about the "species dying off" meme is that we have absolutely no friggin' idea how many species there are. So, if you don't have a starting number, how do you know when there are "less"?
But the real point is that there isn't any reason to think masses of species will die off simply because it gets a bit warmer. Colder, yeah, but warmer? And for those on the cusp who actually do die out, a lesser species will find the warmer temp a boon and flourish. Nature's real big on that 'balance' stuff.
On a personal note, however, I have to thank the AGW crowd for giving me the opportunity to write the above 6,531-word dissertation, one of my finest pieces. They also gave me the opportunity to create an entire new environmental movement. So thanks, global warming crowd.
Shopping for electronics at Best Buy already feels like some kind of hidden camera prank, with staff who never want to help and rarely know a thing about the gear they're selling. But an artist who refers to himself as Plastic Jesus took things one step further by secretly stocking Best Buy displays in LA with a useless plastic box complete with a description of the non-existent product.
And then there's the "useless" empty plastic 'Project Box' from Radio Shack, just waiting to be stuffed with batteries and switches and relays and all kinds of fun electronic goodies:
Best of all, compared to the Best Buy price, the $14.99 Radio Shack wants is a steal!
Our fearless leader should be back from the exotic land of Italia today and should be back at the helm tomorrow.
Interesting News
Well, I always like to get the sad news out of the way first, so our first article this morning is about that Israeli spy bird that was caught by Egyptian authorities a few days ago as it tried to peck out its report on a miniature telegraph: Stork Detained as Spy in Egypt Found Dead
That's the third Israeli spy bird that's been captured in the last few years, by the way. One's first impulse might be to think, "Geez, won't those Israelis ever learn?" — until you stop and ponder how many of their spy birds haven't been caught.
Say, how about a geographic question? Like the U.S. has the bald eagle, there's a country which has a unicorn as its national symbol, and another has a fiery Chinese dragon. Which two are they?
Glenn Reynolds seems like a fairly reasonable guy, doesn't he? Honestly, one of the most baffling things I see in the blogosphere is when he occasionally jumps up on this soap box:
Meanwhile, can we (1) fire university administrators who don’t understand free speech, and see that they’re forever blackballed in academia; and/or (2) return the drinking age to 18 where it belongs?
Because if there's one thing this country really-really needs, it's more drunken teenagers on the road. If this is one of those goofy Libertarian things, please cancel my subscription to Libertarian Gazette immediately.
It's 1923 and you're a pilot for the United States Airmail Service. You're flying one of these across the country:
But wait. Not only do you not have GPS, but you also have to fly at night. Remember all that "nor gloom of night" stuff? Well, here you are.
This is, of course, supposed to be a scathing indictment of California squandering money on lavish pension plans and the like — and that might very well be true and Harvard would be the better choice. Except that: The cheat goes on at Harvard
Cheaters never win — but they get into Harvard!
Nearly half of the school’s incoming freshmen admitted to cheating on homework, exams or other assignments in their young academic careers, according to a survey by the Ivy League institution’s student newspaper.
So, hmm. Move to beautiful sunny California and make lots of money, or hang out with cheaters in frigid Massachusetts and make less money. Tough choice!
"If the first hurricane fails to appear until after 8 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time Sept. 15, this will be the most hurricane-free first half of a season since satellites began tracking the storms in 1967, he notes in an e-mail."
We're also at a 10-year low in tornado activity.
But a good try, nonetheless, Popular Science. Keep up the good work. We all need a break from reality now and then.
Like I said, sad.
And speaking of profound sadness...
Political News
Into each life a little rain must fall.
Yes, even here in the happy-go-lucky political section we occasionally have to face some cold hard facts and admit that not everything coming out of Washington these days is all peaches and cream.
Worse, I have terrible news here about two of everybody's favorite Washington characters.
Even worser, they're both women. So brace yourselves.
We haven't discussed computer security in a while, so let's hop through a few things.
As for an anti-malware program, I'm still a fan of the Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite, although it appears from a few reviews I read the other day that there are a number of quality programs out there these days, so there doesn't really appear to be a 'best'.
As for the freebie programs, like AVG and Avast, I'd be worried that it'd turn into a case of 'you get what you pay for'. As far as I can tell, while they get high marks for anti-malware prevention, they don't monitor browser activity in real-time. It should be noted that hackers are so smart these days that you don't actually have to click on a box to get infected. Just visiting the site will do it. So, real-time browser monitoring seems important. Using a freebie also raises the question, if you aren't going to spend computer money on a quality anti-malware program, just what are you going to spend it on?
The biggest problem with the new wave of 'smart' viruses is that, should they manage to slip by your present program and infect your system, they won't allow any other anti-malware programs to be installed. I've seen two computers with the problem in the last few years, both not allowing either Zone Alarm or Norton Anti-Virus to be installed.
For that problem, it appears the best program out there at the moment is Malwarebytes, which should install and hopefully find that bad boy. It's only hitch is that it deems every non-officially-sanctioned program a threat, including patches and 'keygen' programs, so be careful that it doesn't remove anything legitimate. It's not a real-time anti-malware program, just a file scanner.
When it comes to browsing, Rule #1 is that you never, ever click on a pop-out box on a web site unless you're 1,000% sure it's legitimate. I was on Fark.com the other day and one of those "Your system might be infected! Click HERE to get a FREE SCAN of your system!" boxes popped up when I went to the 'Video' section. Now, maybe it was an earnest attempt to keep my system as clean as possible and Fark was only thinking of bettering humanity — or the whole site's run by a bunch of doofuses and some hacker snuck in overnight.
The two most common 'messages' in the boxes these days are the "Might be infected!" variety and either a Flash or Java 'You need to update!' box. Avoid both at all costs.
On the subject, here's a question for you. Let's say you're a clever hacker and you put two buttons on the box, "OK" and "CANCEL". Wouldn't you make them both install your nastyware on their systems?
Now what about that little 'close' box on the upper-right of the box? If you were a clever hacker, wouldn't you make that also do the dirty deed?
When that box popped up on Fark the other day, I immediately hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete, opened Task Manager, right-clicked on the browser's entry on the first panel and selected 'End Task'. That closed down both the browser and the 'warning' box without clicking anything on the site. That's the proper way to avoid such intrusions.
That's too bad. He's always been a fave. Looking over the twelve Connery movies in my collection, I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite, but I have a particular fondness for The Rock because he was pretty old by that time but still kicked butt.
Yep. When a Christian hits the button on his suicide vest and murders 37 innocent civilians, the last words out of his mouth are always "Thank God!"
Everybody knows that.
On the subject, although the author doesn't mention Sarah Palin by name, he continues her theme of "Let Allah sort them out": Syria is Allah's war, Mr. Obama
“When I meet a gay person, I have to distinguish between their being gay and being part of a lobby … If they accept the Lord and have good will, who am I to judge them? They shouldn’t be marginalized. The tendency (to be homosexual) is not the problem. They are our brothers.”
So it's nice to see him dumping all that silly, outdated 'morals' and 'ethics' stuff. And if 2,000 years of Catholicism gets washed down the drain in the process, well, there's no stopping progress.
On the entertainment scene, I thought the best news recently was the Repubs finally taking a stance on the televised debates issue. As you might remember, I covered all 279 televised debates last year, and one of the ever-current memes was the spin the liberal debate moderators had put on the previous night's event. So this was refreshing to read: Republicans look to change structure of campaign debates
During an hour-long deep dive into the growing use of food stamps in America, Fox News highlighted “the new face of food stamps.”
That new face is a pina colada-sipping, lobster-loving lothario named Jason Greenslate.
Fox News’ cameras joined Greenslate on one of his grocery shopping expeditions. With his Electronic Benefit Transfer card (EBT), the vehicle for food stamp benefits, Greenslate purchases sushi, lobster and coconut water.
Some of you economic majors out there might be able to pry apart the one, tiny little flaw in this otherwise great piece of right-wing propaganda.
Food stamps are $200/mo. After buying the expensive sushi, lobster and coconut water, he had just used up half of his monthly allotment in one day.
The implication of the article, of course, is that he does this every day, never quite explaining how one can live like a king by spending half his monthly allotment for one meal.
In other words, just like the rest of the MSM, Fox News thinks you're an idiot, and certainly the blogger who wrote the article fits that description to the letter.
These awards aren't handed out to just anybody, y'know.
Political News
Finally! After all that ugly stuff up above, it's always nice to hit the political section where good news always abounds.
And here's a fun recap of recent presidential pets:
I have two pets, by the way. Well, they're not exactly 'mine', but they visit me regularly. The male is Oscar and the female is Periwinkle.
Ah, modern green technology. Here, those clever Brits have built a 'green' building that not only houses tenants, but also replaces your electricity-hungry stove by providing its own hot plates for your cooking convenience!
Pic: Famed videophile Dr. Mercury utilizes over a decade's worth of clinical expertise as he carefully crafts together today's serious piece of work.
If you happened to catch my Dixie Lily video post a while back, whoever put the clip together did a superb job of matching up the accompanying pics with the song's lyrics.
Using the free Windows program 'Movie Maker', this is fairly easy to do and obviously (glancing at pic) a barrel of fun. As long as you've got the song, the rest is up to Google Images.
For the long, arduous process (1. Load pic 2. Drag pic to timeline), we shall dip below the fold.
Pic: Farmhand Jeanie lends a hand with the arduous chores. What a trooper!
Well, I suppose you read a few weeks ago how the government finally revealed that it's been secretly harboring alien beings at its famous 'Area 51'. No, wait, I got the story backwards. They haven't been secretly harboring aliens over there. Yeah, like anyone would buy that. Area 51 report won't stop Hollywood and those who want to believe
Sadly, once again those Euros are ahead of us. As you might know, running into a concrete wall over 70 mph guarantees a quick, painless death. Under 70 and you're usually just looking at a total body maiming with a grueling, painful life in a hospital bed for the rest of your days. As such, the farseeing European Union has decided to end these horrible, quick, painless, over-70-mph deaths, once and for all: EU plans to fit all cars with speed limiters
And more bad news for the Righties. As I note here, the entire right wing has simply been giddy for the past five years because of President Obama's "57 states" quote. As I cover in the post, however, these right-wingers have been wrong, wrong, wrong about President Obama's quote. He doesn't think there are 57 states.
He think there are 60.
As we've noted a few times recently, Northern Colorado is seeking to become the 51st state.
When it comes to the popular sport of drone hunting, there's a little 'friendly rivalry' developing between a couple of everybody's favorite nation-states:
What these Mainers forgot to ask is whether or not we down here in the South even want them moving here. As it turns out, the answer is a resounding NO!, so this looks like a win-win situation for everybody.
According to the article, they have two basic programs. The one with the leg irons and electroshock therapy looks like best choice for the money. Quicker, anyway.
As you might have heard, there's been a lot of controversy lately about banning the 'D' word. But let's start at the top:
Speaking of disinformation, one of the real problems with the Internet is that it allows smooth talkers to sway the less-informed into doing something really stupid, like refusing vaccinations for their kids. Here's a new form of the problem: TN newborns get rare bleeding disorder after parents refused vitamin K shots
A bleeding disorder in babies so rare that it typically affects fewer than one in 100,000 is becoming more common in Tennessee because parents are refusing vitamin K injections at birth, according to pediatric specialists.
Since February, four babies with no signs of injury or abuse have been sent to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt with either brain hemorrhages or bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract. Dr. Robert Sidonio Jr., a hematologist, diagnosed them with vitamin K deficiency bleeding.
If you're moving to a newly built house, say goodbye to mail delivery at your door.
And if some House Republicans get their way, all door-to-door mail delivery will go away.
The U.S. Postal Service is marching towards a more "centralized delivery," where residents pick up their own mail from clusters of mail boxes located in their neighborhood. Local postmasters are sending hundreds of letters to fast-growing communities, warning that cluster boxes will be the way mail will be delivered to new developments.
And what makes it ugly is that the Republican leading the charge is the famed Darrell Issa, he of the tough congressional hearings. I even highlighted him with two video clips here.
But Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Republican leading the House effort to save the postal service, wants more. He has made doing away with doorstep delivery a key part of his bill, which would require everyone to get mail at a curbside box or from a cluster box.
So, to sum up, once again a large company is unable to trim its ranks due to union restraints and thus has to cut costs another way, one which impacts us both directly and painfully.
Painfully, that is, if you're Mrs. Hutchins, age 88, suffering from terrible arthritis and now has to hobble a quarter-mile to get her mail.
Political News
Finally! Like her or not, one thing everyone admits is that it's nice to see a woman in the White House with a little fashion sense. Or, to put it in question form; just how many of Barbara Bush's outfits do you remember? Point proven.
Mrs. Obama bristled but managed to maintain her silence when queried about the allegations. Not surprisingly, White House spokesmen followed her lead, declining to comment on the report in any form whatsoever.
“Official silence is expected but it’s an odds-on bet that the White House will soon be known as the Green House,” said the source. “The only thing holding Mrs. Obama back at this point is the choice of shade. From what I understand, she is torn between grass green and hunter green. When she decides, painters will show up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with brushes, ladders and scaffolds and start painting.”
Personally, I'd go with the hunter. It'll weather better and go nicer with the surrounding foliage. But I don't claim to be an expert on the subject.
The speakers on a stock Windows system do not sound their best. You need to make a small adjustment or two.
First, start playing a rock song (or anything with a good bass track) in the background.
— Open Control Panel, 'Sound'
— Click on 'Speakers', 'Properties'
— Click on the 'Enhancements' tab
— Check the 'Loudness Equalization' box, then 'Apply' down below. It should either stay the same or get a bit louder. This feature plays quieter-than-normal songs slightly louder to compensate.
— If you don't have a subwoofer on your system, you might want to check the 'Bass Boost' box, then 'Apply' and see what you think. It might lower the overall volume a tad but the bass will be louder.
To make sure the overall volume of the system is up, there should be a little speaker icon in the SysTray on the right side of the Task Bar. Click on it and slide the volume all the way up.
With that taken care of, it's time for a system test. Ideally, we want a sound file that will test low frequency response, high frequency response, transient response, tracking and speaker balance.
Thankfully, there's a cut on the 1974 National Lampoon Stereo Test And Demonstration Record that satisfies all of these grueling parameters. Turn your speakers way up, make sure you're right in between them, and listen carefully:
"Well, good luck!"
The entire album can be downloaded here, although be forewarned that the above stands alone in its majesty — rusty, vibrant tang and all.
Remember that Asiana flight crashing at San Fran Int'l a while back, clipping off the tail as it hit the edge of the runway?
The reason that was given was, due to some confusion in the cockpit, the autopilot was assumed to be taking care of the aircraft's speed, which it wasn't. So, they lost altitude quickly at the end and clipped the edge of the runway.
But that doesn't really answer why the pilot was trying to land so near the edge of the runway in the first place, what with a long, expansive landing strip in front of them. And this is especially true in S.F., where there's no pre-runway to safeguard against such things, because the runways jut out into this big watery thing called a "bay".
But upon watching the following video, pointed out to me by my buddy Feebs, I was suddenly reminded of a nasty experience I once had, which might just answer that elusive why.
For airplane buffs, this is a very interesting video showing the last number of minutes of an airliner landing at SFO from inside the cockpit.
A few things to watch for:
— I like they way they label it "Silicon Valley, CA". Silicon Valley is a euphemism for an area loosely composed of parts of San Jose, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale.
— Since we presume they didn't do any editing-out in this thing, both the 'Landing' and 'Shutdown' check lists are stunningly short.
— There's an interesting moment when the computer calls out "200" feet, and it appears the pilot actually has to give it the verbal command to "continue" for things to progress as normal. I presume he's actually talking to the co-pilot, following routine, but you'll see what I mean about it appearing like he's talking to the computer.
— It's also interesting how bouncy the cockpit is once they touch down. You don't get that feeling at all from the rest of the plane, but these guys are seriously a'shakin'.
— And how in the world do the pilots see those baton-waving directional guys way down on the ground? For the final 'stop' command, do they raise some guy way up on a crane in front of the cockpit? Well, not exactly.
What they're going to do is fly in high over S.F. heading southward, go down to the South Bay (Silicon Valley), turn around and head back up to the airport over the bay.
It was watching that particular shot as they neared the edge of the runway that reminded of a time when I came in over water and faced a similar edge.
It was at San Carlos airport, mid-way down the Peninsula, and I was being given a demo ride by an instructor. I was about 30 or so, had just come into a small inheritance, and wanted to fulfill a lifelong dream of getting a pilot's license.
We took a Cessna 172 up, up and away, flew over the coastal range that runs down the spine of the Peninsula, cruised out over the Pacific, did a few basic acrobatics, and headed back home.
And there was the edge in front of us, and the pilot came in low, over water, aiming for the very rim of the runway. At the last moment, I was 99.99% positive we were going to hit it with the wheels, cartwheel over and die.
Whoomp! We landed safely and I immediately (1) signed up for lessons with (2) the condition that it not be that guy. It honestly scared me like I've seldom been in my life.
And just why was he trying to get so close to the edge, when there was figuratively miles of runway in front of him?
Because getting close to the edge was the only challenge in sight.
In my Culture in the Cockpit post, I noted how sometimes airline disasters can almost be directly attributable to countries with militaristic backgrounds whose Air Force pilots then turn to commercial aviation, and how that "don't question authority" mindset can often be their undoing.
But this is different.
Place yourself in the Asiana plane, as a junior pilot wanting to impress his superiors by just nailing that edge. Except that this time the autopilot doesn't have your back.
As most people would agree, the main problem with Northern Colorado becoming the 51st state is having to redo all of those flags and coffee mugs and stamps and all the rest. Who needs the aggravation? It seems a simpler solution would be to ask: Could Colorado County Become Part of Wyoming?
At this week’s industry conference on drones, in Washington, D.C., a group of police and fire chiefs gathered to discuss how to increase their use of drones. But they used a different term: “UAS operations.” (UAS stands for “unmanned aircraft system.”)
And, from a very long article covering drones from A to Z, we have:
The Air Force bristles at the very word—drones conjures autonomous flying robots, reinforcing the notion that human beings are not piloting them. The Air Force prefers that they be called Remotely Piloted Aircraft.
This week, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) took over Washington, DC's convention center for its annual Unmanned Systems show.
So now we have UAS, RPA and UVS — and that's just from three articles!
Bird Dog posted an interesting video on 3-D street art the other day. In the comments, MissyW left a link to a very interesting article on the subject, including a how-to video: 3D street art: a question of perspective
One odd thing is that they didn't mention the brilliant idea I had years ago. As I mention in my mocha post, I've never liked coffee in the slightest — but I love its effects. So, my nimble mind thinks, why not buy caffeinated water and make the ice cubes for my ever-present Ginger Ale out of it! Alas, my brilliant plan was shattered like ice because it's too expensive. It was something like $3 just for one regular little bottle.
Finally, I suppose you've heard about the sad plight of the tornado chasers? Between the guys who professionally chase tornadoes for a living and the tornado specialists down at the meteorology center, these are desperate times, indeed: USA having calmest year for tornadoes in over a decade
Personally, I blame The Gore Effect. "More and more violent weather" was one of the core themes of his outburst a few weeks ago, and, well, here we are.
Political News
That Michelle Obama is a real hoot, isn't she? Compare her to, say, Hillary's days in the White House, and how she spent them trying to harm the nation by pushing HillaryCare through. In my book, the proper role of the First Lady is to take some 'harmless' subject like "do more exercise" or "kids eating better" and push that, as well as just getting out there and mingling with the common folk, giving them the feeling that our government really is comprised of actual human beings, not just some remote voice on a news clip. It's the same reason townhall meetings are so appreciated. Actually seeing and interacting with your 'voice in Washington' makes a difference.
Entitled “Songs for a Healthier America,” the record features video cameos (but no singing) of the first lady along with big names like Jordin Sparks, Ashanti, Run DMC, Doug E. Fresh and Monifah.
The 19-track album with song titles like “U R What You Eat” and “Veggie Luv” is being released by the Partnership for a Healthier America, an independent group found in conjunction with Let’s Move.
Naturally, the right-wing bloggers — ever eager to defile her because she's a hated Democrat — are outraged because, as one Townhall blogger put it, rap is "a genre known for its demeaning lyrics towards women and inappropriate language", even though it's obvious this is nothing of the sort.
We have spoken in the past of what a meaningless word 'racism' has become in recent years, but condemning an entire genre of a certain race's style of music actually is being racist, Townhall.
Last Friday, 90% of the Maggie's male readership was forced to admit that Michelle Goddam Obama can do more push-ups than they can. As I noted, you can't fake push-ups; this lady practices what she preaches. There's a fun slideshow here of her in various athletic situations, including busting ass on the track and boogalooing with the best of them.
All of the following headlines were spotted on my daily rounds in the MSM over the past three years. I didn't specifically hunt down any of them just for the post.
You have to admit, dedicating an official work day to goofing off and calling it Labor Day has to be one the great malaprops of all time. And it has to be more than a little ironic that what started off as a day commemorating one of America's greatest achievements — the unionization of America's workers against the tyranny of the 'barons' of their day (child labor, anyone?) — now represents a big chunk of what's wrong with America. I s'pose entitlements and overall government largesse roughly account for another big piece. If there's one core word that encompasses the entire quagmire, it would be the word unsustainable. Just ask the U.S. Postal Service and the jam it's gotten itself into because of its inability to lay off highly-paid unionized postal workers.
Nonetheless, happy Unlaborious Day, everyone! If you're looking for something to do, I have some suggestions below.
Finally! At last you don't have some cheap, paltry excuse to hand the wife on why you can't get to all of those fix-it jobs that have been piling up!
Rather than this being a "how-to" site, it's more like a "Can I do it?" site, and should give you a pretty good idea as to whether you can handle it yourself. And, in the course of finding out 'if' you also find out 'how', so much the better.
A water heater is a pretty good example. Because they're large, they look kind of forbidding, and most people's first thought would be to call the plumber if it started to leak. But when you actually look at what exactly needs to be unhooked, it's really quite simple, and bendable supply lines mean you don't have to get an exact replacement for the pipes on top. And, just between you and me, a pipe wrench is probably cheaper than a 4-hour visit from the plumber.
I rarely write unless I have something new to add to the narrative, or at least have a fresh slant on something. The OJ jury got it right. Magellan was a fraud. Maggie's Farm is politically centrist. You know, the usual kind of wild hyperbole you expect to see in the blogosphere.
For your visual delight, here's one of the best pictorial galleries and video collections in town. If you're really looking to while away the day, there are some
full-length features on the 'Special Vids' page, and, if you're into
movies, I daresay there's nothing out there quite like 'Doc's Bag O'
Clips'.
If you (1) like exercising some control over your system, but (2) have installed Win 7 and are frustrated by its lack of user control, take a peek at my Win 7 setup page. I've spent a serious number of hours tracking down the tweaks to most of the common complaints, such as eliminating garbage from the right-mouse-button 'context' menu, the 'New' menu, getting rid of the "Shortcut to" tag, changing the path to IE's 'Favorites', and disabling those ultra-annoying pops-outs from the Task Bar icons.
I'd also blushingly add that I've never seen anything even close to my 'Facts & Fallacies' page. You read every word on that page and I guarantee you'll come away with a different perspective.
I presume you've heard of Google Earth? It basically lets you fly around the globe in your own personal space ship, then zoom in to look at your topless neighbor sunbathing majestic peaks and valleys. It's a series of patched-together images from every spot on the globe, and there are big sites out there dedicated to posting the latest crazy/odd/mystifying/beautiful spots people find. You click on the link and the program flies you there. Very slick.
For example, there are huge compass roses out there that you'd never have a clue what they were from the ground, as well as a whole shitload of wild hedge mazes, cities and terrain in 3-D (you can fly between buildings and down the Grand Canyon), real-time airline tracking, real-time weather, strange 3,000-year-old geoglyphic inscriptions spanning the length of a football field — and that's not to mention some very convincing alien crop circles.
I've put together a number of video tours to show off this remarkable program. The 'Google Goofs' tour is a riot.
Presenting the best way to get a blog or web site going, bar none. Apart from it probably being the largest WordPress how-to site out there (50,000 words @ 82 pages), it also gets into how to turn this great blogging software into web software. This is a key point, because if you want a business web site, you don't want all that blog-y stuff around like 'Author', 'Category', 'Comments', etc. And, once you get rid of that, it's a superb editor for a web site, business or informational.
Want to get into the Guinness Book of World Records with a monumental achievement that will last until the end of time? Want to get on TV at the Olympics? Want to actually contact every member of Congress, not just their flunkies? Want to make a bzillion dollars? The answers lie within.
Well, that oughta keep ya busy for an hour or two.
This being a fairly dead weekend in the blog world, I thought I'd just re-post this old gem. I don't do many you-are-there pieces, but they're lots of fun to write. Another fave of the genre is Treasure Hunting With A Metal Detector.
As a small side note, some of the bloggers here don't know that blog protocol dictates that the word 'repost' be included somewhere (title or text) in reposts, so check the dates before responding to a comment. There are two like that below.
(an email to friends, September '00)
Howdy, all —
I've just returned from Colorado Springs and I thought I'd share some of my experiences with you.
First off, sorry, no photos. It's a nice place, but I really didn't want to haul my $800 'photographically-compliant computer' (AKA "digital camera") all over the place. Just picture amazing rock formations and incredible vistas and you've got it.
There are few places on the globe where you can actually see the curve of the planet. You can't see it from sea level. You and I would see it, out on the ocean, because we know the Earth is round, but it would just be an illusion. Hold a straightedge up and it's flat as flat can be. You need two somewhat unique things lined up next to each other, a fairly rare occurrence.
You (1) need an extremely wide, vast plain, flat as a pancake, and (2) a fairly high (10,000 feet-plus) mountain perched right on the edge of aforementioned pancake.
I give you Kansas and Pike's Peak.
Most high mountains are in the middle of mountain ranges. I know that sounds crazy, but it's true. As such, the horizon is very irregular. But Pike's Peak is right on the edge of the Colorado Plateau, looking out across flat, flat, flat, Kansas.
You see The Curve.
Your first thought is,
They were right! It is round.
Maybe you already knew it, but it's always nice to have it confirmed.
I suppose if I asked for a mere shred of sympathy for our president because of the sticky wicket Syria has become, I'd get laughed right off the stage?
I thought so.
From Theo's, I suppose this just about sums it up:
Welcome to the Middle East, indeed.
(by the way, I hope you don't mind my interrupting, but it just now occurred to me to ask: What countries are in the Middle West? Kansas?)
With Bush's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, although still sectarian, at least the battle lines were fairly well drawn. If even half of the above pic is true, we are a long, long ways from those former days of innocence. And I have no reason to think the entire thing isn't right on the money. What a friggin' mess.
As she has a hundred times before, our own Klondike Queen nailed it:
In laying out the case for military strikes on Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday had praise for the French, who he called “our oldest ally,” but snubbed any mention of the British, who have long believed they enjoyed a “special relationship” with the U.S.
When you're forced to praise the weak-ass French as being staunch allies, you know the End Times are near.
Which isn't to say all Brits are particularly happy with their Parliament's decision:
Remember how France refused to support us in the Iraq War and patriots were calling for French fries to be renamed "freedom fries"?
Turnabout's fair play:
Britain, a U.S. ally in the war in Iraq, might watch from the sidelines if Washington launches a Syrian strike and turns to France for a European stamp of approval. (Could we see the debut of “liberty muffins’’ a decade after the derisory “freedom fries”?)
Back to our president, remember how the MSM labeled President Bush a 'warmonger', 'baby-killer', with his 'immoral war' and all the rest?
From CNN's web site this morning:
This time, with a Democrat in the White House, it appears the rules have changed. Poor President Obama is already war-weary — and he hasn't even done anything yet. But he's tough and gritty and 'determined' to see Truth and Justice prevail. Must be nice having the MSM cover your ass.
My personal fantasy:
(ring-ring!)
"Good morning, this is Susan, Sarah Palin's assistant."
"Hi, this is President Obama. Can I speak to Sarah for a sec?"
"Sure, she's right here. Hey, Sarah, President Deadbeat's on the phone!"
"Good morning, Mr. President, this is Sarah. How may I help you?"
"Could you pop by the White House later today? I'd like to have you standing beside me when I repeat your message to the world."
Weekends are a real wasteland around here, especially in the summer, and double-especially the holidays, so I hate to burn up my valuable little horde of links. Instead, I'll list a few link sites. Then you may wallow and bask in glorious linkdom to your heart's content.
On a right-wing site, the first two to mention would probably be Drudge and Instapundit. Both are somewhat eclectic, in that right under the article demanding we immediately nuke Syria is a link to how hot Madonna looks in her new grillz.
Next up might be Real Clear Politics, and what's to note is that when it comes to sections like their 'Tech' and 'History', they're actually a fairly 'deep' site, with a specific search usually pulling up lots of goodies.
Leaving news and history behind, the next step might be one of the 'why' sites, like Life's Little Mysteries.
The next step down the ladder would be a site like Linkiest, which runs the range from the inane to the brilliant.
Although he's shut down for the time being due to family problems, I think the best political cartoonist out there these days is the Hope and Change guy. Going through the archives is a blast.
Another great cartoonistartist textmeister is the guy who does the Text From Dog site. For just quick text messages, some of it's quite clever.
As for my own links pages, I have a collection of my video posts here, one of computer tips here, and a 'best of' here.
Well, that should keep you busy for a few minutes.
Every now and then some zealot suddenly decides those horrid anonymous commenters need to be put in their place. Here's a typical screed, which asks:
So, is it OK that so many bloggers and commenters use pseudonyms? Are their opinions godlike? Or, are they just afraid to reveal themselves completely?
Yep, that's your only choice, folks. Either your opinion is godlike — or you're afraid to reveal yourself completely. No other choice will do.
...and others just want to be rude or snarky or such without responsibility, accountability or consequence.
Consequence? So, you read an article that really makes your blood boil, you let the blogger have it with both barrels, then it turns out a devoted acolyte takes severe umbrage at your comment, looks up your real name and hunts your ragged ass down with his 12-gauge shotgun, literally giving you both barrels for daring to call the great god blogger "a lowly scumdog". Ho-hum, just another consequence in the life of the average blog commenter. Or former commenter, in this case.
The days of anonymous commenting on The Huffington Post are numbered. Founder Arianna Huffington said in a question-and-answer session with reporters in Boston Wednesday that the online news site plans to require users to comment on stories under their real names, beginning next month.
It's quite the noble mission, all in all, meeting the highest of standards and setting an exemplary example for blog sites throughout the world. There's only one tiny little piece missing from this otherwise brilliant plan:
Our mighty leader has taken off for the faraway land of Italia for ten days, leaving you in the clutches warm, caring hands of the staff.
Which is exactly what staffs should have.
While it won't be the circus we had when the big guy went out to the Cape a while back (20 posts in 5 days was a bit much even for prolific ol' me), we'll still have fun.
As far as Bulldog goes, ol' Droolie is pawin' at the ground and slobberin' at the bit in anticipation of the mountains of adulation and heaps of scorn that go along with being a modern-day blogger. And who could resist such a temptation?
And the rest of the gang should be pitching in unless they're also out of town. Barrie in particular has been on fire lately.
Oh, and it wouldn't be an official "while the cat's away" vacation without opening up the Maggie's Farm Smut Guide for the duration.
The first of these is a location story, the second is the ol' online-vs-retail story. Both make the same point while coming at it from different angles.
Let's all sing along!
Kim Komando was one of the first online gurus. While she's a little too theoretical and not enough 'in the trenches' for my tastes, she's still much smarter than the average online "computer expert", like all those bozos who declared Windows Vista to be "bloated". For those of us who actually are down here in the trenches, we know that by simply turning off a few pesky background programs magically transformed the "bloated" Vista into a smooth, quick, quite stable operating system.
Understandably, Bird Dog usually takes a while to get into gear the morning after a trip, so here are a few goodies to tide you over if he's a tad late.
Our fearless leader should be back from the exotic land of Italia today and should be back at the helm tomorrow.
We haven't discussed computer security in a while, so let's hop through a few things.
Interesting News
Pic: Famed videophile Dr. Mercury utilizes over a decade's worth of clinical expertise as he carefully crafts together today's serious piece of work.
Interesting News
The speakers on a stock Windows system do not sound their best. You need to make a small adjustment or two.
Remember that Asiana flight crashing at San Fran Int'l a while back, clipping off the tail as it hit the edge of the runway?
You have to admit, dedicating an official work day to goofing off and calling it Labor Day has to be one the great malaprops of all time. And it has to be more than a little ironic that what started off as a day commemorating one of America's greatest achievements — the unionization of America's workers against the tyranny of the 'barons' of their day (child labor, anyone?) — now represents a big chunk of what's wrong with America. I s'pose entitlements and overall government largesse roughly account for another big piece. If there's one core word that encompasses the entire quagmire, it would be the word unsustainable. Just ask the U.S. Postal Service and the jam it's gotten itself into because of its inability to lay off highly-paid unionized postal workers.
(an email to friends, September '00)
