Maggie's Farm

Bird Dog should be arriving back from his trip down to Georgia today.  If'n he a'starts tawkin' lak dis and usin' de word y'all ever'where an' a'callin' hisself Bird Dawg, we'll ask him to shorten his vacation next time.

Interesting News

Well, I suppose we should start off with the serious stuff, like how soon we're all going to die from global colding.  If you read my article here, you're aware that science has now established that all of the warming over the past century is a direct result of global colding, and estimates of our continued existence range anywhere from 35 years to 35 minutes.

Second Coldest Start To Spring In US History

As if any further proof was necessary.

How To Start A Black Market Industry In One Easy Lesson:

Colorado resident: "Hey, man, wanna buy an ounce of pot for $500?"

Other resident: "What?  Are you crazy?  It's now legal in this state!"

Colorado Officials to Consider Marijuana Taxes of Up to 30 Percent

"In that case, I'll take two!"

In war news, allow me to again emulate James Taranto:

Breaking News From 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012:

NATO Crash Kills 4; Taliban Begin Spring Offensive

You could set your watch by it.

In regards to our slow deployment from Afghanistan over the next year, from the movie 'Rambo III':

Mousa: This is Afghanistan. Alexander the Great try to conquer this country, then Genghis Khan, then the British. Now Russia. But Afghan people fight hard, they never be defeated.

So at least we're in good company.

I thought this was exceptionally cool:

Voice of Alexander Graham Bell Heard in Recovered Audio Recording

The recording, a wax-and-cardboard disc, contains the voice of Bell counting aloud, rattling off different percentages and dollar figures, and stating his name, date and address.

And to think; we're still using discs 128 years later.  Alex, old boy, you were way ahead of the curve.

On the gender front, it's nice to see Washington state finally doing something about the horrific bias built into the language that relegates poor, defenseless females to the role of second-class citizens:

Washington State Dumps 'Sexist' Words Like 'Penmanship'

The war on the English language from gender-neutrality advocates has reached new lows in Washington state, where the governor signed a new piece of legislation dictating that the terms "fisherman," "freshman," and "penmanship" all be replaced because of alleged sexism. "Fisherman" will now be "fisher"; "freshman" will now be "first-year student"; "penmanship" will now be "handwriting."

First comment:

Well, ain't that a bitch!

Speaking of oppressed minorities, my buddy Shutterbug is a Mac aficionado and incorporates all things Mac into her life (iPhone, iPad, iCar, iHubby), so I sent her the following iArticle which she iAppreciated so much I thought I should iPost it here.

What Your iPhone is Trying to Tell You

I thought the third suggestion, "Knock off all that stupid 'i' stuff!" was a bit over the top, but the rest of it seems like solid advice.

And speaking of phones...

Smartphones Outsell ‘Dumbphones’ for First Time, Report Says

On the other hand, why a phone that can connect to the greatest collection of lies, half-truths and outright spin in the history of mankind is called 'smart' is anybody's guess.

Excuse me, I meant peoplekind.

On a non-news note, I made a pretty nifty discovery the other day.  As it turns out, Google Translator isn't just for words or sentences.  Entire, complete web pages are converted just by pasting in the URL.  I wanted to send this page to a Cuban buddy of mine; ran it through Google Translator and here's what I sent him.  That's pretty slick.

On the blogger scene, I think it'll be interesting watching to see if any right-wing bloggers pick up on a certain parallel.

Prior to our 2003 invasion of Iraq, it had been estimated that Saddam Hussein had murdered somewhere between 200,000 and 350,000 Iraqi Kurds with various weapons of mass destruction, Sarin gas (a cousin of the Mustard Gas used in WW I) being at the top of the list.  There were also clues that Hussein was starting to think about putting together an atomic bomb, but the real factor was stopping a mass murderer the likes of which hadn't been seen since Cambodian Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge purge in the early 70's.

After the invasion, the liberal, anti-Bush MSM conveniently forgot that the term 'weapons of mass destruction' includes three categories; nuclear, chemical and biological and, when literally tons of Sarin gas was found but no nukes, Bush lied, thousands died!  I covered this here.

So, here we are with a Democrat in the White House when suddenly...

Syrian Blood Tests Positive for Sarin Gas, U.S. Spies Say

The U.S. intelligence community has uncovered strong evidence that chemical weapons have been used in Syria. Several blood samples, taken from multiple people, have tested positive for the nerve agent Sarin, an American intelligence source tells Danger Room. President Obama has long said that the use of such a weapon by the Assad regime would cross a "red line."

In other words, if some half-baked Mid-Eastern potentate is using weapons of mass destruction on the citizenry, then we need to step in and stop him!

I haven't seen any of the right-wing bloggers pick up on this massive hypocrisy yet, but I assume they will as the story progresses.

Political News

What a cutie!

Michelle Obama Calls Her Bangs ‘Irritating’ – and She’s Not the Only Celeb Over the Hair Trend

Mrs. Obama later talked about her bangs on the "Rachael Ray Show," calling them "my midlife crisis."

"I couldn't get a sports car," she joked. "They won't let me bungee-jump. So instead, I cut my bangs."

[...]

Mrs. Obama isn't the only one who already seems over the look. Kim Kardashian, who cut her hair in early March, seems done, too.

Personally, I think Michelle looks simply fabulous in bangs, so it appears not all of the news coming out of Washington this week is good.

In case you haven't heard the exciting news, Gwyneth Paltrow has been named People Magazine's World's Most Beautiful Woman.

In honor of this lofty occasion, it's only fitting that we hear directly from this raving beauty, herself:

"I love the English way, which is not as capitalistic as it is in America. People don't talk about work and money; they talk about interesting things at dinner parties. I like living here because I don't tap into the bad side of American psychology, which is 'I'm not achieving enough, I'm not making enough, I'm not at the top of the pile.'"

"Brits are far more intelligent and civilised than Americans. I love the fact that you can hail a taxi and just pick up your pram and put it in the back of the cab without having to collapse it. I love the parks and places I go for dinner and my friends."

"I just had a baby and thought, 'I don't want to live there.'" International press reports had her deriding "Bush's anti-environment, pro-war policies" as either a "disgrace" or a "disaster."

If we presume the gang at People Mag are just as liberal as the rest of industry — which wouldn't be much of a stretch — it's no wonder they fell in love with this woman.  In their minds, speaking truth to power like the above earns her the honorific of Heroine.

For pics of the runners-up and the ravishing Ms. Paltrow, take your trembling hand and...

Bird Dog's down in Georgia for the weekend...

That's right.  He's a Connecticut Yankee in King Southern's Court.

So, lucky you, I'll be doing the morning links today and Monday.  Although I appear to be the only blogger in the Western Universe who believes it, I don't think Sundays should be filled with the same bad news that the rest of the week is, so I'll skip it.

Interesting News

Well, I suppose we should start with what many are calling 'The Scandal of the Decade'.

Korean media is abuzz over the question after the Microsoft founder was photographed Monday holding his hand in his pocket as he exchanged greetings with Park Geun-hye.

I just love this picture:

I can easily see myself doing the same thing.  "Well, howdy, Prez, howzit goin'?"  Real geeks really are on a different plane than most people, and royalty, prestige and position simply don't carry the same weight that tight code, a quicker boot-up time and a well-designed web site do.

I hope the Koreans understand.

Under the heading of James Taranto's "Two Papers In One!", we have:

Three Cheers for the Internet Tax! - Daily Beast, 4/24/13

Like to buy stuff on the Internet? If the House approves a first-ever online sales tax, you might soon be paying a premium—and that’s a very good thing, writes Daniel Gross.

The Real Problem With the Internet Sales Tax - Daily Beast, 4/24/13

...because after I wrote the first post, it became clear to me that most people who are writing about it do not understand why this is onerous for small business.

She's lying, of course, but this is The Daily Beast, so one would expect that sort of thing.  In this case, it's a lie by omission, because what she's not telling you in the above sentence is that she's only referring to small-time online retailers, like those guys who try to make a buck reselling stuff on eBay and Amazon.  And just what percentage of the industry, Ms. McArdle, is that?

1%?  2%?  0.00031%?

People who are saying this is no big deal aren’t thinking things through.

For further information on why this is no big deal, please read my post here.

And extremely good news from the food front:

Hostess Reopening Plants, Without Union Workers

Twinkies and cupcakes are back — and unions get screwed.  It just doesn't get any better than that.

On the down side, there's bad news for the printer industry:

How The New $100 Bill Will Foil Counterfeiters

The Federal Reserve has mixed in new features to make the bill more difficult to replicate, like a blue security ribbon running down the front. When the bill is tilted, columns filled with the number "100" and tiny bells rotate. Tilt left to right and the columns move up and down; tilt up and down, the columns move left to right. The ribbon is woven onto the paper, not printed, making it tougher to duplicate. It's composed of thousands of lenses that magnify the marks and make them appear to move in different directions--not easy for a counterfeiter to remake in a basement.

This whole things smacks of a 'freedom of speech' violations and I'm sure the ACLU will immediately spring into action.

And, in a recent horrific event, the nation held its breath while we awaited the outcome of the...

Hostages on the Tarmac!

Hours before the federal spending sequester began on March 1, when President Barack Obama predicted that "People are going to be hurt," he did not add, Trust me, I'll make sure of it. But he might as well have, as this week's furloughs of air traffic controllers make obvious.

The furloughs reflect panic: Having exaggerated their early predictions that the sequester's small reduction in spending growth would seriously affect Americans, many Democrats are hell-bent to pre-empt those Americans from drawing two logical conclusions: If one level of cuts is this painless, then maybe we should make ... more cuts to expenditures. And while we're at it, maybe we should ignore the politicians who told us that if Washington lowered the spending growth curve ... the Earth will fly into the sun.

If you've been paying any attention to this fraud, you'll have noticed that the MSM jumped right on board, boldly touting the serious repercussions when government spending is actually lowered.  If I'm reading this right, the evil Republicans caused little children to cry because their White House tours were cancelled and the odds of your being eaten by a bear at Yellowstone Nat'l Park have increased dramatically.

On the subject of 'Lying To The People', in case you didn't catch the two AGW links in my post the other day, both of them are excellent.

The Real Deniers of Climate Change

The Associated Press has assured us, though, that this cold spell is not only consistent with a warming globe, it is actually caused by global warming. The proffered explanation is that cold weather in Europe is a result of melting sea ice in the Arctic. If this special pleading strikes you as unusually tendentious, it is all in the best tradition of explaining away ex post facto any weather event that appears to contradict the ruling paradigm.

The Climate Circus Leaves Town

After two decades of steady and substantial global temperature increase from 1980 to 1998, the pause in warming is causing a crisis for the climate crusade. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. The recent temperature record is falling distinctly to the very low end of the range predicted by the climate models and may soon fall out of it, which means the models are wrong, or, at the very least, something is going on that supposedly “settled” science hasn’t been able to settle. Equally problematic for the theory, one place where the warmth might be hiding​​—​​the oceans​​—​​is not cooperating with the story line. Recent data show that ocean warming has noticeably slowed, too.

That damn ocean.  You just can't trust anyonething these days!

And I highly agree with this:

Publisher Targeted in Duchess Kate Topless Photos Probe

French news agency AFP reports that Ernesto Mauri, the chief executive of Mondadori France, the publisher of French gossip magazine Closer, Valerie Suau, a photographer at the regional daily La Provence, and La Provence’s general director, Marc Auburtin, are all under formal investigation for “breach of privacy” for allowing the photos of Duchess Kate sunbathing while on vacation to be taken and published.

If the Paparazzi Convention of 2012 gets nuked by some activist, I won't shed a tear.  These have to be the scummiest people on earth.  Their excuse is "But I gotta make a living!", failing to note that, at last count, there were approximately 7,304,346 different ways to make a living.  All they're really saying is, "I gotta make a living... being scum."  This strikes me as a serious mental disorder.

Speaking of which, I'm glad Rand Paul finally cleared the air on that drone business.

Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky), commended by many for his dramatic thirteen hour filibuster against the use of domestic drones, told Fox Business Network on Tuesday he's OK with drone strikes on American citizens who, for instance, rob a liquor store.

"If someone comes out of a liquor store with a weapon and fifty dollars in cash. I don't care if a drone kills him or a policeman kills him. But it’s different if they want to fly over your hot tub..."

So, to review, it's perfectly okay if a drone murders someone over a crummy fifty bucks — as long as it doesn't fly over your hot tub.

This guy's coming across just like his dad; brilliant 75% of the time, a total moron the other 25%.

Political News

First Dog Bo Leads Hunt For White House Easter Eggs

In the video, the Portuguese Water Dog takes to the hunt with ease, tracking down the colorful eggs wherever they are hidden and then dutifully sitting next to his prizes.

So there is good news coming out of Washington these days.

Bad news, I guess.

For the time being, I've decided to split the difference and keep the Internet line but dump some other things (I was actually getting a little tired of Netflix anyway), enabling me to further corrode your mind with inane movie reviews, subliminally imply you should dump your job to concentrate full-time on engaging computer games, warp and usurp your very being by tempting you to leave the warm bosom of alcohol and join the ranks of the pothead, ravage and destroy your last vestige of reason with a heartwarming post on the swastika — and that's not to mention filling your sleep with nightmares of gigantic, human-gobbing insects.

So I plan to be busy.

Also, under the heading of "Duh!", my thanks to BobZ for mentioning starting up a wi-fi from scratch.  I had tried a unit out, just to see if there was anything around, but I hadn't thought of getting one of the line-of-sight neighbors around me to let me hook into their (duh!) Comcast cable line (!), then beam me a signal.  I'll have to shell out for the hook-up, but it looks like the service, itself (as an add-on to the cable line), is only $20/mo, so I'll start asking around.  It'll be wi-fi slow, but what price, freedom?

I'll be on the road today, but have a couple of promised goodies ready for tomorrow and Friday.  My post tomorrow on 'Meaningless Words' is a hoot.

Again, my deepest thanks to those who donated a little something to help me out of this bind, and if I can get a wi-fi going and dump the expensive Internet company, I should definitely be in the clear.  This morning I'm going up to Homestead to talk to another prospective web site client, so things are lookin' good.  I also made an appointment for next Friday at the hospital to do some extensive blood tests.

In the meantime, here are two of the best AGW articles I've read in a while:

The Climate Circus Leaves Town

The Real Deniers of Climate Change

I think we can all agree that it's sad when a religion enters its death throes.

With the gun control measure failing miserably in the Senate, it's thought that the next thing Congress will turn its attention to is an online sales tax.

Senate planning vote on Internet sales tax bill

Internet sales tax faces Senate vote, Obama backs

Marketplace Fairness Act, Bill To Tax Online Sales, Moves Toward Senate Vote

Like that.

As the bloggers fall all over themselves decrying this outrage to humanity, bear in mind that the entire sales tax issue is inconsequential compared to what's really going on.

I thought the following deserved a repost at this point in time.

Congress has only been talking about taxing online goods for, oh, about as long as the online has existed.  But without any kind of precedent or track record to go from, they could never pull it off.

Until now.

A wave of states, including Virginia, have passed laws that will require consumers to pay sales tax on all Internet purchases as soon as next year.

For states struggling in the troubled economy, this could mean $23 billion in new revenue each year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.  Had online retailers collected sales tax this year, Virginia would have added nearly $423 million to its coffers, while Maryland would have seen $376 million and the District $72 million, the group said.

Now they have a track record (at least on paper) to point to and, sure enough:

The movement in state capitals is driving newfound support for a proposed bill in Congress that could make collection of sales tax a standard practice on the Web, no matter where a consumer logs in to shop.

Like you, my hackles bristle reading such words, because the Web is supposed to be free, Free, FREE!  Always has been, always should be.

Or, should it?

Well, I just can't decide if I should go offline for a few months or not.  As I mentioned the other day, I need some expensive medical tests and dropping my $120/mo online fee and some other things (associated online services, Netflix, food) would save me about $300/mo, which is enough to keep the hospital happy as I rack up the costs from the tests.

Between a small handful of very appreciated donations, an unexpected check from the stock broker (one of the stocks I sold last summer had been held up in a court case) and getting a small retainer to construct a web site for a soon-to-be local businessman, I could stay online for now, but I'm worried that I'll be right back to square one in a couple of months, albeit this time with a large outstanding debt to the hospital that I'll have trouble paying.

Put another way, right now I feel great mentally but poor physically.  Assuming they find out what's wrong, I'll then feel great physically but poor mentally!

Pic: Artist's concept of Doc's life right now

If I'm going to suspend the Internet service, I have to call them before 6 pm today, so I'll think about it.  Any thoughts on your part are welcome.

On the subject (your thoughts), am I wrong in thinking there's absolutely no way to make money online outside of direct involvement, like webmastering?  I spent half a day investigating all of the "5 Ways To Make Money Online!" articles out there a while back and not one of them is actually viable.  I was thinking there might be a few things around, like the incredibly boring job of 'data input' (transferring data from paper or electronic forms into a database program), but I couldn't even find that.  If anyone has any thoughts on the subject, I'd be interested.