5104 All the news that's fit to .... whatever.

Sunday, August 13, 2017

 "Trump: a poor person's idea of what a rich person is, 

a stupid person's idea of what smart person is, 

a weak person's idea of what strong person is." 

Fran Leibowitz, Chris Falcinelli, and others

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On Korea.  I almost died of eyeroll when Trump did his tough-guy act.  Having no concept of history or motivations, he's played right into Kim's hands.  The Kim dynasty is terribly afraid of revolution and of being deposed, so they've been ruling through fear, convincing the populace that the Americans want to invade and conquer them, and "only we can save you".  The people have no access to outside news/views, and they still remember the war in the 50's, so that used to work.  But that was a long time ago, and people are forgetting, so Kim needs to refresh that fear.

Please watch the following video.  This is an Australian guy who has lived in Japan for many years (Japanese wife and children and the whole bit), and he expresses exactly what the rest of the world sees.  I don't claim to know much of anything about international stuff, but I agree with his observations 100%.  And he's living in Japan, where if anyone should be freaking out like the US is, it should be them!  Unlike the US, however, they know what's going on.   (He's just driving and talking, so it's not necessary to actually watch the video.  You can just listen.)


[https://youtu.be/dlO3pVOPjqA]

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On Charlottesville.  This blog post from Greg expresses my thoughts perfectly.  Enjoy.
https://gregfallis.com/2017/08/13/many-sides/

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On Medicare and health care insurance.  I just realized something horrifying!  Republicans would love to gut Medicare, but are afraid to.  Medicare doesn't (normally) kick in until you are into your mid-60s.  So all they have to do is make sure that people who would cost Medicare the most (the least healthy seniors) simply don't make it into or much past their mid-60s!  Voila!  Medicare costs cut.

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On American Exceptionalism. I believe the following came from The Newsroom (2012–2014), an American drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin, airing on HBO, that chronicles the behind-the-scenes events at the fictional Atlantis Cable News (ACN) channel.

There's absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we're the greatest country in the world. We're seventh in literacy. Twenty-seventh in math. Twenty-second in science. Forty-ninth in life expectancy. A hundred and seventy-eighth in infant mortality. Third in median household income. Number four in labor force and number four in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: Number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending,

And with a straight face, you're gonna sit there and tell students that America is so star-spangled awesome that we're the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom. Japan has freedom. The U.K. France. Italy. Germany. Spain. Australia. BELGIUM has freedom. Two hundred and seven sovereign states in the world, like, a hundred and eighty of them have freedom.

Now none of this is the fault of a twenty-year-old college student, but you nonetheless are without a doubt a member of the worst, period, generation, period, ever, period. So when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I dunno what the f**k you're talkin' about.  

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On art. I discovered the Museum of Bad Art, and therein discovered the painting "Lucy in the Field with Flowers".  I am madly in love with it, and have scoured the internet trying to find a print.  Doesn't exist, except as a small part of a poster for the museum.  I don't know why I like it so much.  I just do.
http://www.amusingplanet.com/2017/01/the-museum-of-bad-art.html   Scroll down a bit, it's the second painting on the page.

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On my health.  Stuff going on.  NEXT POST, I promise.
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5088 Thoughts on trumpery

Sunday, October 23, 2016

"Those that flee temptation generally leave a forwarding address...."

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It's been a long time since I updated here.  There's lots of updates on the breast cancer, but I don't have time for those details right now.  Tomorrow, I promise!

In other news:

Trump has terrible legal advice.  He wants to sue the women who claim molestation, but it's a classic "he said, she said" situation.  He can't prove it didn't happen, and most of them can't prove it did.  Stalemate.  The backstage beauty contestants would win hands down because they have witnesses and his own words (to that foul radio guy, what's his name), and the woman who told at least six people about it when it happened, would win.  As for why no one complained when it happened, it's one of those things where you cringe and say nothing and shake it off because otherwise you'd be accused of making it up and be destroyed by someone much more powerful than you.  As for why now, he stood up in front of the world and claimed he never did anything like that, and that would thoroughly piss off anyone he did it to.  If he'd never denied it, it's unlikely anyone would have said anything.

Another example of bad legal advice, he doesn't seem to understand how the government works, that the president's power is limited by the Constitution, Congress, and the judiciary.  How come nobody pounces on him when he says things like, "I'll pass a law that...."  Presidents don't pass laws.  Dictators do.

You know, he could still win.  I'm sure there are people out there who would not admit to a pollster that they'd vote for him, but who then would because they see him as a grenade they could toss into the houses of Congress, and that sounds like fun.  Maybe he should use that as a new campaign slogan:  "Toss a Trump grenade!"  Sell "T-branded" grenades instead of those stupid hats.

OMG!  I just had a horrible thought!  Could you imagine the White House interior redecorated in televangelist-stage-style gold leafed thrones (like his apartment)? Cringe.
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3820 Snow

Thursday, February 13, 2014

My quarterly real estate tax was due on February 1st.  I missed it, didn't notice it was due until I was paying some other bills on the 11th, last Tuesday.  (Somehow I have it set in my mind that quarterly stuff is due in March, June, etc.)  By the time I realized the payment was late, it was 2 pm, and the town offices close at like 2:30, so I figured I'd pay it yesterday.

I went to the town offices yesterday and found everything closed.  Lincoln's birthday.  Duh?

Today we woke up to 8" of heavy wet snow, followed by ice pellets, followed by rain, and a "code red" call from the township saying that all town offices and functions were closed.

I probably won't get out to pay tomorrow, either, since we are supposed to get more snow overnight and all day tomorrow.

In the meantime, penalties accrue.

I hate snow.

The neighbor up the street says the Garden State Parkway and the Throughway, and many of the major local roads, are closed because of jackknifed  trailers all over the roads.  I got a code red email from the country house township saying that the highways are closed to commercial traffic for the same reason.

I really hate snow.  At least plain cold one can dress for, but snow can leave us defenseless.

At least we still have power.  Maybe that's one good thing Sandy did for us - all the weak trees and branches are already down.

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I am worried about my neighbor George.  He's got to be in at least his mid-eighties.  He gets out there shoveling.  He throws five shovelfuls, then stops and rests on the shovel handle for a while, kind of bent over the handle, then throws five more.

His late-teen great-grandson mows my lawn.  His granddaughter lives on the next street over, and some sons and daughters live in the area.  I can't help wondering why no one shows up to help him.  They all come for holiday dinners, so it's not like they're estranged.

I've got a delicate back and currently something wrong with my shoulder (rotator cuff?) so my daughter shovels for me if my little electric thrower can't handle it (note that's Daughter, not SIL Hercules), or scares up a kid to do it.  If I were capable, I'd help George.

Maybe I should review CPR procedures.

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I doubt that mankind in general is any smarter now than, say, 200 years ago.  200 years isn't much in evolutionary terms, but I do believe that on average we are already demonstrably more stupid.  We know more "stuff", but we are in general, overall,  less logical, less understanding, less interested in understanding, and less capable than we used to be.  It's like thinking is evolving out of us.  Like we don't need it any more.

Science fiction illustrators often depict humans of the far future as having huge heads, enormous brains.  I don't know why they think brains would get larger.  I think it's more likely we'll have tiny braincases.  As computers do the work of remembering for us, we won't need to remember anything much.  We won't need to calculate anything - the machine will tell us.

We already see evidence of brain atrophy....
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3769 Freakin' out, man! Part one.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Forget all the reasons it won’t work and focus on the one reason that it will.

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I am freaking out here.  Three days ago I was playing with my hair, pleased that even at my advanced age my hair is still pretty thick (well, thick as it ever was given that it's always been super fine).  Yesterday and today I've been pulling it out in frustration and anger.

SWARM - the first aggravator.

You've probably seen the YouTube video of the motorcycle thing this past Sunday?  If not, it's at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13DzHnlaiNs.  Watch at the beginning.  The biker runs in the SUV's lane, right next to him, and is turned toward the driver's window.  Then he pulls in front of the SUV and hits the brakes, looking back the whole time, to make sure he gets hit.  Yep, as planned, the SUV bumps the bike, and stops.  The SUV is then swarmed by bikers.  If you listen carefully, you can hear helmets hitting the SUV.  (It was later reported that the SUV's tires were slashed at that time.)

The SUV driver tries to get away.  You can see him swerving to get around bikers. That big bump was when he drove over a motorbike - and the rider.  That rider has two broken legs and a broken back, is now in the hospital in an induced coma, may never walk again.

Note where the SUV gets stopped in traffic further on, and a biker tries to open the door, but the car gets away.  Later the SUV gets stopped again.  A biker starts hitting the window with a helmet - note it's the same sound we heard back in the beginning.  The video ends before the mob breaks the window, opens the door, pulls the (Asian) driver out, and kicks the shit out of him.

The driver's wife and 2-year-old son were in the car with him.

There were more than 200 911 calls reporting these guys, including one from the panicked SUV driver himself, and from other drivers and people along the route.

These assholes had no concern for anyone else on the road.  Most of those bikes did not have plates, were not street-legal, and of those riders who were detained or arrested, most of them were not licensed.  They paid no attention to niceties like lanes or speed limits or safe distances.  Some other assholes expect us to have sympathy for the guy who got run over, and want the SUV driver charged with hit and run.  Well, the injured guy's driver's license was taken away from him in the late '90s, he's not allowed to get it back for several more years (gotta wonder about how bad that is) and (I believe) he's never had a motorcycle license, but STILL he's had something like 15-17 traffic citations since losing his license.  (How is that guy not in jail?!)   So he wasn't even allowed to be there.

So, no, no sympathy.  You got exactly what you were asking for, fella.  Maybe now you'll stay off the streets.

If you haven't already seen it, please DO watch the video.  Imagine what that SUV driver was feeling.  Would you have done anything different?  Tell me in the comments.

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A guy called into the local radio station today, and he was saying that he knows what was going on.  He said the mob was taking over the highway for tricks - that's why there was a camera.  He said to notice that as they passed on-ramps, there were more bikers sitting on the ramps, who then joined the ride.  What they were doing sitting on the ramps was preventing vehicular traffic from entering the road.  They very much resent vehicles who don't exit or at least pull over and let them have the road.  The SUV driver had the audacity to not get off their road.

And riders wonder why drivers hate them.

And you have to wonder about the arrogance and intelligence of people who would post that video on YouTube, like they're proud of it or something.  Complete assholes.  Any of you who know me have never heard me say that word, ever.  But sometimes, it just fits.

[I am aware that at least three readers of this blog ride.  I do hope none of this applies to you.]
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3700 Stupid programs

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds.

-- Einstein --

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Some people are worried at the evidence that "someone" out there is watching over our shoulders, whatever we do on the internet, and then targeting our "interests".

"They" know where I am.  The info is used in side-column car insurance and mortgage ads which claim to be specific to my state or my town. They are annoying and look painfully obsequious.

I bought a toddler pedal car for Nugget's 2nd birthday (next month) on Amazon.  Now every time I turn around, I'm getting ads from toy stores for toddler pedal cars.  How many of them do they think I'm likely to buy?  They are pissing me off more than attracting me.

Youtube keeps track of what I watch, and then when they make recommendations of what I might like, the list consists mostly of videos I've already watched.  That is obviously stupid.  They've managed to put together a list I'm pretty much guaranteed NOT to be interested in seeing.  (Watch out for the Eastern Europe trap.  Once I watched a Russian video, and for the next week all the recommendations were Russian!  I didn't even know what they were about!)

EBay likes to take something you bought, then make recommendations of other similar things you might like.  That might be useful to your shopping, but the execution is very annoying.  You just bought a unique handmade item, and eBay informs you that "Others who bought this [photo of your unique item] also bought this, this, and this [photos of other unique items that are still for sale]." It's obviously a lie!  No "others" bought any of those items!

Ok, maybe computers are getting smarter, but programmers are getting stupider.  I don't think we need be worried.
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2364 Pap, tea bags, and a mob.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Doctor's appointment today. General checkup, PAP test, got a slip for a bone density scan at the hospital, and an appointment for fasting blood workup. Now I just need to find a dentist and a dermatologist.

Dr. D. says what's on my elbows is not psoriasis. She says it just looks like I lean on my elbows a lot, which cuts the blood supply (I know that's bad, and I DO try to distribute the pressure around) and makes the skin super dry and horny. I told her that I've tried literally everything, from lanolin and olive oil to expensive moisturizers, and the only thing that works is 1% cortisol cream, which I use only when it gets really bad because I'm reluctant to use it constantly. She says it's ok to use it constantly. So. Maybe my elbows will be pink this summer instead of their usual gray.

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I was aware of the tea-bag protests yesterday, but only peripherally aware. I haven't the faintest idea what they were protesting, or why. Somehow they connected it to the Boston Tea Party, but the situation is vastly different, so I don't see how.

I suspect the Boston connection was just to appeal to the fools who thought it conveyed a veneer of patriotism. I suspect some part of the impetus was a lesson learned during the past election - that you can appeal to the stupidity and ignorance of hordes of people and bend them to your own purpose. I suspect a lot of it was not about taxes. It was personal pettiness, if you know where I'm going. After all, taxes are lower this year than last year, and yeah, we're all angry about bailouts, but what other options were offered, and besides, the enormous deficit was built, and the financial collapse was apparent but not headed off, over the past 8 years, and where were you all then?

It looks awfully personal.

Anyway, here's a few (safe) links that say it better than I ever could:

http://overflowingbrain.blogspot.com/2009/04/tax-day-stupidity-thoughts.html

http://airamerica.com/maddow/blog/2009/apr/13/rachel-maddow-explains-tea-bagging-movement

http://wwwjackbenimble.blogspot.com/2009/04/taxday-tea-party-protest.html

And this one tries to convince us that it's not related to a particular political party. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123975867505519363.html

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A video for your enjoyment. I really love these things! I wish I could participate, or be there when one happens.


[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UE3CNu_rtY]
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1791 Watch More TV! Especially if you have kids.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Read this: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080428/COL04/804280375/1081.

"[I]f you ask Christopher Ratte and his wife how they lost custody of their 7-year-old son, the short version is that nobody in the Ratte family watches much television."

It's scary. There's so much wrong with the whole incident. (And I'm purposely being vague because I want you to read the article. It's short, and the link is safe.)

Why didn't the vendor make it clear what he was selling?

Why didn't the concerned citizen simply ask the father if he was aware what the child was holding before alerting security?

Why didn't the security officer and the cop at the hospital consider the father's intent before calling CPS?

Why didn't the medical people say "No harm done"?

Why didn't CPS wait for the aunt to get the hotel room before shuttling the child off to foster care?

Why didn't CPS consider the father's intent before saying that he had to stay away from home?

The answer to those questions is stupidity, love of power, unthinking bureaucrats following rules without concern for the effects. You can't convince me that they were really concerned for the welfare of the child. Could the father's social status have had anything to do with the way CPS responded? The actions of CPS hurt the child much more than the actions of the father. The incident with the aunt is the clincher there. They're just shoveling cases!

As for the father's mistake? The very fact that he didn't know what he bought says to me that he's probably a good father. I prefer that he not be familiar with the like.

The scariest part of all this is that it could happen to any of us who have children. How many times this week could you have lost your children if one of these stupid CPS people happened to see what goes on in your home?
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1197 Spam

Friday, April 6, 2007

I had to go back and edit the last five posts - I was stuck in March. Oh well, at least I'm pretty solidly into 2007 by now.

I am amused by the subject lines on spam. It looks like they just pick random words. Today's spam:

image smaller
ignoring
Or of version
rstein
them whenever Forgive
I looking for serious relation, are you?
by he glory
fc Buyers GuideGifts forfrom
Re: Or multifarious
by so dear
As community
Re: chameleon lively
A stage
you be cartoon
As bernville before gualala
He wood
As earthquake
lfacing
RE:Why look anywhere else? I found it here
But juntura on keenesburg
you have got new "show interests" from ladie
her whom wednesday
do in parental
xzoom

That "you be cartoon" worries me a tad.
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