Showing posts with label Say what?. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Say what?. Show all posts
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Monday, March 23, 2015
Purveying Perfidy for Fun and Profit
• LABELS:
ipso facto,
It´s all relative,
Say what?
The race to the top is indistinguishable from the search for the lowest common denominator. In both cases, the goal is worthless.
Related source » No, California won't run out of water in a year: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]
“State water managers and other experts said Thursday that California is in no danger of running out of water in the next two years, even after an extremely dry January and paltry snowpack. Reservoirs will be replenished by additional snow and rainfall between now and the next rainy season, they said. The state can also draw from other sources, including groundwater supplies, while imposing tougher conservation measures. […]
The headline of a recent Times op-ed article offered a blunt assessment of the situation: 'California has about one year of water left. Will you ration now?'” Jay Famiglietti, senior water scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a professor at UC Irvine, wrote about the state's dwindling water resources in a March 12 column, citing satellite data that have shown sharp declines since 2011 in the total amount of water in snow, rivers, reservoirs, soil and groundwater in California.
In an interview Thursday, Famiglietti said he never claimed that California has only a year of total water supply left. […]
— LA Times, March 20, 2015 (latimes.com)
Back in the day, before the 24/7 news cycle, our so-called "paper of record" was the New York Times. If the NYT published it, you could virtually take it to the bank. Back then we also had what was known as a code of honor (moral absolutism), which many (perhaps most) people aspired to. We also had a banking system that paid interest on one's deposits (but that's another issue, albeit not entirely unrelated).
Today we are innundated with: isotropic shitstorms of sensationalism and perfidy; relatively expensive fish wrapper; and, banks that expect to be paid for accepting your deposits. Moreover, as Big Al Einstein fortold, everything is relative, even morality. All of which, of course, raises the question, "How the heck can you differentiate between shit and Shinola?" Truth be told ... but can it be trusted?
We all seek information that is reliable. Whence does it emanate? I submit this is a serious problem in our age of (mis)information. Freedom of information allows us to aggregate it, often free of charge. But verification is much more difficult than ever before. Because, you know — ignorance, perfidy, moral relativism.
Disgusted yet, bitch?
Post 2,586 “Purveying Perfidy for Fun and Profit”
Today we are innundated with: isotropic shitstorms of sensationalism and perfidy; relatively expensive fish wrapper; and, banks that expect to be paid for accepting your deposits. Moreover, as Big Al Einstein fortold, everything is relative, even morality. All of which, of course, raises the question, "How the heck can you differentiate between shit and Shinola?" Truth be told ... but can it be trusted?
We all seek information that is reliable. Whence does it emanate? I submit this is a serious problem in our age of (mis)information. Freedom of information allows us to aggregate it, often free of charge. But verification is much more difficult than ever before. Because, you know — ignorance, perfidy, moral relativism.
Disgusted yet, bitch?
Sunday, March 2, 2014
McDonald's sued for $1.5m by customer given just one NAPKIN
• LABELS:
feed the crazy,
Oh the humanity,
Say what?,
Vengeance Is Mine
Extra napkins are important, yo!
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| Big Mac combo meal with French fries and Coca-Cola served at a McDonald's (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Related source » McDonald's sued for $1.5m by customer given just one NAPKIN: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]
“A McDonald's customer is suing the fast food restaurant for $1.5million because he was given only one napkin with his meal.
Webster Lucas claims he is now unable to work because of the 'undue mental anguish' and 'emotional distress' caused by the incident.”
— PUBLISHED: 28 February 2014 (dailymail.co.uk)
Well, if that don't beat all! Just imagine the undue mental anguish of having to eat a messy burger with only one napkin to clense fingers, mouth and, possibly, nose.
The Horror ... The Horror ...
The Horror ... The Horror ...
Post 2,128 “McDonald's sued for $1.5m by customer given just one NAPKIN”
Monday, December 2, 2013
A Star Is Born
Wow! Just wow!
Related source » Amira Willighagen - for English-speaking viewers - YouTube: "http://youtu.be/qDqTBlKU4CE" 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.] h/t Newmark's Door
“Amira Willighagen sings 'O Mio Babbino Caro' on Holland's Got Talent and delivers an astounding performance which results in her being awarded a 'Golden Ticket'. This ticket allows her to proceed straight to the Live Show.”
— Talented Young Musicians, Published on Nov 6, 2013 (youtube.com)
Video clip extract © RTL Netherlands and Fremantle International
Nine-year-old Amira Willighagen’s rendition of Puccini’s O Mio Babbino Caro, October 26, 2013.
Post 2,085 “A Star Is Born”
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Quantum Mechanics; Classical Mechanics; Music
• LABELS:
ipso facto,
Say what?,
Schrödinger,
spoof,
You had me at bacon
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| Image via Wikipedia |
Related source » 20 Jokes Only A Physics Nerd Will Appreciate: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]
h/t Newmark's Door
- Quantum Mechanics:
- Classical Mechanics: (Question #9)
- Music:
On an oral exam, a music major is asked: "Tell us everything you know about Beethoven's 4th Symphony."
The student's answer: "It's the one between the 3rd and the 5th."
Correct Answers
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Learned the Hard Way: Arguing Is Pointless
Fresh from the school of hard knocks …
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| Pointless (TV series) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Related source » Arguing Is Pointless | Fox Business: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]
“Arguing achieves a predictable outcome: it solidifies each person's stance. Which, of course, is the exact opposite of what you're trying to achieve with the argument in the first place. It also wastes time and deteriorates relationships.”
Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/2012/11/08/arguing-is-pointless/#ixzz2BxV9ojEV
— By Peter Bregman, November 08, 2012 (foxbusiness.com)
It occurs to me, after years of arguing against Obama's election and reelection (with a multitude of friends, relatives, acquaintances, as well as strangers online), that I have wasted an enormous amount of time, energy, and a rapidly diminishing store of good will toward men and women. For I have precious little to show for it all. And as I reflect on my past successes (as if), I realize with dismay that it has ever been so. Despite being almost never wrong (there was that one time, in 1976, when I thought I had made a mistake), I don't recall ever having changed anyone's mind about anything worthy of note.
It is human nature, and most likely an evolutionary survival mechanism, to resist being persuaded by anyone else of one's own inferiority. The other guy is most likely trying to eat your lunch. Don't let him, even if Obama gave you your lunch for free. Deep down, you know there is no free lunch, but f*ck that shit; you don't have to know that shit. It's dog eat dog, yeah? F*ck 'em if they can't take a joke. Nice guys finish last.
There is nothing wrong with expressing your opinion, however. I intend to continue to blog here, as I have been since April 16, 2007. But I will endeavor to resist the temptation to persuade anyone of the superiority of my position. Last time I checked, Americans still had the freedom of speech, and it is my opinion that one must exercise one's precious freedoms while one still can.
Post 1,924 “Learned the Hard Way: Arguing Is Pointless”
It is human nature, and most likely an evolutionary survival mechanism, to resist being persuaded by anyone else of one's own inferiority. The other guy is most likely trying to eat your lunch. Don't let him, even if Obama gave you your lunch for free. Deep down, you know there is no free lunch, but f*ck that shit; you don't have to know that shit. It's dog eat dog, yeah? F*ck 'em if they can't take a joke. Nice guys finish last.
There is nothing wrong with expressing your opinion, however. I intend to continue to blog here, as I have been since April 16, 2007. But I will endeavor to resist the temptation to persuade anyone of the superiority of my position. Last time I checked, Americans still had the freedom of speech, and it is my opinion that one must exercise one's precious freedoms while one still can.
Post 1,924 “Learned the Hard Way: Arguing Is Pointless”
Friday, October 26, 2012
Report: Blacks for Romney!
• LABELS:
Lead-pipe cinch,
poetry and shit,
Say what?,
You had me at bacon
It could happen …
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| Image via Black people love Mitt Romney |
Related source » Blacks For Romney - YouTube: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]
“Mitt Romney is tired of polling at 0% among Blacks.”
— Published on Oct 1, 2012 by Tomm Fondle
Post 1,913 “Report: Blacks for Romney!”
Saturday, July 28, 2012
In the limit …
… it is a distinction without a difference.
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| Operation Plumbbob - John test. LAS VEGAS, NV. Test of a AIR-2A Genie nuclear air-to-air rocket. A plume of rocket smoke partially obscures the F-89 Scorpion at the instant of firing. This signaled the first time in aviation history that a live nuclear weapon was fired by a fighter aircraft at a target. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
“There is a fine line between bravery and stupidity.” — Anonymous
“Bravery is just the determination to do a job that you know has to be done.” — Audie Murphy
Related source » Videographer had bottoms up view of nuclear blast, lives to tell tale: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]
“George Yoshitake, Don Luttrell, and four other officers stood directly underneath an exploding nuclear warhead 55 years ago -- and lived to tell their tale. […] There they waited for what they called the "genie shot". "I never really gave it too much thought," Yoshitake said when asked if he was fearful of the explosion. "When you’re young, you think you’re invincible and nothing is going to happen to you" […] The five men huddled together on that clear July day looking up at the open Nevada sky, with Yoshitake filming as two F-89 Scorpion fighter jets fired an air rocket. "You could see the rocket streaking across the sky with a big white streak behind it," Luttrell recalled. "The first thing you saw was a brilliant flash and then there was a wave of heat followed by the sonic boom which was quite loud". […] Today, 55 years later, the seemingly safe operation may have had some serious side effects: all six members of the group have had cancer, with four dying of it, according to Yoshitake and Luttrell.”
— Mary Quinn O'Connor, July 27, 2012 (FoxNews.com)
Five men at atomic ground zero
Uploaded by atomcentral on Nov 3, 2011
Back in the day, the long-term side effects of radiation exposure were not well understood. But even then, I wouldn't have volunteered to be a "guinea pig".
Today, you couldn't pay me enough. Thursday's not good for me either.
How about never? Does never work for you?
Post 1,856 “In the limit …”
Today, you couldn't pay me enough. Thursday's not good for me either.
How about never? Does never work for you?
Post 1,856 “In the limit …”
Friday, June 1, 2012
How do you know if you ran through a wall?
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| המודל הסטנדרטי (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Seriously?
Related source » [1205.6260] How do you know if you ran through a wall?: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]
“Stable domain walls of light (pseudo)scalar fields permeating the entire Universe and persisting to the present epoch is a generic consequence of many extensions to the Standard Model. Currently the combination of gravitational and cosmological constraints provides the best limits on such a possibility. We show that if domain walls are generated by an axion-like field with a coupling to the spins of standard-model particles, and the galactic environment contains a network of such walls, terrestrial experiments aimed at detection of wall-crossing events are realistic.”
— M. Pospelov, et al., Submitted on 29 May 2012 (arxiv.org)
I dunno — the concussion might be your first clue?
Post 1,824 “How do you know if you ran through a wall?”
Post 1,824 “How do you know if you ran through a wall?”
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
The Contemptible Black Hole of Leftist Indecency
"Have you no sense of decency [madam], at long last?
Have you left no sense of decency?"
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| Simulated Black Hole (Image via Wikipedia) |
Related source » So Funny, When Feminism Thinks The Unborn Should Die : The Other McCain: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.] h/t WyBlog
“The sickness of the government-worship implied in this clip is only exceeded by the crypto-incest of talking about their dads and their vaginas at the end, if you can make it that far. […] And why was such an addendum unnecessary? Because a couple thousand years ago, people weren’t post-Modern crack-addled Feminist nitwits, that’s why.”
— Posted on May 8, 2012 by Smitty (theothermccain.com)
Republicans, Get In My Vagina!
There's contempt. There's beneath contempt. That vid is beneath contempt.
Post 1,807 The Contemptible Black Hole of Leftist Indecency
Post 1,807 The Contemptible Black Hole of Leftist Indecency
Friday, October 7, 2011
Let's not get ahead of ourselves …
Image via Wikipedia
"Big Al was wrong, once — back when he declared that his inclusion of the cosmological constant was a blunder." — TheBigHenry
"99.999…% of the time, if you bet against Big Al, you lose." — TheBigHenry
"Only two things are certain, taxes and Big Al, and I'm not sure about the former." — TheBigHenry
Related source » Gone in 60 nanoseconds
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]
“Scientists at CERN, the European high-energy physics consortium, have announced the discovery of a particle that can travel faster than light. […] The implications of such a discovery are so mind-boggling, however, that these same scientists immediately requested that other labs around the world try to replicate the experiment. […] It has to be impossible because, if not, if that did happen on this Orient Express hurtling between Switzerland and Italy, then everything we know about the universe is wrong. The fundamental axiom of Einstein’s theory of relativity is the absolute prohibition on speed faster than light. Einstein’s predictions about how time slows and mass increases as one approaches the speed of light have been verified by a mountain of experimental evidence. As velocity increases, mass approaches infinity and time dilates, making it progressively and, ultimately, infinitely difficult to achieve light speed. Which is why nothing does. And nothing ever has. Until two weeks ago Thursday. […] Not that there aren’t already mysteries in physics. Neutrinos themselves are ghostly particles that travel through nearly everything unimpeded. (Thousands [more like trillions — TBH] are traversing your body as you read this.) But that is simplicity itself compared to quantum mechanics, whose random arbitrariness so offended Einstein that he famously objected that God does not play dice with the universe. […] But if quantum mechanics was a challenge to human sensibilities, this pesky Swiss-Italian neutrino is their undoing. It means that Einstein’s relativity — a theory of uncommon beauty upon which all of physics has been built for 100 years — is wrong. Not just inaccurate. Not just flawed. But deeply, fundamentally, indescribably wrong.” [emphasis added]
— Charles Krauthammer, October 6, 2011 (washingtonpost.com)
"Wrong" — an absolute term that is frequently and, sometimes, absurdly misapplied, as in Mr. Krauthammer's breathless account (above). Charles is a learned man (MD) as well as a syndicated political columnist (and a fervent baseball fan, to boot). But in this instance, he allowed his columnist's enthusiasm for the spectacular to get the best of him.
Conventional wisdom has it that any new scientific theory, which purports to accommodate some new scientific findings, completely invalidates its predecessor scientific theory. In most cases, however, it does no such thing. What it does do is extend scientific explanations for physical phenomena into new regimes of energy, momentum, and/or scales of distance and time. Thus, Einstein's special and general theories of relativity did not invalidate Maxwell's electromagnetism nor Newton's gravity. Relativity extended the earlier classical theories into new scales or regimes of measurement.
Our current theories of relativity, quantum mechanics, and the “standard model” of subatomic particles are not in danger of becoming "deeply, fundamentally, indescribably wrong" as Charles Krauthammer gushes in his article. Nor is "everything we know about the universe" about to be labeled "WRONG". That is just plain wrongheaded and at least mildly hysterical thinking.
Quite possibly, the ongoing experiments by the LHC at CERN have (or will have) encountered never-before witnessed phenomena, in view of the ultra-high-energy regimes being investigated there. The apparent violation of the lightspeed limit by neutrinos, which are thought to have negligible albeit non-zero (positive) mass, is clearly an anomaly that at present can not be explained in traditional terms. But the explanations that will eventually be forthcoming will most likely not require our abandonment of "everything we know about the universe".
For example, neutrinos were originally postulated to exist in order to satisfy the long accepted physical conservation laws of energy and momentum, in lieu of relinquishing the latter laws themselves. Subsequently, neutrinos were further characterized with slightly positive mass and, furthermore, 3 flavors (electron, muon, and tau, with successively greater mass for each flavor). Most recently, neutrinos have been observed to have the ability to oscillate between flavors, which, in turn, not only supports the proposition that their mass is non-zero, but also the proposition that they have the ability to alter their mass (by way of oscillating between flavors)!
This interesting anomaly-in-need-of-explanation might be explained without resorting to substantive modification of special relativity. One possible conjecture, though perhaps outside the realm of "everything we have learned thus far about the laws of our universe", is that neutrinos have the ability to transform themselves or oscillate not only between flavors having different positive mass, but also between one or more of the known flavors and a tachyonic flavor, however briefly (in terms of real time), which would prohibit them (in that guise) from slowing down to subluminal speeds! Highly unlikely and grossly speculative, you say? Of course it is, and I am not entirely serious in proposing it. But compared to a bona fide violation of special relativity, it could happen …
In any case, whatever the ultimate explanation for this anomaly turns out to be, it is not likely to invalidate everything we already know, but only to add to it.
h/t Theo
Post 1,717 Let's not get ahead of ourselves …
Monday, September 5, 2011
Capitalism Unwound
• LABELS:
Say what?
The word "staggering" comes to mind.
Post 1,699 Capitalism Unwound
Related source » Happy Labor Day From The Left (secularapostate.net)
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]
Post 1,699 Capitalism Unwound
Sunday, July 10, 2011
The Unbearable Enormity of Being
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| Cartoon Round Up (Image via Theo) |
For real?
Related source » Fan forgoes payday to present ball to Jeter
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]
“NEW YORK – In that moment after he grabbed Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit ball in his hand, tucking it inside his defensive lineman’s body and diving down to avoid the reaching hands of fans around him, security guards were leading Christian Lopez and his father Raul up the stairs toward the stadium security office.
“What do you want for the ball?” the stadium security man asked.
“I just want to give it to Jeter,” Lopez said. […]
Who knows how much the ball would have been worth. Early estimates had it going for anywhere from $250,000 to $400,000. No one will ever find out for sure. […]
[Tara Johnson] wouldn’t second-guess her boyfriend’s decision to forgo hundreds of thousands of dollars even as she did give a small grimace. “Well he does have student loans,” she said. Then she smiled. “He did the right thing,” she said.” [emphasis added]
— By Les Carpenter, Yahoo! Sports (07/09/11)
Really? He did the right thing? Let's consider the enormity of this young man's largess.
The average household's annual income in the United States is $50,000. Let's make the very liberal assumption that this young man saves 10% annually for his retirement ($5,000). At this rate, it would take him 50 years to save up $250,000. On this basis, the young man gave Derek Jeter (who is a very wealthy man) more than the equivalent of an average American's lifetime-savings, for the privilege of experiencing what could well be described as 15 minutes of fame. Moreover, his girlfriend, after a cursory moment of soul-searching, agreed that he did the right thing!
I submit that this anecdotal slice of Americana exemplifies the utter demolition by the progressive left of not only common sense but also the ability to put things in perspective and thereby the ability to make rational life-altering decisions, especially among the young. What we have witnessed here is, arguably, a monstrous miscarriage of rational behavior masquerading as a "feel good" media event. And, in a larger sense, we have been presented with an archetypal example of the dumbing-down of America.
We have the leftist worldview to thank for this. From the "pinnacle" (excuse the expression) of the Administration on down through the liberal half of Congress and the Supreme Court, to the mass idolatry of entertainment idiots, the greed of unionized education systems, to the advocacy by our mass media of the cult of personality, we are grooming a gene-pool of leaders who conflate grossly-misguided extravagance with rectitude.
For goodness' sake, can we please just stop and think what we are doing to our Nation's future?
Post 1,675 The Unbearable Enormity of Being
Saturday, July 2, 2011
The Left's Superego
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| (Image via theospark.net) |
Related source » RumpelstiltskinI hesitate (for a moment) to add any commentary to David Mamet's own superb commentary on the dismal and despicable liberal-left moronocracy. Verily they are a virulent-liberal wolfpack clothed in classical-liberalism woollies.
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]
“The [Left's] Superego, here, has made a terrible bargain.
It has offered membership in a group whose size and power allows the individual to submerge his doubts. And then to forget them. But the cost is the surrender of his reason.
He may live his entire life never talking to a Conservative, never reading a Conservative publication, or listening to any news at all save that of the Left. That four hundred Liberal journalists [JournoList] have been revealed as involved in a long cabal to distort that which they offer as news, in aid of Liberalism, makes no difference to the Liberal. It cannot; for he cannot risk his membership in the herd. And he must remain unaware of his bargain. […]
The Liberal is caught. To reject the herd protection is to, inevitably, undergo the shame and humiliation of recognizing his prior, destructive folly.
So the Liberal stands pat. He, who never talks to anyone outside of this group, accuses the Conservative of being brainwashed; he explains the abysmal performance of Obama by saying "look at the mess he inherited," as if the President did not campaign (as do all politicians) on the platform of cleaning up the prior mess. […]
The Liberal is subsumed in the herd. How, then, to explain, as he must, the unfortunate state of things?
The herd supplies the answer: blame the Opposition.
Obama's plans are questioned? Call his opponents Racist.
Palestinian Terrorists are dedicated to the destruction of our ally, Israel? Blame the Israelis for saddling us with a challenge to our delusion of Universal Brotherhood.
The Left, in suspending reason and accountability, is ravaging our beautiful culture. […]
The drive to discard our evolved American culture, to replace it with the "reasoning" of idiot teenagers who have blessed, by their presence, the schools of the Ivy League, results, as it must, in a new culture. But in what does this culture consist?
The Nazis and the Communists railed against and discarded religion, and instantly, automatically, created their own religion, each with all the formal trappings and operations of — though with different content than — those religions they displaced.
So the Left creates its own, new culture.
But this culture is confusing, amorphous, and constantly shifting. It not only resembles, it is the Party Line, avant la lettre. The confused Liberal must grope, each day, to find how to explain (to his own satisfaction, for he will never talk to a conservative) the inexplicable vagaries of his tribe.
How can he do so? "Call MoveOn.org, and just do whatever they say."
In what does this new culture consist? In obedience.”
— David Mamet, The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture, Chapter 21
There is literally nothing "liberal" about these so-called "progressive" leftists. Their views are intolerant, monolithic, belligerent, infantile, not to mention just plain stupid and unsupported by history or reality. Moreover, those are their good points.
If you want to understand whence comes your loathing of the liberal left, read David Mamet's The Secret Knowledge. Be advised that understanding will likely effect more intense loathing.
Post 1,668 The Left's Superego
Thursday, June 9, 2011
It's Official: Men Are Idiots
• LABELS:
American cultural literacy,
feed the crazy,
Oh the humanity,
Say what?
So, you think Weiner's a dumbass?
Related source » Murder Plot Revealed as Facebook Friend Turns Out to Be Indiana Man's Wife
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]
“SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Indiana woman Angela Voelkert wanted a little dirt on her husband as she prepared for a messy divorce, so she posed online as a teen to trick him into dishing some damaging details, the New York Post reported Thursday. And what she learned was astounding -- he was plotting to kill her and run off with their kids, law-enforcement authorities believe. […] David Voelkert soon allegedly confessed to his new friend that he had secretly placed a GPS tracking device in his wife's van and was using it to locate her when he was allegedly ready to have her whacked. He even allegedly asked the "girl" to find a "gang-banger" at her school who would be willing to do the job for $10,000. […] David Voelkert, a video and audio-equipment salesman in South Bend, Ind., was arrested Friday and charged in federal court with illegally installing the GPS device. Officials said he could face more serious charges. The dopey dad went on to spell out his plan to kill the mother of his children, never once suspecting that the incriminating messages were going straight to her, officials said. […] David Voelkert asked the "teen" to run away with him after his wife was out of the picture, before signing off the email with a smiley face.”
— Published June 09, 2011 | NewsCore (foxnews.com)
You can't make this stuff up.
Post 1,650 It's Official: Men Are Idiots
Monday, May 16, 2011
Opinions, Facts, Rights, and Privileges
“You are entitled to your own opinions, but you are not entitled to your own facts.” — Daniel Patrick Moynihan
“You are entitled to rights, but you are not entitled to privileges.” — TheBigHenry
Image via WikipediaRelated source » Converting Mamet
A playwright’s progress
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]
“[Mamet] saw he was Talking Left and Living Right, a condition common among American liberals, particularly the wealthy among them, who can, for instance, want to impose diversity requirements on private companies while living in monochromatic neighborhoods, or vote against school vouchers while sending their kids to prep school, or shelter their income while advocating higher tax rates. The widening gap between liberal politics and liberal life became real to him when, paradoxically enough, he decided at last to write a political play, or rather a play about politics. […] “But I saw the liberals hated George Bush. It was vicious. And I thought about it, and I didn’t get it. He was no worse than the others, was he? And I’d ask my liberal friends, ‘Well, why do you hate him?’ They’d all say: ‘He lied about WMD.’ Okay. You love Kennedy. Kennedy didn’t write Profiles in Courage—he lied about that. ‘Bush is in bed with the Saudis!’ Okay, Kennedy was in bed with the mafia.” […] How did the happiest, freest, and most prosperous country in history sprout from the Hobbesian jungle? “I realized it was because of this thing, this miracle, this U.S. Constitution.” The separation of powers, the guarantee of property, the freedoms of speech and religion meant that self-interested citizens had a system in which they could hammer out their differences without killing each other. Everyone who wanted to could get ahead. The Founders had accepted the tragic view of life and, as it were, made it pay. It’s a happy paradox: The gloomier one’s view of human nature—and Mamet’s was gloomy—the deeper one’s appreciation of the American miracle. […] “They were risking not only their own jobs but the jobs of everyone who had nothing to gain from the [screenwriters’ strike of 2007-08]—the drivers and scene painters and people who are on set 14 hours a day working their asses off. These working people were driven out of work by the writers—10,000 people losing their jobs at Christmastime. It was the goddamnedest thing I ever saw in my life. And for what? They didn’t know what they were striking for—just another inchoate liberal dream. The question occurs to me quite a lot: What do liberals do when their plans have failed? What did the writers do when their plans led to unemployment, their own and other people’s? One thing they can’t do is admit they failed. Why? To admit failure would endanger their position in the herd.” […] Finley is rabbi at Ohr HaTorah in Los Angeles, where Mamet attends services with his wife, the actress Rebecca Pidgeon, who converted to Judaism after their marriage in 1991. Mamet’s religious practice, along with his sensitivity to Israel, has deepened since he moved to Southern California and joined Ohr HaTorah. In 2006, he published a scorching book of essays, The Wicked Son, rebuking secular Jews for their (alleged) self-loathing and reluctance to defend Israel. The Wicked Son is dedicated to Finley. He is a creature who is not supposed to exist in nature: the Republican rabbi of a liberal congregation packed with show people. “For most of my congregants, I’m the only Republican they know,” he said.”
— MAY 23, 2011, VOL. 16, NO. 34 • BY ANDREW FERGUSON (weeklystandard.com)
Most people have an opinion on any given subject; most Jewish people have more than one [joke!]. This is as it should be, for freedom of thought (unlike freedom of speech) is unrestricted in any enforcible way. This is why people may fantasize at will, so long as they do not insist that their own fantasies are indistinguishable from facts. Facts are things that are indisputably the cases under consideration, at least in theory. Although in practice there is often dispute about what is or isn't a fact, such disputes can be adjudicated in a court of law. This is why our nation of laws is such a great country.
Rights, such as our right to free speech must be restricted to some extent, if only to prevent the ensuing mayhem caused by a false cry of "Fire!" in the proverbial crowded theater. We all cherish the rights vouchsafed by our Constitution, even as we acknowledge the accompanying restrictions necessitated by the sharing of those rights by a large population living in close proximity.
Privileges, however, are not the same as rights or entitlements. In most cases they must be earned by compliance with prescribed rules or regulations. The United States exists as a nation of laws. Privileges may be granted to individuals or groups of individuals in accordance with prescribed legal procedures. But they are not guaranteed in the manner of our Constitutional rights.
Why all this hemming and hawing about legalistic distinctions that we all learned from our parents, teachers and sensei? Because people tend to conflate opinions with facts and rights with privileges. If I had to guess, I would guesstimate that the vast majority of disputes, arguments and flame-wars erupt when one or both parties subsume fact with opinion and/or confuse privilege with right or entitlement. And once such conflation occurs, tempers flare, f-bombs explode, feelings are hurt, and rage rages on, most likely into the night and the following day.
Post 1,631 Opinions, Facts, Rights, and Privileges
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
One, two, many
Image via WikipediaRelated source » The Two-Bucket MindScott Adams is very insightful. I recently had a phone conversation with someone I have known a long time. It was a normal conversation (if there is such a thing) until he suddenly veered into the political arena, to wit:
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]
“My hypothesis is that we humans automatically sort topics into two opposing viewpoints, or buckets. In the rare cases when we encounter a third opinion, we can't easily process it because our brains don't have a third bucket. For example, on the topic of using waterboarding to get useful information from terrorists, the two opinion buckets are:
1. Waterboarding works and we should do it.
2. Waterboarding doesn't work and we should not do it.
Dershowitz expressed a third view that I had never heard until last night: Waterboarding works, but we shouldn't do it. […] I came up with the two-bucket hypothesis by observing how some people react to this blog. When I float an idea that doesn't fit into one of the two standard buckets for a given topic, people assume I am an enemy from the other bucket and post comments to that effect. Notice how often the commenters here argue against what I write as if my posts must be supporting one of the two existing buckets. That's the two-bucket phenomenon in action.
I wonder if our brains are natural two-bucket processors or if we have been trained that way by our adversarial political system. In the United States, every issue seems to get sorted into two buckets, with Democrats generally favoring one bucket and Republicans generally favoring the other. I wonder if our political system is making citizens dumber by encouraging us to think that there are only two valid opinions for every topic.”
— Scott Adams, May 4, 2011 (dilbert.com)
That was the end of our conversation.
- He
- So, what do you think of Obama?
- Me
- [surprised pause #1] Not much.
- He
- What!? You support Palin and the tea-baggers?
- Me
- [surprised pause #2] I don't think we have anything further to discuss.
Mind you, he is a very intelligent, highly educated person. But I can not, and will not, tolerate any discussion whose working premise includes such a two-bucket mentality (as described by Scott Adams in the above excerpted article).
As if the only conceivable alternative to worshiping Obama is to be a Palin and/or Tea-Party supporter (with the implication that such an alternative is irrational). Au contraire! Most leftists will accuse you of being a racist if you are not in awe of the Won. But, to be neither an Obamanoid, nor a Palin supporter, and also not a racist ... well, that is just incomprehensible, don't you know?
Whence comes such an arrogant, insulting, and aggressive posture? It's been many millennia since humans had assigned names to numbers beyond "one" and "two". As the old joke has it, when you ask two Jews for an opinion about any issue, you will invariably get at least three opinions!
Post 1,625 One, two, many
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Charlie Sheen Unleashed
"On the Internet, nobody knows you're Charlie Sheen"
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| Peter Steiner's Famous Cartoon (Image via Wikipedia) | Steiner's Cartoon with modified caption (Image via Theo Spark) |
"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a Liberal"
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| Image via Theo Spark |
"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a douchbag"
Post 1,577 Charlie Sheen Unleashed
Monday, February 21, 2011
On Presidents' Day, are you disgusted yet?
The Obama: 44th Ranking POTUS
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| Hopey-Dopey (Image via Theo) |
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| Image via American Power |
Related source » Why Obama and the Dems Blundered in WisconsinAre we there yet? Are we having fun yet? Are we disgusted yet?
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]
“The plan seems to have been born both within the war room of the Democratic National Committee and within the Oval Office. The overall coordination for the operation was the remnants of the president’s 2008 political campaign organization, Organizing for America (OFA). The strategy would be launched by the DNC and by the president, who, during the height of the Egyptian crisis, incongruously granted an exclusive interview to a Milwaukee TV reporter over union policy. While Cairo burned, he took time to decry a Wisconsin governor’s effort to rein in the budget and limit union benefits. Shaping the narrative for the attack, he said that Gov. Scott Walker’s effort “seems like more of an assault on unions.” […] Getting OFA and the president to act in close coordination was itself no small feat. The plan included busing in thousands of government employees, arranging for Democratic lawmakers to flee to an adjoining state, flying speakers and political organizers into Madison, organizing thousands to leave their jobs in public safety and in classrooms, and staging rallies inside and outside the statehouse. They even enticed sympathetic doctors to draft bogus doctor excuses for government workers.”
— February 21, 2011 - by Richard Pollock (pajamasmedia.com)
The President of the United States of America is actively engaged in organizing and promoting highly partisan activities in order to subvert the legally constituted legislative process in the State of Wisconsin, one of the 50 States in the Union. Please consider the enormity of such an abrogation of His Presidential Oath of Office.
Is there, finally, no decency left in the Presidency of the United States?
Post 1,570 On Presidents' Day, are you disgusted yet?
Friday, January 21, 2011
Teeth D'Olbermann Down for the Count
• LABELS:
feed the crazy,
poetry and shit,
Say what?
Blustery douchebag and leftist-propaganda organ part ways. So sad.
OMG, no more "Countdown" with Count Clown! Whatever shall we do for pathos?Related source » MSNBC, Olbermann Call It Quits, Cancel Show
"Countdown" Down for the Count
(Image via Theo)
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]
“Cable host Keith Olbermann and news channel MSNBC abruptly parted ways on Friday night, as the network announced that his contract had ended and the last installment of his show would air that evening. […] After MSNBC lifted its suspension, Mr. Olbermann released a statement apologizing to viewers. But at least some senior executives and others at the network remained angry over Mr. Olbermann's behavior, before and during the affair, a person familiar with their thinking said at the time. […] An MSNBC spokesman said that Comcast was informed of the decision, but not involved in making it.”
— By SAM SCHECHNER, JANUARY 22, 2011 (wsj.com)
Oh well, there is still lots of garbage to choose from. There's Chris "Tingleberry" Matthews, Bill "Big Shot" Maher [Yiddish "Macher"], Rachel "Mad Cow" Maddow, and lots of other obnoxious talking heads.
So sad.
Post 1,547 Teeth D'Olbermann Down for the Count
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