Dissent is born from the simple reality that government must prove its case to us, NOT vice-versa.
--Dolly's current fave aphorism, stolen from Dante
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Stupid Engineer Tricks...
A RUNNING JOKE IN OUR shop -- oh, decades ago, now -- ran that success at operating a highly-precise and temperamental German machine depended on how you held your mouth. Or standing on one foot with the other held up stork-like. Or the phase of the moon. Or the sacrifice of a chicken to the gods of the loa.
But it WAS a joke. The truth was and is that real success depended on meticulous maintenance and setup of the machine.
Another joke, from my days doing peer tech support on Compuserve, was, telling people reporting buggy behavior of a program who could detail the step(s) that would reproduce the problem to, (in a conscious echo of the punch line from the old standup joke*), "Don't Do That (DDT)."
Apple, apparently, didn't get the memo about those being jokes.
* Went to the doctor -- my arm hurts when I do this. I said, "Doc. My arm hurts when I do this." Doc said, "Don't do that."
Mark Philip Alger
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Friday, June 25, 2010
Just for the Record...
I WANT IT TO BE KNOWN here and now that I would welcome -- be proud to be included -- to be placed on the NAS's blacklist of deniers of the CAGW climate "science." As Joanne Nova puts it:
A shameful day in the history of science. The once esteemed National Academy of Science is reduced to pagan witchcraft: point the bone at the blacklist, count the tea-leaf-citations, put on your funny hat and make a prophesy about the weather.
Some critics are saying the survey is flawed because it uses artificial groupings. Artificial be damned -- the survey is flawed because it's a waste-of-time work of anti-science for even existing. Science is not a democracy. Natural laws don't form because anyone says so, and the only way to find out the answer is to ... look at the evidence. Doh.
Of course, since I'm not credentialed, I'm not worthy of the attention of so august a body of shamans as the National Academy of "Science." To include me would be to recognize the truth of my contention that a rudimentary understanding of a Fifth Grade Science course in elementary physics and the weather is sufficient to handily dispose of the CAGW conjecture.
Mark Philip Alger
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Friday, June 25, 2010
An Interesting Metaphor...
BOOKWORM ON statism as a staph infection.
Mark Philip Alger
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Thursday, June 24, 2010
Ellipses...
STOLEN FROM MYSELF in the comments to this post over t' Og's.
People need to stop ascribing intelligence to glib one-trick ponies whose sole accomplishment is to bullshit people even stupider than they are.
Anyone who embraces socialism — even understanding that his own personal aggrandisement will be short-lived and far less than he could have earned by more legitimate means — is ipso facto a moron.
I agree with Og that Obama's elevation to high office will, in future moments of sanity (may they come sooner than later), be seen as a great tragedy for the black race. Insofar as a man's race matters, and the accomplishments of one man -- earned or not -- can be transferred unearned to a group (to which, it should be pointed out, he himself has at best a tenuous connection), Barack Obama has set back the accomplishments of his father's race millennia.
One should thank God, therefor, that the above situation obtains only in the fantasies of racialist hustlers and poverty pimps -- and guilt-ridden white limousine liberals. In reality, individual accomplishments inhere to only the individuals whose deeds they illuminate. The race of the individual who encompasses these deeds is the least relevant factor in assessing their value. Or ought to be. As I say, in future moments of sanity.
And one should thank God that, if it matters what race they are, there are black men and women -- individuals all -- of accomplishments to beggar Obama's meager resume. May one of them some day rise to preside over a color-blind America.
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I THINK I MAY REPEAT myself, but then again, it must bear repeating: Lord Acton got it half right. Power does corrupt. But, then again, it tends to attract the corruptible. I believe that no truly honest man should ever desire power over others. I say I believe that because I cannot prove the assertion universally true, though neither can I think of a single, countervailing example.
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JOE'S GUN CARTOON of the day features an imaginary out message from the NRA...
You have reached the National Rifle Association. Press 1 if a distraught stock trader has gone on a shooting rampage. Press 2 if a white supremacist has done a drive-by shooting, rageting an ethnic group. Press 3 if a child has taken a semi-automatic to school and shot other students.
All of which selections would -- in a just world -- elicit a further message on all lines...
We are sorry. We really are. Had you been armed at this time, you might have had a chance to defend yourself and other, innocent life from these acts of predation. However, your elected leaders -- for whom you voted -- believe that you are safer (to them) if you are not able to resist their predations (under color of law), and that your helplessness in the face of criminals and other predators is ( ::shrug:: ) just collateral damage. Next time, consider your vote more carefully. Defend your civil rights, don't vote for gun-banning politicians. Meantime, our best suggestion is you sit down, bend forward with your head between your knees, and kiss your ass goodbye. And, as you pass the gates of hell -- treading that smooth, wide highway, paved as it is with the "good" intentions of liberals, remember to thank the masons who paved it. The blood of innocents is on their hands.
Mark Philip Alger
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Thursday, June 24, 2010
I Like Ragin’ Dave’s...
TAKE ON THE McChrystal "gaffe." The guy in't stupid. He knows OpSec. He knows counter-insurgent tactics, winning hearts and minds and all that.
And from another tangent, there is this quote from Thomas Sowell:
The day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.
What form do you suppose a military coup might take? Planes and tanks advancing on the centers of power in Washington? Does that sound sensible? Is that a winning strategy?
Or would revealing the weakness of Teh Won's grasp on his illegitimate power be a "force multiplier," enlisting the American people in the cause? And might it not have the added advantage of posing less of a risk to the Constitution than a violent overthrow of an elected government?
Can you say, "Impeachment?" Sher ya can.
That's a powerful lot of dots, there, Alger. You sure they're connected in the right order?
Not at all. Not yet, anyway.
Mark Philip Alger
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Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Ellipses...
CONSERVATIVES argue -- and rightly so -- that guns don't kill people, people kill people. I.E., don't focus on instrumentalities, focus on behavior. Particularly, focus on the behavior which directly causes harm.
And then they turn right around and swear on a stack of bibles that drugs kill.
No, dear. The the plural of anecdote is not data.
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THE IDEAL WATCHBOX as set up by NOAA or USHCN or one of those Alphabits breakfasts of champions things is one degree on its side. In longitude at the equator, that's 65 miles, give or take a little. At 45 degrees, or halfway up the total from the equator to the pole, that's 44-45 miles in longitude, but still 65 miles in latitude (along a great circle meridian, at any rate). That is to say that the climate alarmists would have us believe that one temperature in that much area, with all those boxes averaged would give you enough data to determine the temperature of the earth and the direction and magnitude of any change.
If the phrase "lost in the noise" doesn't mean anything to you, you might not be laughing right now. Otherwise...
Essentially, the climate alarmists are presenting us with lots of anecdotal evidence and pretending -- because there's so MUCH of it, and they can do fancy shit with it in a computer -- they're showing us data.
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IN NEITHER OF the two situations sketched above is there sufficient data to show in any meaningful way what the state of affairs might be.
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THE BEHAVIOR OF markets and economies is pretty well understood. The incentives are known, and the aggregate reactions of billions of individuals to them fairly predictable. None of this knowledge is particularly new. Nor is there any lack of empirical evidence to support the knowledge. Yet, we can't get governments to butt out and let markets work their singular miracles. What makes you think the government's wisdom is any greater in another other arena?
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I'VE JUMPED AROUND QUITE A BIT to get here as quickly as possible. You can take my word for it that the leaps I've taken can be justified, I've merely taken advantage of shortcuts I've known. OR... You can do your own digging around and figure it out for yourself.
Mark Philip Alger
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Tuesday, June 22, 2010
B - Backatcha...
YOUR PUDDLE PIC reminded me of this one of mine. Dunno why. It just did.
Mark Philip Alger
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Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Ellipses...
USED TO DO these every day. Been a LONG, long time. Despite all the problems they cause for deep linkers, I may go back to doing them. I like the semi-random juxtaposition.
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THE RIGHT -- of whatever stripe -- MUST become the party of "Oh, HELL no!" Fuck the Democrats and their whining. They're the ones breaking the law. When you say "No" to lawbreakers, you're not being negative, you're being as positive as you can get.
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YOU DO NOT have the constitutional right to go faster than anyone else. Traffic laws are not an infringement on your civil liberties. They are the state, as owner of the roads, exercising property rights. Get over yourself; obey traffic laws. And certainly don't bitch when others do, no matter how badly inconvenienced it makes you feel.
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IF YOU SUPPORT in any way the Democrat party, you are pretty much an enemy of the people. If you don't like the name, don't play the game.
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MOODY BLUES at the PNC Pavilion tonight. Not going. Need my beauty sleep. May stop down t' the venue to visit in the afternoon, though. Toni has tickets. Temp should be in the '90s with humidity to match. Perfect weather for a shed show.
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SOMETIMES I WONDER ...I mean... I love the Constitution and believe it was the greatest thing up until sliced bread. But, really. When you stop and think about it: Congress? How smart is a system that's designed to be run by a committee?
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LIBERALISM REALLY does come from Bizarro World. The Left believe that we -- with centuries or millennia of known reserves -- are nevertheless at peak oil and must do increible social contortions to stop using the stuff. At the same time, they don't seem to get that Other People's Money is a finite resource, and instead believe that our governments have to spend our way out of our particular case of being broke.
Sure. That couldn't make more sense.
Mark Philip Alger
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Monday, June 21, 2010
The Comments are More Than...
HALF THE FUN over t' Tam's place, where, upon her having admitted to not having seen Serenity and not wanting it spoiled, her commenters proceed to "spoil" it for her.
I think I missed the wookie with the naked picture of "Mrs. Reynolds" in his pocket the first time around.
I'll be in my bunk.
Mark Philip Alger
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Monday, June 21, 2010
The Problem with Fair...
IS THAT FAIR isn't always right. Or true. Insty points to this AP story on the TEA party movement, at least in the reporter's immediate surroundings. It is surprisingly fair. But it still has that flavor of an anthropologist's report. Isn't it curious and quaint how the natives express these opinions of theirs? While it's encouraging to see the subject treated without the "Ew! Icky! Get it off me! Cooties!" we get from most of the legacy partisan press, it's still a long way from what SHOULD be reported by a watchdog fourth estate, to whit, "You know, those TEA partiers have a point. The Federal government long ago overflowed constitutional limits and needs to be reined in."
Dream on, Alger!
I didn't say I ever expected it to happen. Just that even handed reportage of "both sides" of a story is a long way from reporting the truth.
Mark Philip Alger
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Monday, June 21, 2010
Polyvinyl Chloride...
OOO! That's a big polysyllable you just said. Did your mommy teach you that big word? It's a scawwy word, isn't it? Can you say, "Scawwy?" Sher ya can.
I can't tell which is stupider: the envirowhackos with their pants in a knot over PVC, or the lazy idiot reporter who couldn't be bothered to do some research. "Toys R Us hasn't gotten back to me yet with a comment on the group's claims." You stupid tool! Investigate for your own damned self! Jeezus.
Sometimes you people can be so fucking SIMPLE!
Ooopsie. Did I already say that?
(Hat tip: SondraK)
Mark Philip Alger
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Sunday, June 20, 2010
How About...
IF THEY DO we're gonna whack their pee-pee.
Or not. The reasons in the video aren't bad, either.
Mark Philip Alger
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Sunday, June 20, 2010
Speaking of Simple...
I GIVE YOU Mortimer R. Zuckerman -- who really is (or thinks he must be) the sharpest tool in the box.
Isn't that pretty much the definition of a RINO? Somebody who's even more of a tool than he thinks he is?
Ladies and gentlebeings, out of the mouth of a babe. Gabrielle Dolly. Take a bow, girl.
Mark Philip Alger
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Friday, June 18, 2010
Quick!...
TRANSLATE THE PHRASE "the little guy" into Swedish and then back into English -- ignoring idiom and using the closest transliteration analog.
What's that? You don't speak Swedish? Then what the fuck are you doing blathering on about something where you've got no fucking clue? Shut. The. Fuck. UP!
Jeezus!
Sometimes, you people can be so fucking SIMPLE!
Mark Philip Alger
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Thursday, June 17, 2010
There’s This Landmark...
NORTH OF CINCINNATI WAY a statue of Jesus in water up to his ribcage, arms uplifted to heaven in supplication, called variously Touchdown Jesus and Big Butter Jesus.
During a big thunderstorm a couple nights ago, it was struck by lightning...
Quelle ironique.
Indeed, Dolly. Indeed.
...struck by lightning and burned to the ground. Made out of papier mache or some such, I suppose.
While comedy stylist Heywood Banks announced on the Bob and Tom show Wednesday that he'd added a new verse to his song, "Big Butter Jesus," I think that the official winnah of the Innertubes is our very own Og, the Neanderpundit, who dashed off this bit of doggerel in comments to Tam's post on the subject.
I don't care if it rains or freezes
long as I got a flaming Jesus
Sitting in a pond in my frontyard
Jesus' daddy he sent lightning
all the folks thought it was frightening
Seems salvation might be kinda hard.
Tee.
And ... Hee.
Gotcher viral right here.
Dolly, there is something obscene about that gesture when you make it.
Gee! Ya think?
Mark Philip Alger
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Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Awhile Back...
JOE HUFFMAN had as his quote of the day, this gem...
Privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States … are chiefly defined in the first eight amendments to the Constitution of the United States… These eight articles … never were limitations upon the power of the states until made so by the Fourteenth Amendment.
From one John Bingham, whom Joe describes as a primary architect of the 14th Amendment.
Very tautological, Howie.
But it begs the question. On whose authority is the statement made that the first eight Amendments to the Constitution were not designed to apply to the States?
Yes. It is asserted by many that the United States is the creature of the various and several States. And that reading is plausibly due to the very subtle hand of the Ninth and Tenth amendments, and to the fact that the legislatures of the States were originally to be represented in the Senate. But there is nothing in the Constitution which explicitly states the States are sovereign over the Union, and -- indeed -- in the clause by which the Union is tasked to guarantee the States a republican form of government and by the clause which lays the geas of external and internal protection on the Federal Government (Congress, but if Congress is not in session, then the Executive) -- there is much that leads me to believe that the lines of authority and fealty as between sovereign and subject run very much the other direction.
And it is explicitly stated in the actual text -- right here, in fact -- that the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land.
Only a weasel, a politician, or a lawyer (but I repeat myself, repeat myself) would take that to read that the core of citizen protective rights were not intended to apply to subsidiary polities to the whole.
The only possible out is that the First Amendment is a proscription lain on Congress. Whereas... all of the other Amendments in the Bill of Rights take the form of absolute proscriptions on the infringement upon the liberties of citizens. There is no statement made as to the jurisdictional level being therein limited.
When the Voice of God thunders in the night, "The right of the people SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED!" what mental contortions does it take to say, "Oh, but he didn't mean ME, did he?"
It is especially despicable to argue that, while the United States may not infringe upon the liberty of her citizens, the several States may.
Mark Philip Alger
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Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Well, Yes. But Then...
MAHER CAN'T QUITE connect the rest of the dots, now can he? It's not just the media, Bill. It's the entire Left. They're all too stupid to understand the issues.
Present company not excepted.
Mark Philip Alger
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Tuesday, June 15, 2010
On the Topic of Passive Resistance...
VANDERLEUN POINTS to an essay signed by someone calling himself John Jay here.
Not sure if that's a nomme de plume. Not sure it matters. The words are worth the reading, though, for the truth contained therein.
Mark Philip Alger
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Monday, June 14, 2010
I Did Not Know That...
APPARENTLY IT ESCAPED my notice that Iron Meg was one of the founding patrons of the CAGW movement.
Sure, she later recanted. But you'd think that would cause progressives to run away in droves: "Did you know that Margaret Thatcher was one of the first world leaders in support of the AGW message? That she was instrumental in setting up the Hadley Center and instituting the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change?"
Should act like garlic to a vampire. Strange it doesn't.
Mark Philip Alger
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Sunday, June 13, 2010
Just Finished Reading...
THE BATTLE OF THE VILLA FIORITA, by Rumer Godden. I hate it when authors treat their characters so shabbily.
Why? Isn't that what you're supposed to do? Make life difficult for the characters?
I don't think so. I mean, yes, in the course of the story. But to get the reader caring about the characters, even identifying with them, and then in the end to completely shut the characters out of all happiness seems churlish.
I think you might be missing the moral point, here.
Possibly. But if that's it, then I say the moral point is an ass.
Mark Philip Alger
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Saturday, June 12, 2010
Nothing Will Take the Wind...
OUT OF YOUR SAILS like stupid engineer tricks.
Apparently, last night's update from Miscrosoft made my laptop forget the network key for the wifi in the house. And, of course, I didn't have it written down anywhere, because -- check it out -- the computer is supposed to remember it. Besides, it's so bleeding obvious, only an idiot (me) would forget it.
That's "bleeding obvious," by the way, in context of this household.YOU would never guess it in a brazilian years. No. That's not a challenge.
So the morning was totally shot -- and breakfast was late -- because I couldn't log onto the Internet.
The modern marvel that is web apps.
Yeah. Right.
Mark Philip Alger
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Saturday, June 12, 2010
When Is The Headline No Longer...
"MAN BITES DOG", but becomes DOG BITES MAN to report of Barbara Boxer's making some unutterably stupid assertion?
I mean: really, people! How is this news?
I swear, the woman has blonde roots.
My apologies to blondes.
Mark Philip Alger
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Saturday, June 12, 2010
Remember When...
BACK IN THE EARLY heady days of the watermelon movement (Earth Day/Ecology/Green on the outside, red on the inside)? When the idea of the hydrogen-powered vehicle was proposed as a desiderata? That it's "ash" was proposed as being as clean as you could get -- being water and carbon dioxide?
And the CO2 would only be in trace amount, depending on the impurities in the H2?
And, now, here we are, faced with the specter of the EPA proposing CO2 as a pollutant?
And how a majority of the Senate don't have the balls to call bullshit?
We're going to have a BIG mess to clean up, come January. Better get ready.
Mark Philip Alger
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Saturday, June 12, 2010
I Have A Modest...
PROPOSAL FOR the Senate.
If you have difficulty with the EPA's manifest desire to, in the words of Senator Rockefeller, "Turn off the lights on America," why not admit that the EPA is unconstitutional and disband it? Repeal the enabling legislation? That would put "paid" to their costly, risky schemes.
Mark Philip Alger
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Saturday, June 12, 2010
You Know, It Used to Be...
THAT THE PATENT OFFICE would reject out-of-hand any application for a perpetual motion machine.
Wonder if, under the current regime, that's changed.
What the fern are you talking about?
What else would you call a desire to re-invent so many obsolete technologies to satisfy some chimerical brainfart pipedream of environmental purity? Windmills? Hello! Stopped using wind a hundred years ago. Because it -- like -- doesn't work as well as steam. Electric cars? Hello! Where you going to get your electricity? Unicorn farts?
Gotta be that these people believe in some kind of fairy tale, wish-fulfillment perpetual motion machine.
"Believe in" being the operative term.
Excellent point, Dolly!
Mark Philip Alger
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Previously on BabyTrollBlog...
