Sometimes...
...Ya jus' gotta go to war in the unnerwear ya got on.
--Dolly
The Cloud Observatory
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Observation 36 (New Series)...
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Thursday, February 02, 2012
Ann Coulter to America: Bend Over, Grease Up...
ST. ANN IS A LAWYER, so her bowing to precedent is not terribly surprising. That she misses the point of the public revulsion at Romney Care. In citing the reasons why the entire odious and horrific edifice of progressive meddling in medicine cannot be dismantled, she conveniently ignores the fact that it should.
I have to agree with Rush (and, as much as I dislike doing so, Charles Krauthammer) that Romney does not speak Conservative fluently. Or persuasively.
Mark Philip Alger
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Thursday, February 02, 2012
You Know...
WHAT KONRATH describes here sounds an awful lot to me like a perfect market -- unlimited supply, unlimited demand, perfect pricing signals, no friction.
How long's it gonna take 'til some meddling busybody comes along and fucks it up by trying to "improve" it or obviate supposed "failures" of the model?
Mark Philip Alger
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Thursday, February 02, 2012
Ground Hog Day Was Yesterday...
SO PUNXATAWNEY PHIL saw his shadow, and we'll have six more weeks of winter.
Which takes us up to...
The first day of Spring.
Funny how that works.
Actually, Dolly, that takes us up to the fifteenth of March. The first day of spring is the 21st -- almost another week later.
Shhh! You'll wreck my snark.
Oo! That'd be bad. The body work alone...
Exactly. So just you shut your face.
Yes. Ma'am!
Gabrielle Francesca "Dolly" East
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The Cloud Observatory
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Observation 35 (New Series)...
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Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Can’t Resist...
STEALING MYSELF BACK from C.G. Hill...
Aside: If Chas Hill were a movie digital effects artist, would he be CGI Hill?
ANYway...
At Dustbury, C.G. ponders a bit about song hooks, and spins off a tangential notion, that of songs as stories -- in particular one song, Al Stewart's "Year of the Cat."
On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like
Peter Lorre, contemplating a crime.
Writers of prose fiction could learn a lot from Stewart. That one album alone (Stewart's SEVENTH, released way back in 1976) has "Lord Grenville", about smugglers, reminiscent of Disney's "Mooncussers" movies; "On the Border" a romance of arms smuggling and revolution; "Midas Shadow" a poignant portrait of a corporate pirate; "Flying Sorcery", which somehow reminds me of our Brigid...
WIth your photographs of Kitty Hawk and the biplanes on the wall
You were always Amy Johnson from the time that you were small
No school-room kept you grounded
While your thoughts could get away
You were taking off in Tiger Moths
Your wings against the brush-strokes of the day.
But it all occurs to me to wonder... Who would you cast in the Bogie part in the movie you were making of "The Year of the Cat"?
Mark Philip Alger
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Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Some Substantive Numbers...
ON EBOOK PREP. No comment; haven't analyzed. Just noted, to be squirreled away for future reference. At The Passive Voice.
Mark Philip Alger
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Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Whingeing About Change...
SO PUBLISHERS are deprecating tablet computers as a reading platform.
Now, I take second place to nobody when it comes to resisting change, but -- seriously? It's not as though eBooks are going to ruin your business. As Heinlein put it, it's raining soup. Grab you a bucket!
Sheesh!
Mark Philip Alger
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The Cloud Observatory
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Observation 34 (New Series)...
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Of Course, It Must Be...
TAX PROF REPORTS that Tax Foundation: Income Inequality Is Lower Now Than It Was Under Clinton.
Of course. It must be Bush's fault. Everything else is.
Mark Philip Alger
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The Cloud Observatory
Monday, January 30, 2012
Observation 33 (New Series)...
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Trust Me, I Grew Up...
AROUND A LOT -- repeat a LOT -- of Catholic School Girls. Even dated a few -- for varying values of "dated". And I'm here to tell you, they're way ahead of those Occupy homunculi.
Mark Philip Alger
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The Cloud Observatory
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Observation 32 (New Series)...
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Chelsea Prompts...
US TO DIG A LITTLE for this one:
From everyone: Pick up the book nearest to you. Turn to page 45. The first sentence there describes your sex life in 2012.--Chelsea Polk, No Subject
Mine:
Had they been caught by the Tibetans or Chinese they would certainly have suffered the fate of all spies.Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Secret Exploration of Tibet, Peter Hopkirk
Well, in't that fraught?
(To be honest, that's not the book closest to me. The book closest to me is: 1) an as-yet unpublished novel I have been 2) asked to beta-read and am therefore bound not to say anything about until it's published 3) an e-Book (on my Kindle) and doesn't have page numbers. So, on several counts, doesn't qualify, I'd say.)
Mark Philip Alger
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Cleaning the Desk One Day...
YOU COME ACROSS A bolt of uncertain origin, a quarter-inch, hex-headed machine screw. There is no doubt that it is of some importance, or it would have been tossed in the trash, rather than kept in clutter. There's no matching nut or washer(s), and you really have no clue what it's for. If you leave it lying around forever, you may never find out, but it will contribute to clutter, confusion, dirt, and disorganizement from now 'til Kingdom Come. If you put it away someplace where you'll Know Where It Is, you'll forget the location within a month easy, and possibly as soon as a week. If you find the place or thing where it actually belongs, and for the eventual repair of which you're saving it, you'll have no idea whether you have the part, let alone where it is.
Q: What do you do with the bolt?
- A: Mount an all-hands evolution to locate its true and proper location and purpose and effect repairs.
- B: Find an appropriate nut from your collection, thread it on, and put the two of them back where you found the bolt.
- C: Find an appropriate nut -- and washer(s) -- from your collection, slip the washer(s) on, thread the nut on, and put the assembly on your desk to admire from time-to-time.
- D: Put the bolt back where you found it to marinate longer.
- E: Put the bolt in a drawer Where You'll Be Sure to Remember Where It Is.
- F: Pitch the damned thing in the trash and be done with it.
For extra credit, calculate the length of time (T) it will take for you to find the bolt's proper situation after you've done (F).
Full Disclosure Update: I did (E).
Mark Philip Alger
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
I Have My Doubts About Mr. Newt...
BUT THEY MOSTLY CENTER around how he couches his simpatico with certain features of leftist hobby horses. Frex: I'm not an environmentalist. Not because I want dirty water, dirty air, and poison to eat and drink, but because I have a knee jerk distrust of any movement that calls itself by an "-ism." This is a collectivist shibboleth and I don't trust it. From those things comes nothing but evil. So I prefer to think of myself as being in favor of conservation as a practice -- a habit, if you will -- (and have since before Rachel Carson published the lying Silent Spring), and not as a feature of an "organized " "system" of belief or ideology. In short, I refuse to make my relationship with the earth political. Nor do I accept the anthropogenic global warming conjecture, its heirs, assigns, and successors, world without end.
In short, the couch thing with Bela Pelosi: FAIL. The JohnKinging of the media (note how quickly that became a transitive verb): EPIC WIN.
And that, I think, is the point. Tired of taking it on the chin from rude, gibbering, little homunculi of the Left, and then being laughed at for wimps when making a measured and proportionate response, We in the Right have long demanded a more muscular response -- a retaliation... a punishing retaliation -- from our soi disant leaders.
Newt seems bent on giving that to us, in word and in deed -- without much regard to what may be drudged up out of his record to smear him with.
And that is why he is liked by the groundlings. And that is why he is like to win in November if he can get past the cock-blocking gatekeepers of the establishment -- St. Ann notwithstanding.
Mark Philip Alger
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Quote of the Century—Consensus Edition...
Speaking for many scientists and engineers who have looked carefully and independently at the science of climate, we have a message to any candidate for public office: There is no compelling scientific argument for drastic action to "decarbonize" the world's economy. Even if one accepts the inflated climate forecasts of the IPCC, aggressive greenhouse-gas control policies are not justified economically.
--Claude Allegre, former director of the Institute for the Study of the Earth, University of Paris
--J. Scott Armstrong, cofounder of the Journal of Forecasting and the International Journal of Forecasting
--Jan Breslow, head of the Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics and Metabolism, Rockefeller University
--Roger Cohen, fellow, American Physical Society
--Edward David, member, National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Sciences
--William Happer, professor of physics, Princeton
--Michael Kelly, professor of technology, University of Cambridge, U.K.
--William Kininmonth, former head of climate research at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology
--Richard Lindzen, professor of atmospheric sciences, MIT
--James McGrath, professor of chemistry, Virginia Technical University
--Rodney Nichols, former president and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences
--Burt Rutan, aerospace engineer, designer of Voyager and SpaceShipOne
--Harrison H. Schmitt, Apollo 17 astronaut and former U.S. senator
--Nir Shaviv, professor of astrophysics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
--Henk Tennekes, former director, Royal Dutch Meteorological Service
--Antonio Zichichi, president of the World Federation of Scientists, Geneva
From the Wall Street Journal
(And, for the -two of the one-two punch:)
And it is likely that more CO2 and the modest warming that may come with it will be an overall benefit to the planet.
RTWT.
Mark Philip Alger
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
But Ya Know...
THE MORE I HEAR folks Left and Right attack Mr.Newt with memes and themes that stink of the parlor pink, the more I am persuaded that my own doubts come from the same place, and I become ever-surer that he MAY be our guy this year.
Almost every attack -- such as the ones mounted in the comments here, at PowerLine, looks to me like, when the facts are actually unspooled back to the origin of the smears -- as Rush puts it -- are actually resumé enhancers, rather than cause for hesitation. David Bonior lodged ethical complaints? Do you remember Bonior's behavior in the run-up to OIF? Resumé enhancer. Elliott Abrams misremembers a speech from 1988 in which Gingrich, in essence, urged the administration to get back to its own roots? Elliott Abrams? Do you know anything about country club blueblood RINOs? Resumé enhancer. George Will doesn't think Newt can win? Come ON. give me a freakin' break. Resumé enhancer.
The louder the liberals get in trying to persuade We in the Right out here in Flyover Country that Newt ain't the one, the better he comes off.
Mark Philip Alger
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The Cloud Observatory
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Observation 31 (New Series)...
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Howabout Wannabe Novelists...
WHO GAVE LOLITA flying lessons and wonder how the hell Nabakov got such a good reputation as a writer? (A survey at Book Riot that asks the wrong question.)
(Hat tip: Passive Guy.)
Mark Philip Alger
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The Cloud Observatory
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Observation 30 (New Series)...
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
That’s Not Capitalism...
IT'S NOT -- STRICTLY SPEAKING -- capitalism that happens when people are left to their own devices to make their commercial choices in unmolested freedom. That's free markets.
Capital"ism" is how free markets finance large projects.
And you should be aware of what you're actually saying when you speak of capital"ism".
Mark Philip Alger
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Unions Frakk Business Again...
I KEEP PUSHING THIS maybe someday the world will wake up. Like all leftist initiatives, unions start out operating in bad faith. Their sole raison d'etre is the abridgement of the private property rights of business owners. It can only get worse from there.
So, it should come as no surprise to learn that the UAW is attacking the most successful product lines at GM.
Nose? Face. Face? Nose.
No spite there.
Mark Philip Alger
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Pissed at Good Reads...
FOR JERKING YOU AROUND on your library?
Making you put in all that work to build the value of their brand, only to have them tell you that YOU have to rescue your books because they got into a pissing match with an 800-ton gorilla?
There appears to be an alternative. Totally unexplored by moi, but ... it's out there.
Mark Philip Alger
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The Cloud Observatory
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Observation 29 (New Series)...
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Now ... Isn’t THAT Interesting...
NOTICED IN PASSING in an article on a recent copyright case in the Supreme Court.
Justice Elena Kagan did not take part in the case because she worked on it while serving in the Justice Department.
The case is Golan v. Holder, 10-545.
Is this a precedent on recusal that may apply in another case we're anticipating?
Mark Philip Alger
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Public Notice to Mr. Simon Leathers...
OF THE ASHFORD/ST. PETERS HOSPITALS of the UK National Health Service:
Dear Mr. Leathers;
This is my second notice to you. (First notice attached.) Your site for the Ashford/St. Peters hospitals of the NHS is in violation of my copyright in the URL of...
http://ashfordstpeters.org.uk/cgi-bin/parser.pl/0005/www.babytrollblog.com
This page not only mirrors and/or reproduces my original copyrighted material, it continues to do so subsequent to and despite my earlier notice. My previous notice to you was dated the sixth of this month, and there is content on the above-linked page from today (January 21, 2012). This is egregious and must cease immediately. If my material and links to my site are not removed from your server by end of business UK time Monday, January 23, I will be forced to file suit against you personally and against the hospitals in UK courts. As I am sure you must be aware, given the notices posted on your site concerning your compliance with internationally-accepted standards and best practices of Web site construction and operation, you will lose.
I trust you shall find this notice sufficient motivator to make the corrections on your site immediately.
You may notice also that I have posted this message directly on my site, in case you might miss this email, so you'll see it in my pirated content.
Most sincerely,
Mark Philip Alger
Update: I have heard from the head of IT governance for the hospitals and they have corrected the matter. Kudos and thanks go to Mr. Andrew Fitzgerald for his quick action. (Bumped.)
Mark Philip Alger
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The Cloud Observatory
Monday, January 23, 2012
Observation 28 (New Series)...
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Category Error...
PEOPLE MISTAKENLY THINK of a job as an object in and of itself, when it is really a convergence of factors and circumstances. An employer needs a task performed. You present yourself as willing to work for the wage offered, qualified to perform the task, and available. If the employer finds you suitable, he hires you. You are employed. You do not have a job because a job, like so many of the logical fallacies embraced by collectivists, is an economic fiction which does not exist in the real world. It may be a convenient token for the circumstances and conditions of employment. But to think of the token as the whole thing is to miss the point of the metonymy. And then you end up with idiocies being blathered about such as "jobs being sent oveseas." No such thing.
Think about that as you read the whole thing.
Mark Philip Alger
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Monday, January 23, 2012
The Degree to Which...
A COMMENTATOR PRESSES the notion that Mr. Newt is unelectable is the degree to which that person is out of touch with the zeitgeist of the American mainstream.
Yeah, well... You thought McCain was gonna win, too. Still owe Rummel a beer over that, if I recall correctly.
Yes. But. That was wishful thinking based on my intoxication with Sarah Palin.
You keep telling yourself that.
Mark Philip Alger
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Pounding It Home Again...
THE WHOLE "YOU NEED the Center" meme is a crock. Not because you don't need a spread spectrum of all of the American people to win. You do. But you need to properly identify the center. And that is far, far to the right of where the Washington establishment and the legacy partisan press try to put it.
Mark Philip Alger
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The Cloud Observatory
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Observation 27 (New Series)...
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Broke 60K...
I BROKE THROUGH 60,000 words on It's Dolly's Birthday. That's a notional 80% complete. Of course, I'm beginning to have the suspicion that I'm going to overshoot the 75,000-word mark. We'll probably go closer to 95,000 words, it looks like now. But, still, it's a significant milestone.
Also made the acquaintance of a professional freelance editor. Over the coming weeks, we'll be seeing whether we can work together. He comes highly recommended via a trusted source, but still... And even if it is a perfect match, there's the matter of paying his fees. Which, while eminently reasonable as such things go, are presently out of my reach.
Which brings me to the point of hinting that, if you would like to help, you can hit my tip jar by clicking on the Donate button at right. That connects to PayPal, with all the benefits, protections, and so-forth that you've come to expect from that fine organization.
Meantime, thanks for your patience. I see you're joining up in droves. I want to thank you for that. But you could comment once in awhile, you know. ::grin::
Yeah, right. Make more work for me.
Mark Philip Alger
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
About Newt...
PEOPLE WITH AGENDAE hostile to the agenda of the Tea Party movement -- limited government, low taxes, and free markets, as the route to maximum freedom and prosperity for the greatest number of Americans, seem to think that, because the Tea Party is founded in simple, clear ideological stances, its members must be naive simpletons, incapable of realpolitik calculations, and of using and manipulating people to their own ends.
Someday those people may learn the truth of their folly. Pray that day comes later than sooner.
Mark Philip Alger
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Ann Coulter Retweets...
NORM McDONALD ...
In the Captain's defense "Women and children first" is highly sexist and ageist.
...which strikes me as an excellent reason to re-visit the whole politically correct notion and all those ~isms the Left is so fond of using as bludgeons.
And by "revisit" (another leftist shibboleth), I'm using "code words" (ibid) for "get rid of."
Which makes me a reactionary stick-in-the-mud, but I prefer to think of myself as a true progressive. That is: being in favor of progress.
As opposed to the Bizarro World definition of "Progressive" as being a reactionary feudalist.
Well... They don't define it that way...
No, true. They don't say that's what they mean. They don't even think that when they say it. But that's what happens when the concept is applied. Instead of progress, you have retrograde motion. In a word -- congress.
::wobbita::
Well, that's what they say -- if con is the opposite of pro, then what's the opposite of progress? Of course, it's witless. But -- hey! -- you're talking people who pretend offense at homonyms, so... Consider the source.
Mark Philip Alger
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Friday, January 20, 2012
No, Glenn, I Disagree...
INSTY POSTS here:
Time for New York to catch up with the rest of the country and adopt sensible gun laws that do not punish innocent people for nonviolent acts.
No, Glenn. I must demur. It's time -- long past time, in fact -- for the legislators and executives (and even some police officers) of New York to be brought up on charges and tried for treason and civil rights violations. And the beatings will continue until their behavior improves.
Mark Philip Alger
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Friday, January 20, 2012
It’s Really Amazing...
TO LISTEN TO THE CONTRAST in coverage of Newt Gingrich's performance in debates between Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.
Just noticing 's all.
Mark Philip Alger
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Friday, January 20, 2012
Dear Mr. Newt...
THE CONSTITUTIONAL issue isn't whether you --or Obama -- would abuse a privilege or authority. The issue is that Congress is forbidden to act in the matter. So you have 535 elected officials foresworn of their oaths of office. Why should they not be impeached and tried for treason?
Huh? 'Splain that.
Mark Philip Alger
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Friday, January 20, 2012
When Will People Realize...
THAT CALLING AN ORGANIZATION or facility -- whatever -- anything starting with "Center for the..." is tantamount to painting it red and decorating it with yellow hammers and sickles? It labels your org as a communist front.
It's as politically and tonedeaf as calling a national defense organization "Homeland Security." Might as well call it "State Security Apparat."
Mark Philip Alger
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Friday, January 20, 2012
If You’re An Indie Author...
AND ARE THINKING ABOUT publishing on Apple iBooks...
Don't.
Here's why.
(Hat tip: Holly Lisle.)
Mark Philip Alger
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Previously on BabyTrollBlog...
