Comments or suggestions: Gerard Van der Leun
Pellom's Time Shop

pellomstimeshop.jpg

It's the oldest shop in Black Mountain, North Carolina. None of the other shop keepers can remember a time when it wasn't here. Nobody in town can remember a time when Pellom himself wasn't here. The Time Shop and Pellom may well have been here before the town was here; before even the Cherokee were here. Nobody can say.

These days Pellom isn't the Pellom he once was. If you want him to come and deal with your time in your space you have to pick him up and bring him back at the appointed time. If your time is more flexible you can bring it in to him if it breaks. He might well have that part of time you need in his shop. He's got all sorts of spare time parts from times past if precious little from time present and even less from time future. Still sometimes he's got time.

Most people look into the cluttered and dust-layered window of the Time Shop and walk on by. The stores full of crafts made the old-time way lure them on. After all, most of those who walk up and down this street in Black Mountain are retired and have, they think, all the time in the world.

Pellom doesn't mind. He knows what time it is. He also knows what can happen to time. How it can come unsprung. How it can run slow and still run fast. How time runs down. How time goes by. How time runs out. That's why he's careful, when he can, to save time.

You can, if he decides he likes you, buy some time at the Time Shop. All you have to do is to step through the seldom used door of the Time Shop and say "Good afternoon, Mr. Pellom." Then you need to look around the shop carefully and slowly. You need, most of all, to take your time.

In time, if the time is right, Pellom will glance up at you from behind his bench, his green eyeshade shadowing his eyes, and say, "What can I get you?"

Not "What are you looking for?," or "How can I help you?," but "What can I get you?"

You'd be well advised to take him at his word and say, "I'd like to buy some more time."

Then, if your request is timely, Pellom will nod and fetch that small cloud-blue glass-stoppered bottle from the shelf behind him and bring it over to the counter and put it down in front of you with a sharp, satisfying clack on the glass of the counter. Looking into it all you will see is, towards the center, the faintest mist made from the color out of space and inside that, towards the core of the mist, a shovel of stars.

"Very good, sir," Pellom will say. "How much time would you like?"

I'd advise you to buy as much time as you can afford, as often as you can afford it, time after time.

Just because Pellom has some extra time today doesn't mean he won't be out of time tomorrow. Most of the time, time is always in short supply. Tonight, while you sleep, your government will be awake printing more money. Nobody is printing more time. Which is why you should be careful how you spend time in the first place. Just ask Pellom down at the Time Shop.



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 30, 2009 9:16 PM | Comments (1)  | QuickLink: Permalink
"No Guts to Jail the Nuts": Man Wanted in Connection to Killings of 4 Police Officers Sunday in Tacoma Washington

mauriceclemmons.jpgThis is Maurice Clemmons, sought by the police of Washington state, for possible involvement in the ambush/assassination of 4 police officers Sunday morning in Tacoma. Reading Clemmons' recent and not so recent criminal history makes any sensible person ask, "What is this animal doing out on the street?" The short answer is, "You just can't lock up crazy and dangerous people any longer." The longer answer, in fewer words, is "We don't have the guts to jail the nuts."

The weak and neuter-run Seattle Times, long a proponent of "No jail for nuts just bail," reports the facts of Clemmons' demented history in Maurice Clemmons, man wanted for questioning, has long criminal history Among Clemmons more recent "achievements" that should long ago have placed him in a concrete cage at the bottom of the sea include:

  • a pending charge of second-degree rape of a child.
  • eight felony charges in all out of Washington state.
  • punching a sheriff's deputy in the face
  • gathering his wife and young relatives around at 3 or 4 in the morning and having them all undress. He told them that families need to "be naked for at least 5 minutes on Sunday."

Clemmons' previous criminal distinctions include, "at least five felony convictions in Arkansas and at least eight felony charges in Washington. The record also stands out for the number of times he has been released from custody despite questions about the danger he posed."

Clemmons was given a 60-year sentence in Arkansas while "he was already serving 48 years on five felony convictions and facing up to 95 more years on charges of robbery, theft of property and possessing a handgun on school property. Records from Clemmons' sentencing described him as 5-foot-7 and 108 pounds. The crimes were committed when he was 17. Clemmons served 11 years before being released."

His sentence was commuted due to the "mercy" of then governor Mike Huckabee who cited his tender years at the time his crimes were committed. Should Clemmons turn out to be responsible for the killings of the four police officers, I'd say Mike Huckabee should hang up his further political aspirations in America for good. This would be Huckabee's Willie Horton moment only several orders of magnitude larger.

The Seattle Times, a paper that has fought harder for laxity in law enforcement than any other in Washington, naturally led with the Huckabee connection, not that he doesn't deserve it. But what unrolls beneath the lede in the litany of depravity that is Clemmons' life points again and again to the lack of will in America to do anything definitive about the pathological humans that walk among citizens.

We've come, through all the good intentions in the world, to a society where individuals of obvious depravity are routinely paroled, or have their sentences commuted, or are given bail because many among us have determined it is more important to be fair, to be nice, than to live.

Clemmons became free to walk about Washington state in this way: "Clemmons posted $15,000 with a Chehalis company called Jail Sucks Bail Bonds. The bondsman, in turn, put up $150,000, securing Clemmons' release on the pending child-rape charge."

You've got to love the name of that bail company: "Jail Sucks Bail Bonds." That name encapsulates in its depraved way everything that has gone amiss over the last few decades. "We think jail just sucks and if you do to come on down to Jail Sucks Bail Bonds where freedom to take your demented life back on the streets is only 10% away."

Of course, the Democrat controlled Washington State legislature and governor are continually hatching legislation that will make it more difficult for ordinary citizens to arm and protect themselves from the vermin they catch and release like diseased trout back onto the streets. You'd think having four armed police officers executed while they sat having coffee in a Tacoma restaurant would make the politicians of this state, and other states, think twice about anti-gun legislation. Forget about it. The Democrat disease's main symptom is that they don't even think once.



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 29, 2009 7:04 PM | Comments (34)  | QuickLink: Permalink
ClimateGate Software. Garbage In, Garbage Out, and a Garbage Disposal in the Middle

globalwarmingillo.jpg
Illustration: Shannon Love

Shannon Love at Chicago Boyz has written a superlative examination of just how bad "the most important computer programs in the world" at Hadly CRU actually are in Scientists Are Not Software Engineers. While the human element of deception, deletion, and good old fashion "dumbth" are on display in the hacked emails, Love points out

No, the real shocking revelation lies in the computer code and data that were dumped along with the emails. Arguably, these are the most important computer programs in the world. These programs generate the data that is used to create the climate models which purport to show an inevitable catastrophic warming caused by human activity. It is on the basis of these programs that we are supposed to massively reengineer the entire planetary economy and technology base.

The dumped files revealed that those critical programs are complete and utter train wrecks.

Love does not believe that these programs are bad out of malice but out of sheer and escalating incompetence when it comes to software design and a factor that creates a mindset NASA has termed "the normalization of deviancy/risk."
CRU isn't that unusual. Few scientific teams use any kind of formal software-project management. Why? Well, most people doing scientific programming are not educated as programmers. They're usually just scientists who taught themselves programming. Moreover, most custom-written scientific software, no matter how large, doesn't begin as a big, planned project. Instead the software evolves from some small, simple programs written to handle relatively trivial tasks. After a small program proves useful, the scientist finds another related processing task so instead of rewriting everything from scratch, he bolts that new task onto an existing program. Then he does it again and again and again....

Most people who use spreadsheets a lot have seen this process firsthand. You start with a simple one sheet spreadsheet with a few dozen cells. It's small, quick and useful but then you discover another calculation that requires the data in the sheet so you add that new calculation and any necessary data to the initial sheet. Then you add another and another. Over the years, you end up with a gargantuan monster. It's not uncommon for systems analysts brought in to overhaul a company's information technology to find that some critical node in the system is a gigantic, byzantine spreadsheet that only one person knows how to use and which started life as a now long-dead manager's to-do list.

Of course, along with general ineptitude catalogued by Love, there can also be the all too human factors of "keeping one's job" and "feathering one's nest."

I encountered this sort of homespun software garbage when I took over management of the Cosmodemonic PornGiant site for the House of Pent in 2000. At that time the site was generating something on the order of $25 million per year in revenue and almost all of the House of Pent's cash flow. It was the cash cow that cut the payroll checks and kept the ever-ravenous creditors from the door.

Cosmodemonic PornGiant was the single most critical element of the business and all the money flowed out of the computers and through a program in a computer locked in a small back office with special locks. The program was written and run by one very irritable "employee" who spent a lot of time locked in that room, lifting weights, and sending out emails stating what the income from the day before had actually been -- according to "his computer." Since he'd written the "payments" program himself he was as close to invulnerable an employee as there was. In addition you were never quite sure if all the funds entering the program he'd written were coming out the other side or if some were escaping via a rogue data link elsewhere. But because the flow of the funds was critical nobody every wanted to look at that too hard. The fear was that the flow could presumably be made to flow elsewhere with a keystroke and disappear until it could be found and directed to the company coffers once again.

This employee knew that he held the whip hand in the company and developed, over time, an attitude. Not a good situation for his boss who happened to be, well, me. Since I was the one in the organization chart charged with keeping the company's single oxygen line flowing I took this job seriously lest my paycheck and that of 200+ other families simply evaporate into cyberspace.

Ultimately, after a byzantine bit of internal corporate espionage involving giving him and his wife a "bonus" all-expense-paid vacation in Bermuda, I was able to gain control of this man's "Black Box" programs and soon after, following a rage-filled encounter, he left the company "to spend more time with his family."

The programs, when my outside programmers began to understand them and poke into their innards, were much like Love's programs that involved "a gigantic, byzantine spreadsheet that only one person knows how to use and which started life as a now long-dead manager's to-do list." Only these programs could dial into ours and who knows who else's bank accounts with deposits. I'm not saying that any money that belonged to the company went to any other account. I'm saying something scarier. I'm saying that the company wouldn't have known if it did.

Which is a bit like what seems to have been going on at Hadly CRU. It might be right. It might be wrong. It might be so wrong it isn't even wrong. It might be so right that the globe could ignite at dawn.

All we know is that we do not know and that now, given that all the original data for the Hadly CR has been "lost," we don't even know what we don't know.

As Eric Raymond noted this evening at Armed and Dangerous's "Facts to fit the theory? Actually, no facts at all!

It just keeps getting better and better. Now we learn that the CRU has admitted to throwing away the primary data on which their climate models were based. I quote: "We do not hold the original raw data but only the value-added (quality controlled and homogenised) data."

This means that even the CRU itself has no idea how accidentally corrupt or fraudulently altered its data might be. And the IPCC reports used the CRU'€™s temperature reconstructions as a gold standard. So did other climatologists all over the world. And now they can'€™t be verified! Without a chain of provenance tieing them back to actual measurements, every single figure and trendline in the CRU reconstructions might as well be PDOOMA, a fine old engineering acronym expanding to ""€œPulled Directly Out Of My Ass".

It's outrageous and immoral. It's incompentant and malicious at the same time. Heads should roll but heads won't roll.

For a clusterfuck this size in this world of insane experts and electible conmen, there's only one thing that's fit to give the aging hippie fuckups of Hadly CRU: The Nobel Prize. Al Gore move over. Always room for more bozos on your bus.



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 29, 2009 4:33 PM | Comments (13)  | QuickLink: Permalink
My Newest & Most Favoritist Blog is An Exercise in Futility

The resident curmudgeon @ An Exercise in Futility -- Why do I even bother? (a man after my own dark heart) describes himself as,

"an echo-boomer who specializes in deconstructing cultural lies that were handed down to all of us by a generation whose grand ideological experiment failed and consequently ruined the world I’m slated to inherit."
I'd describe him as a star-class kvetcher with a burning-down word habit. Here's a sampler:
  • How to Destroy a Liberal's Worldview"If the earth increases by an average temperature of 5 degrees, wouldn't that make more of the earth habitable because Canada and Siberia wouldn't be so cold?"(no, because the oceans would rise). "How much would the oceans have to rise to make us lose enough continental space to account for the combination of Siberia and Canada?"(No answer, because they don't know. Your goal here is just to point out how little they know about their eco religion).

Continued...

Posted by Vanderleun Nov 25, 2009 9:03 AM | Comments (12)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Charles Johnson: World's First Anal Ostrich

ostrichheadass.jpgOne struggles to find new realms of contempt in which to hold Charles "I'm writing as bad as I can" Johnson, but -- because he's a putz -- he always provides them. Latest realm? A sniveling bit of denial concerning the Sparkman death now revealed not to be an evil assassination but something even dumber: Census worker staged death to conceal suicide.

Johnson deftly conceals his own role in the matter by hiding his ostrich head up his own ass in a classic "Who? Me? Never!" bit of "clarification": Little Green Footballs - Update: Ky. Census Worker Committed Suicide

"Since this news came out, I’ve received several angry emails demanding that I apologize for saying Sparkman had been murdered by a right wing extremist. The problem is, I never wrote anything like that. For the record, this was my post when the story broke, and I don’t apologize for a single word:
There’s not enough information yet to say for sure what was behind this killing, so let’s not jump to conclusions. But the description of the circumstances and the timing (around the time of the Washington DC tea party) raises a strong suspicion that anti-government sentiment may have been the motivation.
[Emphasis added]

Sigh. What is one to do with this sort of copy? It wouldn't get by the newest editorial intern at Weekly World News. In effect it says, "I didn't say he was killed by those that I suggest killed him... those dastardly tea-partiers... and nobody can prove I did. All I said was 'strong suspicion'! All I said was 'I'm just raisin' issues and askin' questions."

People like Johnson fall into the category of true believers, those who are so far down the wrong path that they actually eat their own bullshit and called it "Pate." The blunt truth is that Johnson is so wrong he's "not even wrong." He's merely a piss-ant far down on the elephant of truth's ankle screaming "Take it all, bitch!"

It's a shame that Andrew Sullivan is already married. If he wasn't nuptials between Sullivan and Johnson would be the blogger society event of the season. Then again, it would never work out. In a gay marriage, both guys can't be the bottom.



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 25, 2009 7:22 AM | Comments (8)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Something Wonderful: The Climategate Mocking Begins

HT: Brewerpatriot



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 25, 2009 6:42 AM | Comments (3)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Hadley CRU Code Analysis Begins: "This isn’t just a smoking gun, it’s a siege cannon with the barrel still hot."

Eric Raymond (uber-programmer and author of a number of How-to documents and FAQs, many of which are included in the Linux Documentation Project corpus) just posted a short item called Hiding the Decline: Part 1 : The Adventure Begins

From the CRU code file osborn-tree6/briffa_sep98_d.pro , used to prepare a graph purported to be of Northern Hemisphere temperatures and reconstructions.
;
; Apply a VERY ARTIFICAL correction for decline!!
;
yrloc=[1400,findgen(19)*5.+1904]
valadj=[0.,0.,0.,0.,0.,-0.1,-0.25,-0.3,0.,- 0.1,0.3,0.8,1.2,1.7,2.5,2.6,2.6,$
2.6,2.6,2.6]*0.75 ; fudge factor
if n_elements(yrloc) ne n_elements(valadj) then message,’Oooops!’
;
yearlyadj=interpol(valadj,yrloc,timey)

This, people, is blatant data-cooking, with no pretense otherwise. It flattens a period of warm temperatures in the 1940s -- see those negative coefficients? Then, later on, it applies a positive multiplier so you get a nice dramatic hockey stick at the end of the century.

And that's just one small snippet.



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 24, 2009 9:22 PM | Comments (19)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Something Wonderful: Accuracy is the Least Significant Part of Drawing

MILTON GLASER DRAWS & LECTURES from C. Coy on Vimeo.



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 24, 2009 7:59 AM | Comments (4)  | QuickLink: Permalink
The Harder They Come, The Harder They Fall. One and All.


"I'd rather be a free man in my grave,
Than living as a puppet or a slave."

I'm moving this to the top of the list for official anthems of "The Conservative Revolutionary Front."

Who appointed over 40 ambassadors on the sole basis of campaign contributions, or has as many lobbyists in government as did any President in memory? And who releases touchy news—whether increased unemployment or trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in civil courts—on Friday nights, or wants his Democratically-controlled Congress to debate unpopular legislation on Saturday nights?

You see where this is going. Prophets fall harder than normal politicians. When you claim that seas recede and planets cool before your presence, and that Latin mottos, new presidential candidate seals, neo-classical victory trophies, and faux-Greek temple sets are the appropriate backdrops for Your speeches, then you raise the bar a bit high. Obama is not necessarily any more partisan than a Nixon or Reagan or Bush, only just as partisan -- but when he claimed something quite different. --Victor Hanson, Where Has the Thrill Gone?

"... And then the harder they come the harder they'll fall,
.... one and all."



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 23, 2009 2:43 PM | Comments (11)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Charles Martin's ClimateGate Primer

If you're still playing catch-up in the smoldering wreckage from the Holy Hand Grenade of hacking detonated in the Hadley CRU, a great place to start is Charlie Martin's succint and link-rich Global WarmingGate: What Does It Mean? Martin lays it out and sums it up with "It appears that the three scandals are:

  • First, a real attempt by a small group of scientists to subvert the peer-review process and suppress dissenting voices. (For another look at this, by a respected climate scientist who was one of the targets, see these posts on Roger Pielke Sr.'s blog.) This is at best massively unethical.
  • Second, a willingness to manipulate the data to make a political case. This is certainly misconduct and possibly scientific fraud. This, if it proves true, should make these scientists subject to strong disciplinary action, even termination of their tenured positions.
  • Third, what gives every appearance of an actual conspiracy to prevent data from being released as required by the Freedom of Information Acts in the US and UK. If this is proven true, that is a federal crime.

"Charlie Martin is a Colorado computer scientist and freelance writer. He holds an MS in Computer Science from Duke University, where he spent six years with the National Biomedical Simulation Resource, Duke University Medical Center. Find him at http://chasrmartin.com, and on his blog at http://explorations.chasrmartin.com."



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 23, 2009 1:53 PM | Comments (2)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Something Wonderful: The Adventures of Lil Cthulhu

"Want a child-friendly way to introduce your little one to the traditions of the Old Cult?

Meet little Cthulhu, who lives in the magic city of R'lyeh with all his friends, as you and your child embark on a fun and educational journey through the world of the Great Old Ones, meeting all kinds of new buddies from the Necronomicon along the way, from Azathoth to Yog-Sothoth! This series has won multiple awards and has been enthusiastically approved by the department of child-developmental psychology at Miskatonic University."
HT: Ed in Texas



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 23, 2009 12:54 PM | Comments (5)  | QuickLink: Permalink
5 Copies of 2010's Worst Photo Calendar Slosh Out the LGF Door

The Web's worst high-functioning autistic photographer, Charles Foster Johnson, has made it possible for you, yes you, you lucky sod to actually stare at his vacant snapshots for an entire year. Yes, lucky dogs, it's Little Green Footballs - The LGF 2010 Photo Calendar!!!!!

"Now available at Lulu.com in time for Christmas and the New Year — the Little Green Footballs 2010 Calendar, featuring 13 beautiful high resolution versions of photographs I’ve posted at LGF. It's $24.99, Lulu.com handles all the printing and shipping, I get 10 bucks, and they get the difference. Not a bad deal for all involved."

"Not a bad deal..." if you favor pedestrian snapshots of flat color, a personal world that is utterly bereft of any human face, or snapshots chilled in the crippled sensibility of a person who has "the brain of a bass player" and the eye of an albino cave-dwelling newt.

Taken as a whole, this masturbatory exercise in pug-ugly photography is but the latest chapter in the never-ending saga, The Eternal Banality of the Photography of Charles Foster Johnson

Here's the stunning if risibly titled "October:"

johnsoshit.jpg

Cloud band, water band, sand band. All tonalities mushed down into one bland band of bullshit. You could get 100 of these anytime you drive by the beach at 25mph with the camera set on autodrive and pointed anywhere towards the sea. More than that the image itself, as the other images of this "calendar" have the same dull and affectless matte surface. It's "high resolution" that you wish were much, much lower. And when you try to look deeper in you find only greater shallowness.

These are the landscapes suicides see just before they pull the trigger.

Continued...

Posted by Vanderleun Nov 22, 2009 10:41 PM | Comments (16)  | QuickLink: Permalink
The Poetry of Gore

Walt Erickson
http://www.verse-afire.com/blog


IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHOSE GORE IS BEING AXED


The revelations of fraud as revealed in the emails and files will not mean a thing. Al Gore will not be dissuaded by the facts, since he is probably privy to the scam from the beginning. No, the hockey stick guys will fight tooth and nail, claiming with every exhaled carbon dioxide breath that global warming is real and that the emails are faked. They will not give up easily, for careers are at stake, and for some, like Al Gore, it isn’t a career that’s at stake, but vast sums of money. Do not expect Al Gore to do a mea culpa.


The climate is changing, we’re told by Al Gore
Regardless of facts that it’s not
And even with emails, the scandal du jour
He’ll not change his mind by a jot
The icebergs are melting, the bears in decline
The seas are all rising a lot
And even if proven the bears are all fine
He’d not change his mind by a jot
The air is polluted with carbon you know
It’s hard to know just what we’ve got
But even if proven the air’s fresh as snow
He’d not change his mind by a jot
He’ll not change positions, he's clearly on hold
He says that it’s gonna get hot
And even if proven we’re gonna get cold
He’d not change his mind by a jot
For climate’s the answer to money for Al
He sees it as dough for the pot
The climate change scam is for him a cash cow
So he’ll not change his mind by a jot



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 21, 2009 12:34 PM | QuickLink: Permalink
Climate Crack: Don't Put This In Your Pipe and Smoke It

TEOTWAWKI.jpg

It's Tar baby time here at the end of the world! Everyone who's into it will have their say about the CRU Climate Change Scandal, but if you're wise you'll just put out the lawn chairs, open a cold one, sit back and watch the passing parade.

In other words, don't be as stupid as I was and actually download and start to look through the files and emails. It's like smoking crack, or perhaps like smoking crack would be if I ever smoked crack.

Continued...

Posted by Vanderleun Nov 21, 2009 4:56 AM | Comments (19)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Goodbye Forever Townhall.com You Ugly Piece of Shit Web Page
Townhall: "Where Your Opinion Counts" and Ugly is Our Most Important Product

Hey, if the "better" ideas of the right mean something and are to communicate something, the first thing that needs to be done is the carpet bombing to a wet spot on the tarmac of "Townhall.com." Check this crapulous example of graphic sludge, popovers, popunders, animations, blink tags and other web page bullshit gone wild @ Michelle Malkin : When Big Labor Bullies and Volunteers Collide - Townhall.com

Who is responsible for this dog's dinner of stinking slush? Uncle Jethro? Baby Huey? The last six art directors fired from Porn.com? Does it matter? Nope. Not at all. Trying to read something on Townhall is like getting hit in the face with oozing semi-liquid spam every second. That's it for me. I'm over that site forever. Yes, and its crappy spamacious email alerts as well.

If I want to be sick I can just read NewYorkTimes.com. At least they know how to lay out an idea so it has clarity and impact. At least the New York Times doesn't tell you it has contempt for you going in.



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 20, 2009 9:09 AM | Comments (29)  | QuickLink: Permalink

Belmont Club サ The PACmen

There comes a moment in rebellion when those who resist power realize they need some power themselves; just as those who desire peace must sometimes take up the sword.


Biden's Motorcade Involved In (Another) Crash

Biden has now killed or wounded four times the number of individuals that Dick Cheney hurt in his shotgun mishap.

In related news, The Daily Show, Late Night with David Letterman, Dana Milbank, Andrew Sullivan, Drink Progress, TPM Bloatwire, 528.com and TFatt were busy writing material mocking Sarah Palin.



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 20, 2009 6:34 AM | QuickLink: Permalink
Life Notes: Let It Bleed

letitbleedcover.jpg

We all need someone we can bleed on,
And if you want it, baby, well you can bleed on me.
We all need someone we can bleed on,
And if you want it, why dont you bleed on me

-- Stones, Let It Bleed

I'm the co-author of the new book, Let It Bleed: The Rolling Stones, Altamont, and the End of the Sixties by Ethan A. Russell. The lead author and photographer is my old and dear friend, Ethan Russell. His site is Ethan Russell Photographs and if you like The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Who, and a host of other musicians, take a look.

Continued...

Posted by Vanderleun Nov 18, 2009 4:30 PM | Comments (22)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Something Wonderful: "Why Does the Universe Look the Way It Does?"

"Every time you put milk into your coffee and watch it mix and realize that you can't unmix that milk from your coffee, you are learning something profound about the Big Bang, about conditions in the very, very early universe. This is just a giant clue that the real universe has given to us to how the fundamental laws of physics work. We don't yet know how to put that clue to work. We don't know the answer to the who done it, who is the guilty party, why the universe is like that."

Continued...

Posted by Vanderleun Nov 15, 2009 5:10 PM | Comments (25)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Mao's Jacket Fits Oba-Mao

maojacket.jpg

It probably works like this. Every morning when Obama rises he takes a deep and refreshing hot coffee high-colonic. During this meditative phase of his day he thinks,

"Let's see... how can I show my contempt for America in a manner not previously thought possible? Last week I was giving the American flag my trademarked "crotch salute."** A day or so ago I was bending over for the Emperor of Japan. Humm, what's left? I know, I'll put on the biggest mass murderer of the 20th century's signature jacket for my photo-op. And some lip gloss! And pantyhose! Fuck yeah! [Fist pump]"

Don't think so? Then, as Bird Dog notes, "figure out these photos of the O in a Mao jacket from today or yesterday.

Good grief. Never thought I'd see the day that an American Pres would put on a Mao jacket. It sends a peculiar message. I would wear a tutu before I'd put on one of those - except maybe for Halloween. -- Life imitates satire - Maggie's Farm

**Signature Crotch Salute as the Flag passes:

ObamaCrotchSalute2.jpg



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 14, 2009 1:56 PM | Comments (32)  | QuickLink: Permalink
If a US President Had Just Done This in January 1942 It Would Have Saved Everyone a Lot of Trouble

4101862243_8c38684258_o.jpg
U.S. President Barack Obama bows as he is greeted by Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko as he arrives at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009.

You know, he is getting better at this sort of thing. Practice makes perfect. This one has to go straight into the Obama Scrapbook section, "My Greatest Achievements."

While a normal, well-brought-up American knows that free men do not bow to monarchs, it is interesting to read Miss Manners on the subject of bowing to foreign monarchs, not that manners is what we expect to see in this case.

Continued...

Posted by Vanderleun Nov 14, 2009 12:29 AM | Comments (37)  | QuickLink: Permalink
You've Got Questions? We've Got Answers! The ObamaTime To-Do List

zombie-survival-guide.jpg

In the AMERICAN DIGEST comments on "Afghanistan: The Failure to Plan Is "The Plan"" reader BGR asks:

"What can we do to stop him? What can I do to fight the hordes of people who agree with Obama? Whatever are we to do?

I cannot take much more jawboning. We all know the score. What good do we do by talking to one another night after night, day after day, lamenting the truth that we see?

The invaders are taking over and we are just chewing the fat?"

And... a few comments later... Askmom answers:

Continued...

Posted by Vanderleun Nov 12, 2009 9:21 PM | Comments (22)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Afghanistan: The Failure to Plan Is "The Plan"

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Now you swear and kick and beg us
That you're not a gamblin' man.
Then you find you're back in Vegas
With a handle in your hand.
Your black cards can make you money,
So you hide them when you're able.
In the land of milk and honey
You must put them on the table.

You go back Jack do it again,
(Wheel turnin' 'round and 'round)
You go back Jack do it again....

-- Steely Dan

From where I sit I see many people underestimating President Obama because they cannot get their heads around who and what this man actually is and what he portends. Instead, historical or metaphoric analysis prevails making Obama like “Lincoln” or “Stalin,” like an "angel" or a "devil." Regardless of the comparisons evoked they all fail because Obama is none of these. He is "None of the above." He is not "That what came before." He is all of "What shall come after."

Politically and personally, Obama is a genetic sport, a Chimera; a now not-so-mythical being composed of multiple parts but functioning a a whole. Neither America nor the world has seen his like before. Attempts to analyze him that appeal to history fail because there is no historical precedent. That was, you will recall, part of his mystic allure. As a result many ascribe motives to the president that cannot be accurate; motives that run counter to the blunt evidence of the senses, to the maxim: “Watch what he does, not what he says.”

Continued...

Posted by Vanderleun Nov 12, 2009 12:43 PM | Comments (47)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Something Wonderful: "So You Want to Boycott Israel?"

A handy guide on divestment from the evil Jewish State, with some key tips and points you won't find anywhere else!

HT The invaluable Helene Bidwell



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 10, 2009 10:10 PM | Comments (2)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Powerpoint on Muslims Hassan

The slides are at Hasan on Islam - washingtonpost.com

Hasan's presentation on Muslims in the military


Fort Hood suspect warned of threats within the ranks - washingtonpost.com

The Army psychiatrist believed to have killed 13 people at Fort Hood warned a roomful of senior Army physicians a year and a half ago that to avoid "adverse events," the military should allow Muslim soldiers to be released as conscientious objectors instead of fighting in wars against other Muslims.



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 10, 2009 2:09 PM | QuickLink: Permalink
10 Items @ Kaching!

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Things seen that cannot be unseen from around the web. Currently showing, among others,

Continued...

Posted by Vanderleun Nov 9, 2009 12:27 PM | Comments (2)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Government Department of Stupid Questions

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Posted by Vanderleun Nov 8, 2009 5:01 PM | QuickLink: Permalink
Quote of the Day, Week, Month, Year, and this Low and Dishonest Decade

"Maybe one of these days people will realize that hating one’s country, whether for religious reasons or otherwise, is more than adding another colour thread to society’s rich tapestry but wicked, warped, and very, very dangerous." -- Traitors, Eh? | ninme

And today, coming in as a close second, we have:

"Never before in our history has the vast majority of our political leaders so despised the people and institutions of the United States." -- Wheat & Weeds: Why Do They Hate Us? II



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 8, 2009 12:30 AM | Comments (5)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Tweet of the Week: Treacher's

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by Jim Treacher (JTlol) on Twitter



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 7, 2009 4:20 PM | Comments (2)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Treason Punishable by Death

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Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

Jerry Pournelle looks at the traitor who killed 13 soldiers at Fort Hood:

I would presume that arming oneself and shooting 43 US soldiers is (1) levying war against the United States, and (2) an overt act, and that Major Hassan should be charged with treason.
Political correctness was the cause of the Fort Hood Massacre, and we ought not forget that. The fact that someone could go through -- at government expense -- an undergraduate education with ROTC, then medical school at a US military institution, and remain a traitor to the United States is a significant warning. A very significant warning that the idea of Political Correctness has consequences we can't afford. Corruption of the Legions is one danger the Republic cannot endure.
The Legions remain faithful; but for how long when their officers are no longer faithful? Hassan had been through ROTC and a US armed forces medical school as a commissioned officer. Why was his failure of loyalty to the armed forces not detected earlier? But of course he was a Muslim, and it would not be politically correct to wash someone out of an armed forces medical school for lack of loyalty to the armed forces of these United States.
We sow the wind. We have reaped one whirlwind.
The politically correct spin is coming like a tidal wave. He is a crazy guy who happens to be a Muslim. All of that misses the point: he was disloyal to the United States, and said so openly and many times; yet he remained a commissioned officer of the United States. That is the point that is being overlooked. Whether the disloyalty is due to a psychotic episode or some other cause is not important.



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 6, 2009 11:41 PM | Comments (27)  | QuickLink: Permalink
"America is not at war...

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... The Marine Corps is at war. America is at the mall."

Which is where, if history is any guide, an unknown number of Americans will die on a day as yet to be determined.



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 6, 2009 10:20 PM | Comments (4)  | QuickLink: Permalink
The Hero of Fort Hood

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Kimberly Munley, the police officer who shot the Fort Hood gunman, with the country singer Dierks Bentley.

"Prayers and thanks flooded the apparent Twitter feed of Sgt. Kimberly Munley, the civilian police officer hailed as a hero for stopping the shooting rampage at Fort Hood.

"One admirer sent a “bear hug.” She “is one outstanding brave cop!” another wrote. And from a third: “thank you for stopping that mad man.”

"The Twitter feed includes what appears to be a photo of Sgt. Munley. Sgt. Munley, 34 years old, was credited by Army officials with firing the bullets that brought down Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who allegedly opened fire in the base’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center on Thursday afternoon.

"Survivors described the scene as chaotic: the lone gunman spraying bullets in all directions, unarmed soldiers falling, screaming, scrambling to respond. Many soldiers ripped off their uniforms to use as tourniquets; others ignored their own injuries to help those more gravely wounded.

"Lt. Gen. Bob Cone, the top commander at Fort Hood, said Friday that Sgt. Munley and her partner responded within three minutes of reported gunfire. Gen. Cone said Sgt. Munley shot the gunman four times despite being shot herself. “It was an amazing and an aggressive performance by this police officer,” he said.

-- Police Sgt. Kimberly Munley Hailed as Hero After Fort Hood Shooting - Dispatch - WSJ

How it went down:

Kimberly Munley, a 35-year-old police officer, happened to be nearby, waiting for her squad car to get a tune-up, when she heard the commotion. She raced to the scene, according to her boss, Chuck Medley, director of emergency services on base.

As she rounded a corner, she saw Maj. Hasan chasing a wounded soldier through an open courtyard. He looked as though he was trying to "finish off" the wounded soldier, Mr. Medley said.

"He looked extremely focused," said Francisco De La Serna, a 23-year-old medic who had fled the building and was watching the same scene unfold from a hiding spot across the street.

Ms. Munley's first shot missed Maj. Hasan. He spun to face her and began charging, Mr. Medley said.

The time was 1:27 p.m., just four minutes after the initial 911 call.

Authorities haven't said precisely how many shots were fired during the running gun battle between Maj. Hasan and Ms. Munley. But one of her shots hit Mr. Hasan in the torso, knocking him to the ground. With that, officials say, she quite likely prevented more injuries or deaths on the base.

Ms. Munley took two bullets to her legs. Both entered her left thigh, ripped through the flesh and lodged in her right thigh. She also received a minor wound to the right wrist. -- Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan Kills 13 in Shooting at Fort Hood Army Base; Suspect in Stable Condition - WSJ.com



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 6, 2009 3:03 PM | Comments (7)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Going Up! The Unstimulating Stimulus Continues to Work Its Magic

Sane people know that unemployment has been above 10% for months,** but there comes a time when it is so bad for so long that not even "the most powerful man on Earth" can keep the number hidden. Drudge doesn't sugar coat it.

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And this handy chart puts the real effect of the "Stimulus" in perspective.

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All of which you can pretty much predict when most of the "jobs created" have been inside a government whose new slogan has to be:

"At General Obama Progressivism is Our Most Important Product"


** The unemployment rate has hit double digits for the first time since 1983 -- and is likely to go higher. The 10.2 percent jobless rate for October shows how weak the economy remains even though it is growing. The rising jobless rate could threaten the recovery if it saps consumers' confidence and makes them more cautious about spending as the holiday season approaches. The October unemployment rate -- reflecting nearly 16 million jobless people -- jumped from 9.8 percent in September, the Labor Department said Friday. The job losses occurred across most industries, from manufacturing and construction to retail and financial. --Jobless rate tops 10 pct. for first time since '83 - Yahoo! Finance



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 6, 2009 2:23 PM | Comments (4)  | QuickLink: Permalink
First Picture of Fort Hood Shooter (UPDATED)

iOwnTheWorld states This is Allegedly the Shooter

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More, many more, to come.

UPDATE:

EDUCATION? Vitals - Doctor Nidal M Hasan, MD profile

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UPDATE 2: Could be a different doctor with the same name. Developing.



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 5, 2009 4:10 PM | Comments (4)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Food Hood Twitter

Fox reporter states but does not name shooter soldier ( HASSAN MALIK) is from Virginia and a "convert" to Islam.less than a minute ago from web

Fox Smith asks if unnamed soldier (HASSAN MALIK.) spoke of being upset about going to Iraq. A major. Hutchinson confirms.3 minutes ago from web

FOX hesitating to name the name HASSAN MALIK . Hesitates until military confirm.5 minutes ago from web,

@BreakingNews BULLETIN -- REPORT: FORT HOOD SHOOTER NAMED AS HASSAN MALIK.6 minutes ago from web in reply to BreakingNews

Concur @IMAO_ FYI If you hear there's a mass shooting and your 1st reaction is a quip about Obama, you need to reassess your priorities.11 minutes ago from web
"2007 Fort Dix attack plot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia" http://j.mp/3Cm0iB16 minutes ago from BigTweet

STATUS QUESTION; What is the state of alert at other US military bases in US? #forthood20 minutes ago from web

Rumor Officer Major Arabic sounding name. Fox Austin Live Stream local to Ft Hood back up http://j.mp/2wbThQ21 minutes ago from BigTweet

Agree. Well done. @markknoller @TheAnchoress he was in a somber mood in talking about a disturbing incident.26 minutes ago from web

@TheAnchoress Nope. ODS. Statement was pitched correctly and delivered well.28 minutes ago from web in reply to TheAnchoress

Soldier used two handguns at Fort Hood.30 minutes ago from web

Obama statement has perfect pitch. Said the right things in the right order. 5 stars.31 minutes ago from web

Dead still at 12. Wounded rises to 31.36 minutes ago from web

MSNBC running a five to 10 minutes lag behind FOX on reporting.38 minutes ago from web

FBI to conduct background checks on all 3 soldiers. #forthood43 minutes ago from web
One civilian police officer killed.43 minutes ago from web

All shooting contained to Processing Center.about 1 hour ago from web
Shooter Killed was a soldier. He has been killed. 2 other soldiers now in custody as "suspects"about 1 hour ago from web

12 Dead 31 Wounded Official Ft Hoodabout 1 hour ago from web

Fox Ft Hood Press Live Stream now



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 5, 2009 2:39 PM | QuickLink: Permalink
The Enduring Greatness of Walmart

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No wonder the left hates Walmart. The company feeds more people more for less than any socialist system you can imagine today.

"As shoppers evaluate the impact of tight budgets on holiday meal planning, beginning today Walmart will feature select 12-pound turkeys for less than $5, helping families serve a complete Thanksgiving meal for eight this year as low as $20.*

“We’re proving that we’re committed to helping moms afford the holidays in these tough economic times,” said Jack Sinclair, executive vice president, groceries, Walmart. “That’s why we’re offering incredible pricing on the turkey and all the fixings.”

A turkey dinner for eight as low as $20
According to a survey by the American Farm Bureau Federation, last year’s average cost of a turkey was roughly $1.19 per pound. Beginning today, select Grade A turkeys are available for 40 cents per pound at Walmart.* These gobblers are part of Walmart’s $20 Thanksgiving menu guaranteeing family favorites will be on the dinner table this holiday season. Walmart’s $20 Thanksgiving feast includes:

* One 12-pound Grade A turkey*
* Three 11 to 15.5-ounce cans Green Giant vegetables
* Two 14-ounce cans Ocean Spray cranberry sauce
* Three 6-ounce boxes of Stove Top stuffing
* One 5-pound bag of red potatoes
* One 12-count package of Sara Lee dinner rolls
* One 22-ounce pumpkin roll cake
-- Walmartstores.com:



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 5, 2009 12:30 PM | Comments (13)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Something Wonderful: Primordial Soup With Julia Child

Like a fine wine, Julia's personality and just continues to improve with age. (The science not so much)

"Today I've turned my kitchen into a bio-chemical laboratory." Julia Child cooks up a batch of primordial soup and explains how these simple ingredients produce amino acids - the building blocks of life. (via airandspace)



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 4, 2009 2:52 PM | Comments (4)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Headlines from the Year 2020
  • Man denied access to heart surgeon for failing to report lack of exercise on last year’s federal health return
  • Pennsylvania court faces hate-crime quandary: Muslim immigrant murdered gay-rights activist who opposed construction of mosque
  • Meat Czar oversees dismantling of U.S. beef industry; barns and pens converted into rest homes for elderly cows, bulls, and the transbovined
  • Rare July snowstorm disrupts track-and-field events at Chicago Olympics; police round up global-warming deniers
  • Community in northern Minnesota refuses to accept Maoist history textbook; Marine battalion sent in to “restore tolerance”
  • Harvard’s entire graduating class of MBAs accepts job offers in China; “it’s Bush’s fault for making America such a heartless place to live” declares provost
  • Divorce rate reaches 85%; Dept. of Labor sets up work camps to handle flood of indebted ex-husbands
  • Supreme Court declares First Amendment unconstitutional because “it was formulated and enacted without the participation of a single woman, African-American, Hispanic, or Muslim” and therefore “violates the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment”

-- via AWOL Civilization where there are many, many more.



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 4, 2009 8:02 AM | Comments (1)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Why is this night different from other nights?

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Because "It's not about me." Gibbs: Obama 'not watching returns' (via POLITICO 44)



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 3, 2009 7:30 PM | Comments (5)  | QuickLink: Permalink
Top Ten Tumbr Items Now



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 2, 2009 4:52 PM | QuickLink: Permalink
Obamaweather: The Scary Thing is He Fits Right into Seattle

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Long ago the iconization of Obama jumped into the shark. What's coming out now is pure sharkshit: Check out What is the weather and what to wear in Seattle? and plug in your own city. Obama.... for such a real Nowhere Man he's everywhere.



Posted by Vanderleun Nov 2, 2009 2:02 PM | Comments (17)  | QuickLink: Permalink
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