May 24, 2020
That Does It
I've gotta re-enlist in the Coast Guard now.
Hat Tip...Scott Lowther
It looks like the Royal Marines have figured out a technological replacement with the Jacob's Ladder and Grappling Hooks.
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May 23, 2020
A Few Whitmerisms
more...
Tenditious political dreadfulness exists below the fold, so here is something completely not dreadful from Kaitan.
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May 21, 2020
Absolute Genius!
So, as mentioned in the last post, I got the face mask that I'd ordered 8 weeks ago. It was oh the porch as I left so I opened it and after a quick lookover donned it and went to work. It was great, it didn't fog my glasses up nearly as bad. Yesterday, I sat down and went through the process of disassembling and cleaning the now salt encrusted face covering and changing the filters.
Those filters...which cover the interior of entire mask except for two screen covered breathing holes.
Those are supposed to be one way breathing valves. They are not.
I've now cut down a regular medical face mask and put inside the other filter, much like I did with the coffee filters and my plague-doctor mask. This results in much more fogging of the glasses but does not result in the mask being a completely pointless inconvenience.
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May 20, 2020
The Journey of Discovery Never Ends
I've learned two things this week.
First, after 50 years on this earth, I belatedly discovered that if you cook instant ramen in a rice cooker and just let it cycle as if it were rice, it comes out absolutely perfect. Why did I never try this before?
Second, my reusable mask finally arrived. Alas, I discovered that sneezing while wearing it at work it is a transcendentally unpleasant experience.
Picture is unrelated to any of these discoveries, but does get Cacodaemon-girl off the top post.
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May 18, 2020
Meanwhile: Deep Within the Code of Doom Eternal...
This was reported on over at Ambient Irony as basically malware, and it is being flagged as such by anti-virus programs.
Doom Eternal comes with a kernel level anti-cheat program.
Ars Technica seems quite sanguine about the situation however, and says that this is vastly less terrifying than the rootkit anti-cheat/DRM programs put in other games.
In other news, malaria is less scary than smallpox.
Now I don't know jack about coding and to me a kernal is an individual corn seed or a non-naval officer rank right under Brigadier General.
So....Those of you in IT, please opine.
Is this actually as bad as it looks?
[Topical Illustration Goes Here]
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共匪 Or Why One Should Not Discuss Wild Pig Infestations in You Tube Comments
Look at that post title.
The blog is still here, because Me.Nu is not Alphabet affiliated.
Allow me to explain.
共匪 is a Chinese character compound that some of you will recognize as "wild boar" which is its Japanese meaning.
( Update: and by some of you, I mean morons like me. See comments)
"Rats! Now no one will know about my prize-winning rodeo pig!"
You see in Chinese, 共匪 is the pictograph of a slang term that means "Communist Bandit"*.
The paper says comments will be deleted within 15 seconds and having tried this myself, I note that it will indeed happen within 12 and 20 seconds of the comment being posted. That's some pretty impressive bot work.
Anyway, it's just another example of YouTube enthusiastically doing censorship for the disease spreading, organ jacking, genocidal, slavers, in the CCP.**
One more thing:
共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪
共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪
共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪
共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪
共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪
共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪
* Probably 'cause commies are pigs.
** When you've got a left wing rag like the Independent calling out your communist atrocities you've jumped the shark with your murderous shenanigans.
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Ouch
Banality lurks below the fold. As compensation here is some cheesecake.
Chocolate cheesecake, two fancy coffees and best debutante, Sena Kashiwazaki are drawn by Cait, who can be supported on Patreon.
more...
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May 16, 2020
Watch the SKIES!
A few weeks ago we noted that the newly discovered Comet Atlas was looking to be a spectacular sight.
Well....it went and disintegrated.
Now one of the Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes has come to bring us the news that the committee of ominous sky omens has successfully requisitioned a replacement from the comet dispensary.
Well.
OK then.
Comet Swan should be visible in the northeast at dawn in the next week or so. It will be viewable with binoculars and possibly to the naked eye just above the horizon to the northeast around dawn between now and early June. Peak brightness is expected in the morning of the 21st..
Here's what it looked like via telescope on April 20th. This is a compressed one hour exposure taken by Terry Lovejoy.
Note that while Swan will be barely visible, if you've got a good telescope, and can escape the lockdown, there are 4 comets flitting about right now.
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More On The Chinese and Their...(Checks Rolodex of Mayhem)...Nuclear Arsenal
So, the other day, it was reported that Hu Xijin, the head editor of China's Global Times news outfit published an op-ed calling for a vast expansion of China's nuclear arsenal. He has since clarified this position with two follow up opinion pieces...and by clarified I mean doubled down.
There are a couple of things to keep in mind here. The Global Times is in a weird place in the state approved news ecosystem. They are a subsiudiary of the official CCP mouthpiece the People's Daily and the staff are all party members in good standing, yet they seem to veer from the party line frequently as The Economist notes regarding their coverage of the situation with the Uighurs in Xianxing:.
Even as Chinese spokesmen denied the (Uighur)] camps’ existence, the Global Times, in its English-language edition, acknowledged "counter-terrorism education†among Xinjiang residents and work to "rectify†the thinking of imprisoned extremists. Whether the way Xinjiang is run violates human rights "must be judged by whether its results safeguard the interests of the majority in the regionâ€, said the Global Times in August. Its editor, Hu Xijin, tweeted that Xinjiang had been saved from becoming "another Chechnya, Syria or Libyaâ€.
Thus it seems they publish the actual party line as opposed to the official party line and given their ownership and the party memberships of everyone on staff, it can be safely assumed that the Editor in Chief does not take a dump without it being approved in triplicate by the Politburo. (Which probably explains his blue check-mark).
China does this with riots. It's a police state, so if, say, Japanese businesses were to get burned down by an angry mob and the government says that it can't control its people's anger at the Japanese, well then the Chinese government is sending a message.
And that's probably what's going on here.
In recent week's there's been concern expressed about China's nuclear ambitions and the possibility they are conducting low level nuclear tests. China's nuclear stockpile is unknown but western intel agencies put it at 290 warheads of various sizes. That's less than France and anomalously low for a nation that, from its point of view, has to deter nuclear rivals and "frenimies" U.S., Russia, and India....and nominal allies, Pakistan and North Korea also border China, adding to their sense of serenity.
How that rather small number is arrived at is unclear, but the western intel services seem to have a history of dismissing and underestimating China until recently as a matter of policy, and given the secrecy surrounding the program, and the accuracy our intelligence services have demonstrated over the last 30 years, some caution is, therefore, advisable.
Speaking of which, about a year ago the D.I.A. reported that it expected China to double its arsenal in the next few years.
Both the U.S. and Russia have invited China into the ongoing arms control talks between the two countries, but China has demurred, Indeed China has little to gain by tipping its hand and opening itself up to inspection, and less to gain if it's acting in bad faith. In fact, China is hypothesized by some to be pursuing a strategy of "Nuclear Thoughtlessness" which, frankly, are two words that ought not to be merged into a compound.
But about that 290 warhead number: China has 6 operational SSBNs with two more on the way. Each carries 12 ballistic missiles. that's 72, and soon to be 96 missiles. The follow on class is reported to have 24 missile tubes but we won't count them for now. 96 missiles is over a third of all China's arsenal. But wait.These missiles are known from observations of China's missile tests to be capable of carrying at least three warheads. Which....even using my simple liberal arts math (96 x 3 ) gives us 288 warheads out of an estimated 290, leaving two warheads to be shared amongst all the bombers and ICBMs and there are at least 20 of the DF-41 -ICBM's
For example, Fish said it is not known if each Second Artillery ICBM unit operates with six or twelve launchers, and it is likely that all units include one "reload" missile for each launcher."So it is possible that 12 to 24 DF-41 missiles would be included in a unit," he said, noting that if the DF-41 can carry up to 10 warheads, each unit may deploy with between 120 to 240 warheads.
This wild-mass guessing does not take into account bombers or any tactical nuclear weapons at all.. Note too that the US in the mid 1960s was fielding the UGM-73 Poseidon missile, which is smaller than China's JL-2/3 and carried up to 14 MIRVed warheads. This is not to say that is putting that many warheads on their SLBMs or that they are likely to, (Poseidon was to be launched from close to the U.S.S.R. and could trade range for a bigger payload ). However, we could do that 50 years ago and so it is probably best to assume that 1-3 warheads per missile is a very conservative estimate.
Thus, whatever China's stockpile is now, 290 warheads does not even fill all of the missiles we know it has.
The upshot of all this is that China is very likely either in possession of a much larger nuclear force than is generally credited to it or is rapidly building up to that goal.
When this virus situation resolves itself, I suggest everyone keep those beans and rice stocked up.
To help you, gentle reader, visualize the implications of all this, here's some cool Chinese nuclear test footage.
There's an extensive disquisition on the history, policy and general inscrutability of the Chinese nuclear forces here.
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Endorsed!
So...where's the beef?
well, it turns out that due to current regulations, in the U.S.A. right now, you cannot sell meat to a restaurant unless you have...
1: at least one USDA inspector in your facility
2: said USDA inspector must have their own office and private bathroom.
This eliminates most small farmers and mandates adding middlemen.
It's one of those regulations that specifically favors larger businesses with money to spare, thus kneecapping competition to the big firms. USDA inspectors ought to still drive around to the farms to provide surprise inspections, but they ought to be able to use a laptop and the farmers loo.
Rand Paul has a solution...
Via Pete's Political Pleroma Page, which is no longer a blank white screen.
He may be known to some of you as Author fromアニ・ノート and also has channels dedicated to Anime, Aviation, Gunnuttery, Banality, and Magic Smoke Generation.
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Meanwhile....In the Dystopian Hellscape of a Less Liberty Minded Country
A walk through Shibuya under covid-19 guidelines. Japan, hardly a libertarian bastion, has nevertheless instigated largely voluntary measures and not engaged in mandatory closures except for a very few specific instances. Nevertheless, a majority of businesses are shut down voluntarily, and mask usage is is near universal.
For those who suggest that I'm being philosophically inconsistent, note that three weeks ago, while posting skepticism about the wisdom of mass cheek to jowl gatherings without masks, I suggested that while the shutdown was advisable, many of the lockdowns were ridiculously heavy handed and that we should probably start relaxing things in all but the hardest hit areas after about two weeks.
Note: Because we live in the current year, it is necessary (for reasons of Brobdingnagian societal stupidity) to note that, despite complaints in his comments, the thumbnail is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the lockdown and not an endorsement of slavery.
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May 15, 2020
Another Important PSA: Physical This Time
Good grief! Several of these Vector SP1s have one or both of their bolt lugs shorn off, making them simple blowback pistols and not locked breech. As the gun is chambered for 9mm Luger and not 9mm Kurtz or 9mm Makarov, that's bad. It's an easy fix if you haven't already been killed or injured by it.
Also, Atlantic Fireams can get bent.
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Important PSA
Watch on Bitchute.
It is reported that spambots are hacking YouTube accounts via the comments section by asking "Wanna be friends?". Hambly, with permission, pasted the original Evanz111 video on the end of his which goes into depth on the matter.
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May 14, 2020
I HAVE ARRIVED!
As I type this, I'm being spammed by Anonymous!
I don't know why I'm relevant, or who I've pissed off, but I obviously have done something of consequence.
It's time to break out the dancing girls!
Yeah, we're still on a budget here, but soon!
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May 13, 2020
I'll Just Leave This Here
A 33 minute video from The Epoch Times on China's methods and apparent goals. Epoch Times is a NYC based newspaper affiliated with the Falun Gong, a religious group that is being mercilessly oppressed by the Chinese government. They've tended to be pretty good with regards to their China reporting, frequently ahead of the curve regarding U.S. politics and way out in crazy land on those occasions they discuss U.F.O.s.
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May 12, 2020
The Security Hazards of the Faculty Lounge Kool Aid
We're seeing a disturbing number of stories like this and this, involving college professors getting arrested for passing secrets to China. As disturbing as this is, it's good that this sort of thing is being cracked down upon now.
It certainly is nothing new.
Many years ago (right after Tiananmen) during my first attempt at college, I was the VP of the ODU International Students Association and assisted with exchange student issues.I got a call to pick up an exchange student from China...not the ROC the PRC. Now exchange students from China had been stopped a week earlier so this was...odd. I asked about this and was admonished for doing so. I picked the girl up from the airport and she was a woman who was 40 years old if she was a day. All the way back from the airports to the dorm she kept talking about how much she wanted to get in touch with the Chinese students who were engaged in campus protests against the CCP. I explained this to the head of international services and she yelled at me for being paranoid. Giving no fucks, I then told the head of the Chinese protests and we both agreed that she was whatever the Chinese Stassi is. I then got admonished and called names for spreading rumors about this poor girl who I only then learned was supposed to be 20. I pointed out that this was clearly not the case and got a talking to that I don't entirely remember but involved women's ages and judging them or something.
I didn't actually get removed as VP until I reported the Chinese student who was trying to get me to get him access to the library at NASA Langley. I put him in touch with the outreach office there but he then wanted me to fill out his paperwork as if he was Taiwanese because PRC students were banned from "the good stuff". I told the office about this and they lamented the cold war mentality that discriminated against Chinese students. This eventually escalated and the student obviously wanted to get access to classified stuff. The office would not call the authorities and forbade anyone from doing so so I did.
In contrast to people like the Rosenbergs during the cold war, I don't think a lot of these people are actually traitorous in intent. I think they are naive, and provincial in a peculiarly cosmopolitan way. That is, they live, work, and make friends in a transnational borderless bubble and being in academia are rightly, if excessively, supportive of the free flow of information so they can't conceive that any infringement on that is justified or that foreign academics (who they have far more in common with than their fellow citizens outside the faculty lounge) could be a threat. (Obviously this doesn't extend to views outside their narrow norms.) They view government interference in THEIR affairs much like a libertarian rancher views the introduction of lobo wolves into forests adjoining his herd. They don't see it as legitimate. The difference between having ravenous predators unleashed upon one's herd and trying to protect military secrets is lost upon them.
Of course there are some who are just on the take, or think China's policies are peachy keen and lament that we are not adopting them to the extent they'd like, but this is probably far outweighed by naive decadence and provincialism.
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Annoyances
After what started out as a great day (getting off early) I got home, took a shower, laid down, and suddenly woke up in agony 2 hours later.
I moped around the house a few hours stretching and hoping that it could be "worked out" but as the afternoon came and became evening I decided to go to the hospital and get an MRI. I was genuinely afraid that I'd done something very bad to my shoulder.
The Hospital (actually an Emergency Room and minihospital satellite facility to one of the larger area hospitals) was surreal. It was almost empty (or seemed to be) additional rooms are set up and patients are strictly isolated from one another, no one is moved from one room to the other until the hall is clear of patients, meaning that there can only be one patient at a time in any one hall. I was in a temporary, very small, room without a bed. This makes a non life threatening visit to the ER take even longer than it ordinarily would. This certainly qualifies as a second annoyance.
As it happens, I have a torn rotator cuff. I think "torn" is probably too dramatic as I'm slated to return to work Saturday. It hurts like a houndette at certain angles and is merely a dull pain at others. This was, of course, the first annoyance of the day, though due to my poor reporting skills is only listed second. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused you, gentle reader. I was prescribed 4 days off and muscle relaxants which leads to the third of the days annoyances.
You see, the drugstore is now under plague hours, which ended two hours before I got there to pick up my prescription. This leaves me with unrelaxed muscles and a generally sour demeanor as I type this.
A few minutes ago I drove to work to physically turn in my paperwork from the hospital and see if there was any other paperwork I needed to fill out. There likely will be but as the supervisor in charge of that will not be in until much later, so I'll have to endure the annoyance of having that hang over my head until I can get back.
If the arm is not ready for heavy lifting by Saturday, then I have to see an orthopedist and contemplate surgery, but that is, as of now, a theoretical annoyance that I hope to avoid all together.
Finally, here is a raccoon eating someone's peanut butter, which must be quite annoying.
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May 10, 2020
Oh
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Dispatches From the Shipping Industry
I'm frequently working more overtime than straight time. Our building has been consistently breaking its all time record for volume. On a personal note, I'm handling over 10,000 parcels a day. This is problematic due to the fact that both my plantar facitis and kidney stones have been acting up in a big way, though I have not called out since the 10th of April.
With higher than Christmas volume and what was initially March level staffing, work has been rather hectic. Eventually the company became convinced that this was a long term issue and began hiring new people about a week ago. 12 people have been hired for our building over the last two weeks of which four lasted one full day and three are still with us. This has not caught us up from the attrition of those who quit due to the workload.
We have the worst economy since the great depression and jobs starting at ~$16.00 with annual pay increases, full medical coverage, actual sick leave (unlike some places) and opportunities for advancement can't get filled because people come in and are horrified by physical labor...or they cant past the drug test or background check.
What is wrong with these kids today?
What is that? It's a CLOUD! DAMN YOU STUPID CLOUD GET OUT OF MY SKY WITH YOU'RE SMUG WHISPY CUMULUS FACE!!
Anyway, I got the grass cut. I have to be to work in 6 hours so I should probably eat or go to bed or something.
Blogging may remain spartan for a bit.
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May 07, 2020
About Those "Murder Hornets"
You, gentle reader, have heard about the "Murder Hornets". They are very large hornets that carry a huge amount of venom and will often swarm like killer bees or yellow-jackets if provoked. Like other examples of new and exciting biodiversity we've been blessed with this year, these plucky insects hail mainly from the Middle Kingdom. Note that in addition to being dangerous to people, they feed upon, amongst other things, European Honey Bees.
Now one of the Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science-Babes takes a moment from her hornet hunting to re-assure us that while these bugs are dangerous they're not the end of the world, as well as to bring us this video pointing out that North America is not without some indigenous defense.
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