At work the interminable hoards of boxes overrun our positions with merciless abandon as they clamor for asylum looking innocent and pretending to flee persecution, but they are liars, for the labels tell a different story. Many of these boxes are not innocent at all. They are from Amazon and were sent by Jeff Bezos to steal the Saturdays of every person in the shipping industry; Saturdays which Bezos will hoard to grant himself immortality. This pitiless demigod and his brethren continue to torment us with their cardboard myrmidons, today catching me unawares by putting 67.2 in the parcel's weight field, and despite the clearly printed "lbs." on said lable having the number represent the quantity of kilograms. Our foes, it seems, are Jacobins who have buried my muse beneath a ton of cardboard, which leaves my papers still unfinished with 7 days to go. I have been through worse though.
I think.
Due to a lack of sleep, I became briefly worried about my mental state this morning, but Dunning-Kruger's thesis shows that this concern actually indicates that I'm a genius. My relief is boundless.
Research Papers & Boxes & Boxes & Papers & Research & Boxes & No Sleep For 37 Hours & A Kidney Stone & Boxes & Can't Lift My Arms & So Very Many Boxes
Everything hurts.
No blogging now.
Papers first.
But here is Weiss, with a more pleasant take on the season.
1
Oh holy crepe on a stick, that looks heartbreaking. WWI always seems that way to me, but this'll make it feel real.
I don't know if it'll be in Duckford on the 27th, but I'll be watching for it.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Sat Nov 24 18:04:18 2018 (k1bsf)
2
A friend of mine has been talking this up for a while now. I was, "eh, maybe interesting." But that....that was riveting. It's too bad they couldn't release it in time for V-day, but at least it's only a month off.
Posted by: ubu at Sat Nov 24 23:29:05 2018 (UlsdO)
3
Wait, only those two days? That's weird. You'd think that would make distributing the prints uneconomical. Are the newfangled digital print distribution channels that costless now?
Posted by: Mitch H. at Fri Nov 30 12:40:15 2018 (jwKxK)
I hope that those of you in the States and Territories of the United States have a Happy Thanksgiving holiday and that everyone else has a pleasant day. Remember, that today is not just about the turkey, it's also about perspective. Whatever curve-balls life throws at us there is still much to be thankful for.
We live in an age of wonders. Most of us can reach into our pockets and pull out a device the size of a cigarette pack that will allow us to watch films that haven't haven't been screened in over a century, answer important questions, and communicate with people on other continents via a network that allows us access to nearly the sum of human knowledge.. We have medical capabilities that would have seemed to be sorcery a century ago. Most of us have access to luxuries such as refrigeration and a variety of food that a Chinese or Roman emperor would have envied. We have have largely cast off the odious shackles of racism, at least to the point that we can benefit from the glorious virtues of hybrid vigor and we stand on the cusp of becoming an interplanetary species. Despite the best efforts of censorious jerks, most of us still have the ability to communicate and speak our minds. There are, to be sure threats to all of these wonders and those who would intentionally or not bring them all down. To be sure we are not in "The best of all possible worlds" and there are very real challanges that face us, but we have so very much it is important to take a moment and give thanks for the wonders that we have.
Even though it might sometimes be hard to remember that.
...as it surely was for those who had the misfortune to be present at the Pinedale Shopping Mall 40 years ago.
Mom in Hospital (UPDATED)
Last night, I got a call from my brother (who is visiting our folks) that Mom suffered chest pains and then got a case of the shakes, felt cold and her vision went blurry. None of these things are good.
This morning, the diagnosis was a clot in her lung, which is pretty terrible, however as of now that does not appear to be the case. She's being scheduled for "cathaterization" so it sounds like they are going to do an angioplasty or something.
I'm getting slightly conflicting reports from relatives on-scene (250miles away), but prognosis seems much better, even good as of now.
Blogging will remain light to nonexistent.
UPDATE:
They couldn't find a blockage, or a stroke or anything, which is troubling. More tests results are pending, but for now she is released and is staying in the guest room in their house (as she is forbidden to deal with stairs.) One theory is that she may have just been suffering from exhaustion. Perhaps now she'll listen when we tell her to calm down and not drive herself to hard about Thanksgiving.
Via Moe Lane, the Library of Congress has restored the 1910 Frankenstein, and, since it predates Steamboat Willie, they have made it available for free download.
Hiatus (Bumped)
Between my final (as in no more!) term papers and the holiday rush at work I'm going to be scarce for a bit. As compensation I'll leave you with something that ought to be completely non-controversial.
BEST four armed, one eyed, curvy, red headed, plague doctor!
Quadriri, the indisputable best in her category is by Lansane. (Who you can support here)
Stan Lee 1922-2018 (UPDATED)
95 is a long life by any measure and Stan Lee led a full life to boot, but none of that lessens the sadness at his passing.
His contributions to American comic books are being remembered in many places today but they are perhaps still not fully appreciated by many.
The Comics Code derailed the development of the medium in America and probably knocked it back decades. Stan Lee's reinvention of the superhero genre almost certainly saved the medium in this country.
His legacy is indeed profound, but he was also a gentleman. Back when I was in comics retail, everyone I talked to who knew him considered him to be a singularly fine man.
Finally, there is a cool anecdote from his early years... He became the editor of what became Marvel in 1941(at 19!), but the next year, he took military leave to join the Army during WW2. He served in a Signal Corps unit repairing electronics and as a lineman...he also wrote manuals and training comics, serving alongside Frank Capra and Dr, Seuss.
So today, the last of the Howling Commandoes has left this mortal coil.
Stan Lee gave us our childhoods and dreams to aspire too. He was a man of consequence, without whom the world would be a lesser place. He will be dearly missed.
I suspect the nefarious machinations of the Saga Chamber of Commerce are responsible. This show then is like a county newspaper ...right down to the PSAs...
...except that this bonecrushingly stupid show has an actual plot and is amusing me far more than it has any right to.
Next time I'm in Japan, I'll have to investigate this further. For now, I'm just going to keep watching.
Also: I understand that it's tragic and she's justifiably upset about it, but if you're gonna die young, then Mizuno had the most awesomest death ever for a rock singer! She needs to bask in the win and get over it.
This Seems Consequential
There are reports that elements of the German Special Forces have been charged with plotting to kill a bunch of politicians, and take over the country. This would seem to be a very big and troubling deal.
Two-hundred elite soldiers who formed a covert neo-Nazi faction within Germany's equivalent of the SAS planned to butcher immigrants to the country.
They conspired to unleash chaos on what they code-named Day X when they planned to kill Green Party leader Claudia Roth, foreign minister Heiko Mass and ex-president Joachim Gauck.
English language sources are all U.K. tabloids at the moment and they seem to all be referencing this German Language article.
Wait, what? 200 members of the KSK would equal to almost 20% of its' establishment.
Something does not mesh here...But we are talking about the military where one of its' officers falsely claimed to be a Syrian refugee...
Posted by: cxt217 at Sun Nov 11 23:28:24 2018 (LMsTt)
2
Ok some definite oddities on this one:
-No mention of Merkel in the list they would go after? Going after the head of the country would seem to be a prerequisite of a coup. With her pro-immigrant sympathies, she would be a major impediment to the success of this operation, but they apparently didn't have plans for her but did for a foreign minister and a former President?
-"The warriors had planned Day X for when law and order collapsed - which they believed was "imminentâ€." - Yet nothing about what would cause the collapse of law and order.
-The timing of shutting this down just after the Kristallnacht remembrance, when everybody would naturally have the worst possible interpretation of this, is an... interesting coincidence.
Without the neo-nazi references, I might be tempted to wonder if this wasn't a military unit that had lost faith in it's government to respond to a crisis and making their own, unauthorized, contingency plans. Given that I've held the belief for quite a while that several EU countries (France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, etc.) would be hit by a mass revolt out of the Banileus that they no longer had the capability to suppress, some contingency plans wouldn't, necessarily, be a bad thing.
I'm definitely going to wait to hear more before I pass judgement on this one.
Posted by: StargazerA5 at Mon Nov 12 11:50:09 2018 (Q7Wqc)
3
When I saw headlines about the elite Nazis plotting to kill the leadership, I thought people were celebrating the 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler. True story.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Mon Nov 12 13:18:40 2018 (LZ7Bg)
...the the carnage that broke the soul of the west ended. There was peace.
Yay.
All those who fought in that war are dead, as are most who remember as children seeing everywhere the maimed and blind the shells and gas had produced.
The second, more well known world war that this miserable, pointless conflict gave birth to has likewise seen most of those who remember it firsthand pass on. A dwindling minority know what a real war, against a peer nation is. For all of the courage of the armed forces of the U.S. and our allies, we've been fighting foes that are clever, tenacious, and murderous, but nowhere near our peers.
The conflicts that threaten to visit us, whether our opponents be foreign, domestic or both are nothing like the War on Terror.
If these conflicts come to pass, they will find us on equal terms or starting at a disadvantage. This is an experience that few today can conceive of...which makes the actual war more likely as there is neither the institutional nor cultural reference for what a conflict between equals entails. We encounter no large groups of people with their eyes boiled out by Lewisite...
...or their limbs blown off by explosions. Even a later generation, with Keloids inflicted by a flash brighter than the sun has passed on, with their most poingniant testimonials having faded over time.
So there is, all around, much bravado born in the special courage that comes from ignorance.
Today is the 100th anniversary of an armistice that ended a terrible war. We would do well to remember not the victory parades, but why people had them and what they were celebrating the end of.
War is a dreadful thing.
Of course Auschwitz and Dachau stand in mute testimony to the fact that war is, sometimes, VERY necessary. But we should look honestly at how perfectly dreadful a war between peers is, lest we step into the breach unnecessarily as the west did 104 years ago.
Look. I'm All for "Owning the Libs"...
But when an 85 year old woman trips, falls and breaks a bunch of ribs, one does not mock her exercise routine or make jokes about her injuries or otherwise gloat.
Whatever philosophical differences we might have with Justice Ginsburg, regarding her current condition Brickmuppet Blog offers thoughts prayers and sincerest hopes for a speedy recovery.
***********
That being said, making fun of the dunderheads who offered to donate their ribs is perfectly acceptable.
The most depressing thing about the entire culture is that we may have no choice but to turn into the things we hate - i.e. the progressive movement. Because the mean and nasty methods they are using are the only ways to communicate with them in a way they understand.
I do not like it, and it is a culture and society that is in trouble if it has to revert to that stage, rather than progressing upward from the stage. But right now, we have a side that simply does not care to understand messages in any other fashion. Being nice and courteous and well-mannered is regarded as a sign of weakness and worthy of contempt by these folks, just another encouragement for renewed attack.
I personally think Ace of Spades has gone full-on Trumpkins in a way that cloud their judgment and good sense, but I think they might be correct in that we have to go the dark route. Which is sad and depressing, since we still have to interact with other people, but the world might been reaching the tipping point for that.
Posted by: cxt217 at Thu Nov 8 22:51:33 2018 (LMsTt)
3
Maybe Trump's lasting legacy was a demonstration that losing honorably was a false objective.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Sat Nov 10 14:40:12 2018 (JxjnE)
4
"Maybe Trump's lasting legacy was a demonstration that losing honorably was a false objective."
Sadly I came to that conclusion in the wake of McCain's loss. This lesson was reinforced in spades with Romney's candidacy as Romney would have been a good leader in a consensus and bridge building environment. He was just the wrong man for the times.
I understand why many dislike Trump's aggressiveness and tactlessness. Unfortunately what these people often don't get is that this is what is needed in the political trench warfare that's been fought since the 60s, particularly since the Socialists seized the cultural high ground over the last couple of decades.
Losing with dignity will no longer cut it. Especially since history shows what Socialists do even to their no longer convenient allies, much less what they do to their opponents.
Posted by: StargazerA5 at Sat Nov 10 22:02:27 2018 (Q7Wqc)
Especially since history shows what Socialists do even to their no longer convenient allies, much less what they do to their opponents.
I always shake my head when I see the young(er) boys and girls today believing themselves as part of the People's Vanguards, members of the force that will reshape the world starting with the US and make it into a better, progressive place. The exact scenario, down to a 'T,' has unfolded before. The secondary and college students, the idealistic young, who joined Mao's Red Guards believed that, just as they believed the destruction they were causing in the Cultural Revolution would bring about a better, progressive world.
Some of them still believed it right up to the moment Mao ordered the People's Liberation Army to machinegun them into ditches. The rest who avoided summary executions or labor camps, found they had completely wasted almost a decade of their lives, never realizing that they would be discarded when they no longer conveniently served a purpose.
The only question is the manner in which the Millenials will be disposed of, when their usefulness comes to an end.
Posted by: cxt217 at Sun Nov 11 19:12:44 2018 (LMsTt)
6
Exactly, cxt217. Antifa would be well advised to study the Night of Long Knives, especially who the sacrificial victims were, and role they played in bringing their 'friends' to power. Of course, that might take the Antifa types out of their Safe Space given the similarities to their current activities.
Posted by: StargazerA5 at Mon Nov 12 11:57:08 2018 (Q7Wqc)
ʻOumuamua
About a year ago, what was thought to be a new comet was seen moving into the inner solar system at unusually high speed, subsequent observations indicated that C 2017/U1 PANSTARRS was traveling at well past solar system escape velocity, indicating it was an extra solar object. As it approached the sun it did not outgas like a comet indicating that it's either rocky or metallic. The object turned out to be red and elongated (actually about 10 times as long as it is wide). The object was given the name ʻOumuamua, which is Hawaiian for "Advanced Scout".
The thing came close enough to the sun to get a decent slingshot effect from its pass and then streaked at a blistering pace out of the solar system.
This was most peculiar and many scientists have naturally been trying to explain this phenomenon. Among them are Shumel Bialy and Abraham Loeb of the Harvard Astrophysics department. They have published a short paper that attempts to explain the observed acceleration as being due to solar pressure, since everything else has been pretty much ruled out. There are a lot of equations explaining their hypothesis, which they admit is somewhat hampered by the limited data gleaned during the objects high speed pass.
At the end of the paper on solar pressure as an explanation for ʻOumuamua's behavior, there is this single paragraph...
Alternatively, a more exotic scenario is that ‘Oumuamua may be a fully operational probe sent intentionally to Earth vicinity by an alien civilization. Based on the PAN-STARRS1 survey characteristics, and assuming natural origins following random trajectories, Do et al. (201
derived that the interstellar number density of ‘Oumuamua-like objects should be extremely high, ∼ 2×1015 pc−3, equivalent to ∼ 1015 ejected planetisimals per star, and a factor of 100 to 108 larger than predicted by theoretical models (Moro-Martin et al. 2009). This discrepancy is readily solved if ‘Oumuamua does not follow a random trajectory but is rather a targeted probe. Interestingly, ‘Oumuamua’s entry velocity is found to be extremely close to the velocity of the Local Standard of Rest, in a kinematic region that is occupied by less than 1 to 500 stars.
Emphasis mine.
That is indeed a more exotic scenario.
Even without that scenario, this visitor from beyond certainly warrants scientific attention. It was initially thought that due to its incredible speed it could not be studied anymore, however, there have been some study of the problem and the Interstellar Studies Initiative has identified some ways to do it. Additionally JPL is proposing a mission using a SpaceX BFR rocket and combined solar and Jovian gravity assist. The window for this is limited but still doable. If launched in 2025 the probe would rendezvous with ʻOumuamua in 2039*.
So this very interesting interstellar visitor may not be completely out of the news just yet.
* Assuming, of course the object didn't perform any more anomalous accelerations!
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Tue Nov 6 16:03:01 2018 (LZ7Bg)
2
Indeed.
Cost isn't technically the issue though. I've been looking at downgrading to a flip-phone or smartwatch for some time now. However I now have a reason to upgrade from my Blackberry to a real smartphone...it's required for Uber.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Tue Nov 6 18:55:28 2018 (gxCG3)
3
As far as cost goes you can realize a huge amount of value by avoiding the headline flagship phones.
A Galaxy S9 costs, what, $900 or so right now? I ordered a Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S from Gearbest a couple weeks ago for $400. This is an all-four-carriers Snapdragon 845 with a 6" screen and 6GB of RAM: basically the same specs as an S9, but at half the price, and it works on Sprint/Verizon! (It also is a dual-sim which is pretty rare in the US.)
If you don't need that much power, the Motorola G series (just to pick one example) give you most of the same power at a fraction of the price--I got a G5S Plus on sale a while back for about $200, or $50 or so less than it normally goes for. A phone like that will pretty much do anything but the most GPU-intensive 3D games.
Posted by: Rick C at Tue Nov 6 20:08:15 2018 (Iwkd4)
4
I have a Moto G4 Play. Solid and reliable, but the camera is pretty bad. That's the bottom of the Moto G line though and two generations behind. Any current model will be a lot better.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tue Nov 6 21:54:47 2018 (PiXy!)
5
I found the camera on the G5+/G5S+ to be pretty nice as cell phone cameras go. IIRC the 5+'s camera is widely considered to be good.
Having said that I don't take a lot of pictures.
Posted by: Rick C at Tue Nov 6 22:51:12 2018 (Iwkd4)
6
If I weren't flying, I would still be using my flip phone. But I needed a backup device, and my $60 no-carrier phone just wasn't cutting it anymore for the Garmin Pilot app. So, I bought a carrier LG phone, which replaced both devices. Still, it was $240. You just can't get anything much cheaper from a carrier, unless it's a VNMO that rapes consumers in monthly fees.
I remember back when Europe had expensive phones with SIMs, and we had carrier-locked phones that were given away. That was the grand bargain. Now we have $800 phones and no portability - the worst of both worlds. Thanks, Obama!
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Wed Nov 7 09:42:08 2018 (LZ7Bg)
7
"You just can't get anything much cheaper from a carrier, unless it's a VNMO that rapes consumers in monthly fees. "
No, but if you're on AT&T/T-Mobile, you can buy any old unlocked phone and use it. The smartphones under $240 or so probably aren't going to be very good, though.
It turns out if you have an activated Verizon SIM card, you can stick it in a new (compatible) phone and it'll just work, like AT&T/T-Mobile always have, without getting special permission from Verizon like you used to have to. I found that out accidentally when I got my new Xiaomi last month. I was going through VZ's website, doing the "I want to switch my phone" form, which kept erroring out, but I'd already done the SIM swap, and noticed the phone went from "no service" to "Verizon".
It is kind of painful saying nice things about VZ, but there you have it.
Posted by: Rick C at Wed Nov 7 10:24:12 2018 (Q/JG2)
Being Polite Does Not Mean What it Used To
So...the asshole who has been scrawling anti-Semitic graffiti on NYC synagogues since last week's awful shooting has been caught.
That reminds me - I can kinda imagine what Steve would be writing regarding this coming Tuesday...."People who are afraid to voice their opinions for fear of being swatted down by the progressive bullies, are going to walk into the polling booth and decide to cock a snoot at the bullies."
Posted by: cxt217 at Sat Nov 3 21:39:31 2018 (LMsTt)
3
I believe that pollsters are going to have to start cranking into their calculations the fact that people will no longer answer them truthfully if others deem their opinions to be deplorable. Personally, I no longer answer polls at all. How do I know it's not a push poll? Or an SJW activist organization looking for people to grief?
4
Yeah, they have to constantly adjust their polls to try to address that, and it makes both the numbers and their expected margins of error unreliable. Huge problem.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Mon Nov 5 03:06:17 2018 (PiXy!)
5
I saw something over the weekend that mentioned the NYT had to call something like 30,000 people to get about 900 responses for a recent poll.
Posted by: Rick C at Mon Nov 5 15:58:08 2018 (Q/JG2)
Hobby Space News of the commercial space industry A Babe In The Universe Rather Eclectic Cosmology Encyclopedia Astronautica Superb spacecraft resource The Unwanted Blog Scott Lowther blogs about forgotten aerospace projects and sells amazingly informative articles on the same. Also, there are cats. Transterrestrial Musings Commentary on Infinity...and beyond! Colony WorldsSpace colonization news! The Alternate Energy Blog It's a blog about alternate energy (DUH!) Next Big Future Brian Wang: Tracking our progress to the FUTURE. Nuclear Green Charles Barton, who seems to be either a cool curmudgeon, or a rational hippy, talks about energy policy and the terrible environmental consequences of not going nuclear Energy From Thorium Focuses on the merits of thorium cycle nuclear reactors WizBang Current events commentary...with a wiz and a bang The Gates of Vienna Tenaciously studying a very old war The Anchoress insightful blogging, presumably from the catacombs Murdoc Online"Howling Mad Murdoc" has a millblog...golly! EaglespeakMaritime security matters Commander Salamander Fullbore blackshoe blogging! Belmont Club Richard Fernandez blogs on current events BaldilocksUnderstated and interesting blog on current events The Dissident Frogman French bi-lingual current events blog The "Moderate" VoiceI don't think that word means what they think it does....but this lefty blog is a worthy read nonetheless. Meryl Yourish News, Jews and Meryls' Views Classical Values Eric Scheie blogs about the culture war and its incompatibility with our republic. Jerry Pournell: Chaos ManorOne of Science fictions greats blogs on futurism, current events, technology and wisdom A Distant Soil The website of Colleen Dorans' superb fantasy comic, includes a blog focused on the comic industry, creator issues and human rights. John C. Wright The Sci-Fi/ Fantasy writer muses on a wide range of topics. Now Read This! The founder of the UK Comics Creators Guild blogs on comics past and present. The Rambling Rebuilder Charity, relief work, roleplaying games Rats NestThe Art and rantings of Vince Riley Gorilla Daze Allan Harvey, UK based cartoonist and comics historian has a comicophillic blog! Pulpjunkie Tim Driscoll reviews old movies, silents and talkies, classics and clunkers. Suburban Banshee Just like a suburban Leprechaun....but taller, more dangerous and a certified genius. Satharn's Musings Through TimeThe Crazy Catlady of The Barony of Tir Ysgithr アニ・ノート(Ani-Nouto) Thoughtful, curmudgeonly, otakuism that pulls no punches and suffers no fools. Chizumatic Stephen Den Beste analyzes anime...with a microscope, a slide rule and a tricorder. Wonderduck Anime, Formula One Racing, Sad Girls in Snow...Duck Triumphalism Beta Waffle What will likely be the most thoroughly tested waffle evah! Zoopraxiscope Too In this thrilling sequel to Zoopraxiscope, Don, Middle American Man of Mystery, keeps tabs on anime, orchids, and absurdities. Mahou Meido MeganekkoUbu blogs on Anime, computer games and other non-vital interests Twentysided More geekery than you can shake a stick at Shoplifting in the Marketplace of Ideas Sounds like Plaigarism...but isn't Ambient IronyAll Meenuvians Praise the lathe of the maker! Hail Pixy!!