Frugal thief
My attention was caught by this item in a Seattle-area police blotter:

Nov. 12
Disruptive: Police removed a Bainbridge woman from a symphony performance at Bainbridge Performing Arts on Madison Avenue just before 8:30 p.m. BPA staff had called police after the woman disturbed the performance, prompting numerous audience complaints. When confronted by BPA staff, the woman refused to leave. BPA’s executive director told police that the woman, whose teenage daughter was performing in the symphony, had yelled “Boring!” during the performance. The woman told police “that was how things were” between her and her daughter. She refused to leave, saying she wanted to listen and was worried her daughter would not return home. An officer repeatedly ordered the woman to leave before taking her by the arm and and walking her outside the building. The executive director told police the woman has a professional rivalry with the new conductor and does not believe the “boring” comment was directed at the daughter.

Mixed feelings for sure. Nice to see an athletic level of soccer-mom enthusiasm applied to classical music, but basically a horrible experience for the kid.

Then I looked down a couple of paragraphs and noticed this:

Nov. 22
Burglary: An Arrow Point Drive was burglarized during the afternoon. Missing items included $10 cash, a bottle of aspirin with codeine, a roll of toilet paper and one cigarette. Higher-value items, including a laptop computer and TV, were bypassed. It is believed entry was gained though an unlocked front door or window.

No mixed feelings about this. A frugal thief! Took only what he really needed and left the rest. [On second thought, this is probably a prank theft by a friend, and it must have included a note or text message about the need to keep windows and doors locked. Otherwise, how would the owners know that one cigarette was stolen? Cigs are highly valuable now, but I strongly doubt that anyone keeps a precise record of the quantity.]
  ¶ 6:28 PM

  Engagement is good.
The Obama admin is quietly pulling away from the old practice of sanctions and isolation against gov'ts we don't like.

We know from long experience that sanctions are perfectly counterproductive. We've been running sanctions against Cuba for 50 years, and we've helped to keep Castro in power. We've been running sanctions against Persia for 30 years, and we've helped to keep the mullahs in power.

On Cuba, the political power of the ex-Cubans in Florida makes any change impossible. Florida is the only state that votes in presidential elections, so no president can afford to lose any votes there.

On Persia, the admin has made some noises toward engagement but hasn't made any real moves. Unfortunate.

Now they're taking some real steps with MeenMarTheCountryFormerlyKnownAsBurma. Hillary is actually meeting with the leadership of MeenMarTheCountryFormerlyKnownAsBurma, at least establishing a talking relationship.

MeenMarTheCountryFormerlyKnownAsBurma is similar to Cuba and Persia in a historical sense. All three are in strategic locations, all have been rich and sophisticated within living memory, all are currently impoverished and stupefied by crude regimes. As long as the crude regimes stay in power, these three countries are negative influences. If they could be restored to their previously demonstrated maturity, they could be productive influences. (Just as an economy with mostly mid-sized businesses works better than our current overwhelming Goldman monopoly, a world with mostly mid-sized powers works better than a world with one or two overwhelming superpowers.)
  ¶ 6:03 AM

  Grandma was right 3
An earlier study indicated that Grandma was probably right in her "superstitions" about maternal experiences influencing the life of the baby. Folk wisdom specifies things a mother shouldn't think about, or things she should say or hear in order to have a healthy baby. "Scientific" thinkers have always dismissed this connection, but geneticists are now realizing that genes can carry information from temporary experiences, not just the unchangeable results of previous matings.

Now a new finding in epigenetics expands this concept into food and nutrition.

Pre-numeric cultures have lots of specific rules about food and medicine. Many of these rules require picking plants under just the right geographical conditions, and at just the right phase of the moon. Others, such as the laws of kosher and halal slaughter, pertain to the exact position of an animal when it's killed, and the exact sequence of actions in the slaughter.



Reductionist science has dismissed all of these, calling them witchcraft or religious nonsense. Food is just an inert collection of proteins, amino acids, vitamins and minerals.

Nope.

Chinese researchers have now shown that our genes are not only regulated by our microRNA, they are also regulated by the microRNA in the food we eat. In other words, food not only contains carbohydrates, proteins, fat, minerals, vitamins and so forth, it also contains information, in the form of these regulatory snippets of miRNA, which regulates our gene production.

...

The finding is obviously very thought-provoking; for instance, it would indicate that in addition to eating "materials" (in the form of carbohydrates, proteins, etc), you are also eating "information". Different miRNAs from distinct food sources could well bear different consequences on the regulation of host physiology once taken by the host due to potential regulation of different target genes as determined by the "information" contained within the miRNA sequence.

So the 'mood' of the plant at the time of picking, or the 'mood' of the animal at the time of slaughter, can have a distinct effect on our organs and nerves.

More broadly, the complete 'lifestyle' of the animal or plant will determine its patterns of gene messengers. If it spent a lot of time under stress, it was trying to revise its eggs or seeds to suit those conditions.

Clearly this opens up an entirely new field of science and medicine. The details of these connections are completely unexplored and unknown. With some caution, the records of old "superstitions" could give a springboard: rules or remedies that are widespread across cultures might indicate a well-observed relationship.

Labels: Grand Blueprint, Natural law = Sharia law

  ¶ 4:59 PM

  He was right
My father used to say "If you want Republican policies, elect a Democrat. If you want Democrat policies, elect a Republican." I suspect he was quoting some commentator like Eric Sevareid, but he meant it.

Latest example, via NPR: The Obama administration is cutting back proposed regulations much more strongly than Rezident Bush The Son did.

OIRA stands for the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. It's part of the White House office that manages the entire federal budget. ....

The outcome, according to a new study by the Center for Progressive Reform, is that the office "has served as a killing ground for protective rules. We studied the records of 1,080 meetings that have been held at OIRA over the last ten years," said Rena Steinzor, CPR's president. "And we found that OIRA has changed 84 percent of environmental regulations, and 65 percent of other agencies' regulations, and the change rate is worse than it was under George W. Bush."

Facts don't matter, though. Idiot partisans on both sides are still running with their shared lie that "Obama is progressive and anti-capitalist, Bush is all for big business." Mindless Brand-D partisans cheer this false assumption, mindless Brand-R partisans boo this false assumption.

Both are wrong. My father was right.

Incidentally, the same pattern happened with Rezident Bush The Father and Clinton. RBTF, supposedly a "small-government conservative", allowed government regulations and agencies to run murderously wild and created TWO huge Stalinist tyrannies (ADA, Clean Air Act). Clinton, supposedly a "socialist", brought regulations and spending under control and abolished the Fed welfare entitlement.

Labels: Shared Lie

  ¶ 6:40 AM

  Deeeeee licious



Love to hear the sounds of mass-murdering genocidal Satanic Commies howling in frustration.

Sheer ecstasy to my ears.
  ¶ 5:17 AM

  A break from confusion
I still can't figure out the attitudes of Western media and governments toward the Arab Spring.

Fact: The new governments in the Arab world are strongly Islamic, which is GOOD for their own people and BAD for foreigners.

Confusion: Our media (both right and left) seem to favor those new governments, but for entirely backwards reasons. They can't comprehend why the new gov'ts are good for their own people, because "good for own people" is an UNTHINKABLE UNTHINKABLE UNTHINKABLE PROTECTIONIST ISOLATIONIST FASCIST RACIST SEXIST HOMOPHOBIC NAZI HALLIBURTON idea.

Instead, our media seem to believe the new governments are "democratic", whatever the fuck that means. In their minds, "democratic" implies that the new governments should be maximally friendly to Jews and homosexuals, and should be completely intolerant of ordinary Muslim families.

This confusion was NOT created by the new Arab governments. From the start they have been perfectly open about their nationalist and Islamic tendencies, and about their rejection of foreigners and deviants.

So our media like the new gov'ts for a quality that exists only in the scrambled minds of the media; dislike the new gov'ts for their actual and honestly expressed intentions; and hope to reshape the new gov'ts to be exactly like the old gov'ts which the Arab people just overthrew.

Bizarre.

= = = = =

BBC did a one-hour special on Egypt this morning, showing the confusion in full flower.

But correspondent Lyse Doucet redeemed the whole thing by asking two magnificently powerful questions, two questions that our media never ask of our own people.

She asked an ordinary Egyptian worker: "How has this change affected your own life?" He answered "Not at all."

She then asked an even better question: "What would you like to happen in the future, in your own life?" He answered that he would like a chance to stop working for a while and get an education.

No American reporter has ever asked an American "What would you like to happen in your own life?" They only ask mindless partisan questions. "What do you think of Our Lord And Savior And Living Saint Barack Obama, Blessèd Be His Most Holy And Sacred Name?" Or, "What do you think of RACIST SEXIST HOMOPHOBIC NAZI FASCIST BIG OIL HALLIBURTON HALLIBURTON HALLIBURTON Rick Perry, who needs to be tortured and executed immediately?"

Labels: Natural law = Sharia law

  ¶ 5:09 AM

  Iceland has guts
Iceland is a strictly monoethnic country, not a modern suicidal Die-Verse Nation. This makes it likely to survive, while Die-Verse monstrosities like US collapse. And here's good evidence:

A multimillionaire Chinese developer is livid at Iceland's rejection of his plan to build a sprawling resort, saying it reveals western "hypocrisy and deep prejudice."

Foreigners also wrongly assume Chinese companies automatically have ties to China's military, Huang Nubo said in comments published in Chinese media on Sunday.

The Iceland government on Friday rejected a bid by Huang to buy 300 sq km (186 sq miles) on the island nation because it did not meet legal requirements on foreign ownership.

Some commentators had said the plan raised questions over regional security because of Iceland's strategic location in the Arctic where a number of nations are competing for resources, suggesting that Huang could be a surrogate for Chinese expansionism.

About fucking time, in three ways at once.

First, it's about fucking time for someone to counter China's unremitting Trade War against the rest of the world.

Second, it's about fucking time to reciprocate China's universal hatred of foreigners.

Third, it's about fucking time for a government to recognize officially what China has been doing for 30 years. Iceland CORRECTLY assumes that all Chinese who study or work elsewhere are strategic assets, effectively spies and saboteurs for the Middle Kingdom. Huang's complaint is wrong, though. Most foreigners are too fucking stupid to assume this OBSERVED FACT, or else too chickenshit to say it.

The next move will probably come from the EU. Since EU members helped to bail out Iceland's banking stupidity a few years ago, the Satanic Center of Die-Versity will undoubtedly try to pull some financial strings, and will have the power to make it stick. Should get interesting.

Polistra's Law of Judice: When the media and experts describe a viewpoint as "Prejudiced", you can be 100% certain it's postjudiced, i.e. based on plain and obvious facts. When the media and experts describe a viewpoint as "Factual", you can be 100% certain it's prejudiced, i.e. based on a weird bizarre fantastic nonsensical a-priori theory that can be disproved in one second.
  ¶ 3:05 AM

  Misdirected PSA
Lately radio stations have been running a Public Service Announcement for Medicare Open Enrollment that misses its target audience.

= = = = =

[Sound of dogs barking]

Old dude: "I wish these dogs would sleep in for once. They wake up so early!"

Announcer: "Know what else is early? Medicare Open Enrollment etc etc etc."

= = = = =

Aside from the general lameness, the ad is obviously written by Young People who don't know any Old People. If you're an Authentic OP, no mere dog or rooster can beat you to the punch!
  ¶ 10:19 AM

  Good part, bad part
From New Superstitionist article on what's likely to happen in the latest Apocalyptic Genocide Revival Meeting at Durban.

The good part:

Most of the US Senate barely believes in climate change, let alone doing anything about it. Most other nations play lip service, but blame economic travails for postponing hard decisions. Some think the recession will buy us time. Not so. Last year saw the biggest annual increase in carbon dioxide emissions ever recorded – almost 6 per cent. This was mostly due to China, India and others burning more coal, the dirtiest fuel.

This is good. Even NS finally admits their mass-murdering game is over, because only a few of the major players are even interested in continuing.

The bad part:

There could be a Plan B. Even without a Durban protocol, some countries say they will meet voluntary national targets. The European Union has legislated to cut emissions to 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. China, Brazil, Mexico and some others say they will reduce the "carbon intensity" of their economies – the amount of CO2 they emit per unit of GDP - though their emissions will probably continue to rise. A few US states, led by California, plan to cap their emissions. Some see this resorting to a voluntary approach as doomed. Others see it as the only way forward. Durban will also see negotiations on ... offsetting their emissions by investing in forest conservation. This could kick-start a global carbon market and help create political consensus for a future deal.

Note that the GLOBAL CARBON MARKET is the important part. Cutting emissions is secondary. Pouring all the world's MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY into the Swiss bank accounts of the High Priests is primary.

But can there be a carbon market without a global deal first? Doubtful. Without legal limits on emissions, there are no legally enforceable emissions permits to trade, so a voluntary system could be prone to collapse. The price of carbon on the existing limited market, based around EU Kyoto protocol permits, has halved during November to below 6 euros per tonne.

Note that the GLOBAL CARBON MARKET is the important part. Cutting emissions is secondary. Pouring all the world's MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY into the Swiss bank accounts of the High Priests is primary.

The rest of the article is the usual genocidal apocalyptic boilerplate. We're all doomed doomed doomed doomed doomed unless we give 100.0000000% of our MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY to the Gaian High Priests, who will give us Blessed Gaian Prayer Cloths in return. We won't be able to eat the Prayer Cloths, and we won't be allowed to burn them to keep us warm for a few minutes, but at least we'll starve and freeze secure in the knowledge that Gaia has been appeased.

Labels: Carbon Cult

  ¶ 3:46 AM

  Alfa's genius
Reading auto history, ran across an interesting story.

In 1953 Italy was still suffering from WW2. Alfa-Romeo had been making expensive luxury and sports cars since 1920, and wanted to expand into middle-priced and middle-volume production in order to provide more jobs and more profit.

Instead of trying to sell stock to professional investors, which probably wouldn't have worked, they decided on a closed-loop way to expand the company. They designed a family car, the Berlina, and started advertising that it was ready for production. If you wanted it to get into production, you could help by buying an interest-bearing bond. The real 'return' on the bonds, however, was specifically exciting to car lovers: 200 of the bond buyers would be selected at random to receive a new Berlina for free.

The bond sale worked.

Alfa grew to a mid-sized company and lived (more or less) happily ever after. Its current sedan, the 159, appears to have taken some retro flavor from the Berlina.

Perhaps Italy and other troubled bond-sellers (including US) should take another look at the closed-loop idea. Stop trying to sell bonds to China, which will enslave you. Stop trying to sell bonds to the Goldman Mafia, where the bonds will become just another way to counterfeit multiple layers of bets to further enrich Goldman. Instead, find a way to get your own fucking population excited about buying your bonds. Find an equivalent of the Berlina raffle that will appeal to people who like your company or country. Nothing abstract or meaningless like "supporting the fucking Constitution". The reward has to be real and attractive, like the Berlina.
  ¶ 5:15 PM

  Proving the opposite without even trying
Accidentally listening to Phil Hendrie show. Hendrie is interviewing a possibly humanoid entity of indeterminate gender called Marilyn Donnelley, which is allegedly part of the Florida Tea Party. This Donnelley thing is trying to inject standard Stalin-brand feminism into the Tea Party with the most absurd line of non-thought I've ever heard.

The Donnelley entity says that wymyn weren't actually present at the writing of the Constitution and Declaration, and woemoans didn't actually fight in the Revolution, but fepersons could have been there because they couldn't be there.

Wooooomdaughters were "not allowed to sign or fight", thus we don't know about the weeemyyynnnindividuals who were "actually" involved in signing and fighting.

Therefore we are required to use the phrase "Founding Fathers And Mothers" from now on, because the w****mmmmy*y*y*nnnnn were not involved.

Even the delightfully deceased Comrade Betty Friedan would never have allowed herself to sound so phenomenally and abysmally stupid. The dumbest blonde in the lamest blonde joke couldn't approach this profound degree of anti-logic. Blonde thinking makes perfect sense when viewed from a certain angle; that's why it's funny.

The Tea Party is already hopelessly corrupted by Wall Street, which it was meant to oppose; now it's going to be corrupted by outright Stalinists as well.
  ¶ 3:13 AM

  Wisdom speaks
I was looking for a specific quote in the Book of Proverbs, but the first few paragraphs slammed into me before I could find the quote. These paragraphs seem uniquely appropriate for modern times, especially in the realm of "science" where wisdom should be supreme. Every word strikes a hammer blow.


Out in the open wisdom calls aloud,
she raises her voice in the public square;
on top of the wall she cries out,
at the city gate she makes her speech:

“How long will you who are gullible love your gullible ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?

Repent at my rebuke!
Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,
I will make known to you my teachings.

But since you refuse to listen when I call
and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand,
since you disregard all my advice
and do not accept my rebuke,

I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you;
I will mock when calamity overtakes you—
when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
when distress and trouble overwhelm you.

Then they will call to me but I will not answer;
they will look for me but will not find me,
since they hated knowledge
and did not choose to fear the LORD.

Since they would not accept my advice
and spurned my rebuke,
they will eat the fruit of their ways
and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.

For the waywardness of the gullible will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
but whoever listens to me will live in safety
and be at ease, without fear of harm."
  ¶ 2:33 AM

  Giving thanks


Polistra and Happystar give thanks for Turkey. Not the kind you eat, but the country that provides the sole beacon of sanity in a hopelessly demented world.

Some of the Arab countries appear to be learning from Turkey. The post-Christian wackos of Western Europe and North America will not learn from anything. EU, US, AU will continue to collapse in self-created suicide, grimly following the stern orders of the Bank Mafia and the Gaian Cult.

More personally, we thank Turkey for the wonderful Zero Problems concept, which gives excellent guidance for life decisions.

Labels: Turkey

  ¶ 5:39 AM

  Amish aptronym
For a long time the Amish were a convenient reference point... "What? You think those 9/11 guys weren't Muslim? What were they, Amish? Ha ha ha."

A few months ago we lost the ability to use "Norwegian" as a point of jocular comparison; now we've lost the ability to use "Amish"!

US authorities have raided the compound of a breakaway Amish religious group and arrested seven men on federal hate crime charges in haircutting attacks against Amish men and women.

Cutting the hair is a highly offensive act to the traditional Amish, who believe the Bible instructs women to let their hair grow long and men to grow beards and stop shaving once they marry. Several members of the breakaway group forcefully cut the beards and hair of Amish men and women in September and October, authorities said.

Among those arrested Wednesday were the group's leader, Sam Mullet....

Amish Aptronym Alert! Amish Aptronym Alert!

Labels: Aptronym Alert

  ¶ 1:04 PM

  Gamble?
News item:

The latest frontrunner in the Republican presidential race, Newt Gingrich, has gambled by advocating a "humane" approach to illegal immigration, one that risks alienating conservatives.

That's not a gamble, that's a guaranteed loss and a sign of stone-cold ignorance about the job he's applying for.

Apparently Señor Gingrich is running for Presidente del México, not president of USA. The president of USA should try to be "humane" to Americans, not to Mexicans.
  ¶ 3:36 AM

  Beautiful contrast
Uncommon Descent makes a neat comparison between the experts of yesteryear and the Experts of today.

Quotes several of those famous dismissals of new ideas, like IBM declining to use the invention of xerography because a machine that makes copies of documents "couldn't be a feasible business."

Then this:

One difference between this year’s feted expert and yesteryear’s is that this year’s model is demanding belief for bizarre stuff, either without evidence or contrary to evidence. He’s not saying that there couldn’t be a giant hologram, but that we in fact are ourselves giant holograms.

Exactly.

Parallels this point that Polistra has made at least 26,715,189 times with the following quote from the 1938 WPA Guide to Kansas:

Recent years of almost unprecedented drought have led to the often expressed belief that the climate of Kansas is changing. Geologists and meteorologists, however, point out that weather runs in cycles, the most pronounced being about a third of a century in length. Conditions during a cycle are easily mistaken by laymen for permanent changes. Despite year by year fluctuations in temperature and precipitation, recorded evidence shows that general climatic conditions remain unchanged.

1938 experts were cautious and scientific. They understood that Nature runs in cycles, and they understood homeostasis and feedback. Modern experts are superstitious, psychedelically psychopathic, and locked into linear extrapolation, while modern common folks are more likely to be cautious and sane, more likely to have a feel for cycles and feedback.

Because the 1938 experts had their eyes open to cycles, they could pick up the "third of a century" cycle in climate. A few of today's climate realists are finally starting to re-discover this cycle, which WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN MOTHERFUCKING NECESSARY IF WE HADN'T MOTHERFUCKING CENSORED AND INQUISITED EVERY MOTHERFUCKING FACT WE EVER MOTHERFUCKING KNEW.

= = = = =

Sidenote: I wonder how the Arab scholars of 800 AD felt when they were trying to preserve and build on the vast stock of knowledge that the Greeks and Romans had abandoned? Were they fiercely pissed at the waste of human culture, sad about the tragedy, or satisfied to be the sole carriers and creators of learning?
  ¶ 2:48 AM

  Gaea's revenge on Gaia, part 3
Lately I've been hitting the rather delicious collapse of the Gaian genocide under the weight of its own effects:

In both cases the evil theory is now fading even inside the Western Suicide Pact, because we're dead broke. No more money for anything. The endless decades of self-flagellation, the long years of chopping ourselves to slivers in order to propitiate the Goddess of Death, have left us exhausted and penniless. Our Established Apocalyptic Genocidal Wackos still urgently need to sacrifice more of our own people to satisfy their infinite blood fetish, but BLESSEDLY they can't fucking afford it any more!

Whimper, not bang.

Well, what does that sound like?

I shouldn't have taken so long to catch on, dammit!

It's a negative feedback loop. It's cultural homeostasis.

In fact I already said it several months ago in a narrower context:

Gaea, the blooming mother-goddess of natural life and natural adaptation, has finally grown tired of the arbitrary and nasty usurper Gaia. Old Gaea has applied a strong negative signal, an error correction force, to the tyrannical usurper! Or in less technical words, a bitchslap right across the tits.

Now the bitchslap is visible in a much larger way, and the contusion is a gloriously satisfying conclusion.

Labels: Carbon Cult

  ¶ 6:09 PM

  McCain the "conservative"
Briefly scanning through the new load of leaks from the mass-murdering Carbon Criminals. Mostly the usual Stalinist boilerplate, the bland dead certainty of hard-boiled grand thieves and experienced killers. Same banal evil you'll find in the Venona Transcripts.

One thing caught my attention. In 5294.txt, the delightfully deceased Comrade Stephen Schneider is telling the unfortunately not-yet-deceased Comrade Michael Mann how to handle James Inhofe, the only non-Communist in Washington.

Most interesting is the clear indication that Comrade McCain, Ho's favorite ho, was actively working with The Cause:

date: Sun, 26 Oct 2003 22:19:17 -0800 (PST)
from: Stephen H Schneider
subject: Re: CONFIDENTIAL Fwd:
to: "Michael E. Mann"

Hang in there Mike, just take pride that you are hurting them and they
need to dissemble to get attention. It will fade in time, but the timing
is not accidental--all about the McCain-Lieberman climate bill to be voted
on this week. It will quiet down soon thereafter, so don't take the
bait--just point out soberly why they are wrong and that they have no
credible analysis to substitute for yours and the many real scientific
investigators who independently do the same kinds of work--we replicate to
gain confidence--and come up with similar conclusions. I'll attach my
"final" testimony and some answers to Senator McCain's questions motivated
by Sen. Inhofe's July28 Senate floor diatribes against me, Tom, you and
others--cleverly disguised to say if one reads us between the lines we
support THEIR positions. That makes responding in short paragraphs
impossible, so my answers are way too long for Congress, but to give
a paragraph would leave them guessing who was right and what happened. If
anyone has any edits to suggest, I need them by Monday afternoon at the
latest as COB monday McCain staff puts it up on the record I understand.
Even though I am virtually certain we shall lose on McCain-Lieberman, they
are forcing Senators to go on record for for against sensible climate
policy--a non trivial price some may pay politically if they guess worng
what it means for their re-election (another reason why CATO et al are so
shrill right now because this is a real threat to them and anything goes
for them right now, including lies, character assainations etc--again,
take no bait!). SUch "fun", CHeers,
Steve

Yup, Stalin's boys never had a bit of trouble with Comrade Johnny.

More broadly, a fairly clear picture emerges from this document dump, an image that wasn't obvious in the earlier load. The big dogs at the top of this criminal syndicate know exactly what's happening. They know the game is falling apart, but they can't demoralize their footsoldiers. (Footsoldiers = all media in the world, all schools and churches and universities in the world, all Western governments, all stock-based corporations in the world. That's a fucking big army.) If the footsoldiers lose their missionary zeal and start to abandon The Cause, the top gangsters will lose money and power.
  ¶ 1:18 PM

  Spain shows it's possible
A typical tactic of the "moderates" and "good government" types here in America is to blame the voters for the Mafiocracy. Every day you hear Experts and radio callers saying "It's all We The People's fault. We The People don't need term limits, We The People just need to Throw Out The Bad Apples."

Nope. Won't work. This advice cleverly avoids the basic truth that the whole system is fucked. No good apples are allowed on the ballot at the federal level. Staying home doesn't help either, because the two "sides" don't want higher turnout. Unlike businesses who want more customers to increase revenue, the "parties" want an absolute minimum number of absolutely reliable voters. For the "parties", the ideal election has exactly one voter who picks My Party every time.

Spanish voters are getting much closer to an effective approach.

Proposals for voting strategies proliferated in the runup to Sunday's general election in Spain. People wrote "ballot box" on drains and toilets; others suggested cutting out the middlemen and depositing votes directly into bank machines.

This campaign of ballot spoiling wasn't a subcultural anarchist prank, but a reflection of extraordinarily widespread popular disaffection. A typical sight during a pre-election protest was a respectable middle-aged man with a cigarette in one hand and a marker pen in the other going from municipal bin to municipal bin writing "Vote here" on the lids.

"They don't represent us" and "They are all the same" – the slogans of the indignados (the Spanish progenitors of the Occupy movement, who have mobilised hundreds of thousands across the country) – are now mainstream.

Here's the most important part:

On election day the indignados got protest-voting trending on Twitter with a three-pronged strategy: to abstain, spoil one's ballot, or attempt to break out of the bipartisan system by voting for a minority party. Rather than just staying at home, people actively registered disgust at the choices on offer, and the number of spoiled ballots on Sunday was double that of the last election in 2008 – numbering, with abstentions and blank votes, 11 million: more than voted for the rightwing victors, the Partido Popular.

In other words, spoiled ballots won the election.

Best, I think, would be an absolute majority for one non-existent character. I've voted Mr Scrooge McDuck for most offices in recent years, but there may be a more suitable candidate among modern TV characters. South Park's Mr Hankey, for instance.
  ¶ 3:26 AM

  Nice little sieve
I almost never talk about debts and deficits, because the question is obviously pointless. There is precisely zero chance that DC will do anything meaningful, and the "sides" are nothing more than talking points.

Now the supercommittee has completed its task with magnificent success, yielding a veritable torrent of talking points for both "sides", leading to increased campaign funding for both "sides". This was its entire mission.

Nevertheless, comments and analysis give us an unusually sharp litmus test for mindless partisanship. Anyone who thinks the committee failed, and blames the evil Other Party for the failure, is a mindless partisan and can be permanently dismissed. Anyone who thinks otherwise, though they may express the concept in various ways, is in contact with reality and deserves to be heard.
  ¶ 2:47 AM

  Not a one-way street!
Now this is interesting!

Why wait to be born to develop a healing hand? Mouse fetuses will give up stem cells to repair their mother's heart. The discovery could explain why half the women who develop heart weakness during or just after pregnancy recover spontaneously.

Hina Chaudhry of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City mated normal female mice with males genetically engineered to produce a green-fluorescing protein in all their body cells. Half the resulting fetuses also produced the protein, making it easy to spot any fetal tissue in the mother.

Chaudhry's team inflicted a heart attack on the pregnant mice and killed them two weeks later to take a look at their hearts. They found some fluorescent cells in the mothers' damaged heart tissue, where they had accelerated repair by changing into new heart cells, including beating cardiomyocytes and blood vessel cells.

Chaudhry says that the phenomenon is an evolutionary mechanism: the fetus promotes its own survival by protecting its mother's heart. Because the cells are easy to obtain from the placenta and unlikely to cause immunological reactions, they could provide a new and potentially limitless source of stem cells for repairing damaged hearts.

Previous research has identified fetal stem cells in other damaged organs of pregnant women, including the brain, liver, kidney and lung. Fetuses also produce cells that are known to protect the mother against breast cancer.

Note the emphasized sentence in last paragraph, showing that this is not just a research-mouse phenomenon.

Note also the automatic Richard Dawkins selfish-gene assumption in "the fetus promotes its own survival". That's not even a proper Darwinian assumption; Darwin would use the hypothesis that each species does what it can to keep its own line going.

Or you could interpret it without any assumptions: Lord, what a marvelous arrangement. Pregnancy can be hard on the mother, so let's compensate. Allow the baby to rebuild his mother while the baby is at his most "creative" stage.

And some kids continue the job later on!
  ¶ 4:49 AM

  Doesn't work that way, you idiot.
Ron Paul seems to understand the ideal concepts of the Constitution, but he doesn't have the slightest idea how the system actually works. In last night's "debate" mainly on abortion and such, he said that abortion should not be handled by the Fed govt at all, countering some of the others who want an amendment to undo Roe v Wade. But then he simply said "I would defer to the states."

How in the fuck would you defer, you miserable fucking coward?

The states are trying to make legislation. The problem is that all Federal black-robed Soviet saboteurs have been hired, by Presidents of both "parties", with the explicit agreement that they will maintain Roe v Wade. And all the saboteurs do exactly that, overturning every state attempt to modify the law.

Paul's plan to sit back and relax will only make it worse, only give permission for the permanent saboteurs to work harder.

We do not need a relaxed President.

We need a ferocious brutal military dictator. We need an American Pinochet who will hire a giant private army, including plenty of experienced torturers and assassins from various Soviet and Arab countries. He must dissolve Congress, delete all existing Federal "laws" and "court decisions", then he must use his private army to destroy all the destroyers, to torture and kill all Soviet saboteurs in the executive and judicial branches. In other words, just about everybody. No need to hire replacements.

After the dictator has cleaned house, then we can relax.

Of course that's all pie-in-the-sky, just a beautiful dream.

More practical: If Paul, or a courageous politician of similar views, really wants to start things rolling in the right direction, he should run for governor of Texas and then secede immediately after taking the oath of office. Simultaneous secessions by at least 26 [preferably 48] well-armed states would break the Feds without the need of brutal force.
  ¶ 5:02 AM

  Bravo, Phil!
Prince Phillip alias Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen's hubby, has come out powerfully against wind "power", directly counteracting his idiot son:

[Phillip's] views are politically charged, as they put him at odds with the Government’s policy significantly to increase the amount of electricity generated by wind turbines.

The country has 3,421 turbines — 2,941 of them onshore — with another 4,500 expected to be built under plans for wind power to play a more important role in providing Britain’s energy.

[Phillip's] attack on the turbines, believed to be the first public insight into his views on the matter, came in a conversation with the managing director of a leading wind farm company.

“He said they were absolutely useless, completely reliant on subsidies and an absolute disgrace,” said Mr Wilmar. “I was surprised by his very frank views.”

It emerged last year that electricity customers are paying an average of £90 a year to subsidise wind farms and other forms of renewable energy as part of a government scheme to meet carbon-reduction targets.

Mr Wilmar said one of the main reasons the Duke thought onshore wind farms to be “a very bad idea” was their reliance on such subsidies.

Highly important event. This is the first time anyone in a position of solid aristocratic authority (though not direct political power) has dared to commit heresy. Maybe this will open the door for others with more actual power to speak the truth.

Labels: Carbon Cult

  ¶ 2:03 PM

  Thump thump! Crunch!
What the fuck was that? At 2 AM, it sounded like something crashed into the house. Earthquake? Burglar? Part of the house fell down?

Got up (since 2 AM is only a little early for an Old People's Time wakeup anyway) and looked through the house. Nothing broken, nothing collapsed. Peeked out the front door and saw flashing cop lights down the street. Felt a little better. Some kind of car crash at the corner, not a destroyed house.

After getting dressed, walked out into the yard and saw what happened. A car apparently skidded on fresh snow and almost crashed into the house on the corner, which is very close to the street. Car was stopped by a phone pole.

Something strange about the timing, though. I jumped out of bed immediately after the noise, opened the door and saw the cop lights about 60 seconds after the noise. Cops don't get to an accident scene that fast ... unless the car was being chased by the cops to begin with. I suppose that's a good assumption until we find out more, but we probably won't find out more because the "local" media don't know the NW part of Spokane exists. They just barely know Spokane exists.

= = = = =

Sidenote: Fresh snow is a wonderful detective tool. I was able to verify that no burglar or car came into my yard by looking for tracks. Back when I still owned a car, I knew that someone was siphoning my gas by seeing the tracks. And smart cops also know how to use snow.
  ¶ 2:34 AM

  When you hold all the cards....
Generally speaking, if a business or a TV ad or a "scientist" tried to tell you that WATER DOES NOT PREVENT DEHYDRATION, you'd stop listening to that business or advertiser or "scientist".

An agency of the EU has just said exactly that.

Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from claiming that water prevents dehydration, and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict.

Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: “This is stupidity writ large. The euro is burning, the EU is falling apart and yet here they are: highly-paid, highly-pensioned officials worrying about the obvious qualities of water and trying to deny us the right to say what is patently true. If ever there were an episode which demonstrates the folly of the great European project then this is it.”

Nothing can stop Western governments. They are completely disconnected from all facts and truths and reality, completely locked into a thousand nonsensical theories that can be disproved in a second. When they say that "global warming is real", or that "diversity is strength", or that "free trade benefits everyone" or that "water does not cure dehydration", the blatant falsehood is instantly demonstrated by all available evidence.

Doesn't matter. The government has spoken. Facts do not exist. Only officially approved theories exist.

Your job is to shut your mouth, open your ass, and take it.
  ¶ 2:18 PM

  Heute Europa
Back in 2006, Polistra considered the notion that Germany was the puppetmaster for the current set of wars. There was some evidence for it, but not really enough to stick with the idea.

Now the idea of Krauts as empire builders surfaces again.

Britain's fairy PM, daintily wielding his umbrella, is weakly and delicately begging for more independence, but Reichskanzlerin Merkel harshly denies his plea for mercy.

David Cameron will be warned that he risks creating an unstoppable momentum behind a "two-speed Europe", which would be dominated by France and Germany, if Britain demands too many concessions during the eurozone crisis.

In a series of meetings in Berlin and Brussels, the prime minister will be advised that Britain should table modest proposals next year when EU leaders embark on a small treaty revision to underpin the euro.

Merkel, who said earlier this week that the eurozone crisis showed the need to create a political union in Europe, is pressing fellow EU leaders to agree to a narrow and quick revision of the Lisbon treaty. This is designed to place tougher fiscal rules for the eurozone on a legal footing.

Merkel warned the prime minister at an emergency European council meeting in Brussels on 23 October that she would reluctantly have to side with France if Britain overplayed its hand in the negotiations. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, wants a treaty to be agreed among the 17 members of the eurozone, excluding Britain and the other nine EU

Das vierte Reich will not be stopped. Tighter and tighter control, more and more consolidation. Heute Europa, morgen die Welt.
  ¶ 4:40 AM

  Hippieshit vs Hippieshit. Hippieshit loses.
A wind farm already in early stages of construction was cancelled in order to "protect" some fucking "endangered" bird with an absurd name, something like the Barkled Brap-Lap or the Morphle-beaked Morbler.

The idiot investors in this idiot project lost $4 million of their own idiot money.

No significant taxpayer money was lost. If the project had continued, it would have consumed many billions in subsidies to further enrich the obscenely rich idiot investors, which is of course the sole purpose of wind "power".

This time it's all good! Rich idiots lose, taxpayers win, no new coal-powered supplementary plant needed, no new upward redistribution!

Labels: Carbon Cult

  ¶ 7:39 AM

  Happy 70, Jeep!


Polistra and Happystar salute the Willys Jeep on its 70th birthday! (Can't find the exact start of production, but it would have been in Oct or Nov of 1941.)

Polistra is driving her Bantam, the mother of the Jeep. Bantam won the contract first with a prototype for the Army's all-purpose vehicle based on the Bantam chassis. Willys contributed the engine and other modifications, and ended up building most of the Jeeps in WW2.

A current news story really justifies this celebration. Chrysler is on the road to recovery now, thanks to great demand for Jeep products. They're adding 1100 jobs to the Willys factory in Toledo, where Jeeps have always been produced.

Jeep has been a preserver since its birth. It kept many soldiers alive in WW2; kept Willys alive from 1941 to 1953; kept Kaiser Motors alive from 1953 to 1970; kept AMC alive from 1970 to 1987; and now it's keeping Chrysler alive.

In a more subtle sense Toledo has preserved some simple automotive virtues during the periods when Detroit lost its way. Detroit forgot how to make small cars several times; got detoured from floor shift into column shift, which was a bad idea; forgot 4-cylinder engines for a long time. Willys kept those categories running steadily until Detroit returned to its senses. Specifically, the Willys plant in Toledo has been building small 4-cylinder cars without a break since 1933. Other major automakers abandoned fours during '33 and finally returned (hesitantly and grudgingly) in 1961.

A less important but equally continuous element: the vertical-slot grille. Represented a Jeep in 1941 and still does today, without any pauses. Certainly the longest-lasting 'styling cue' in American autos, one of the longest in all of industry. Only the Mercedes three-point star is older.
  ¶ 7:19 PM

  Why didn't he start with this?
Perry is finally getting down to business with some serious ideas, but it's probably too late for him:

If elected president, Texas Gov. Rick Perry promised "uproot" the federal government Tuesday, unveiling a range of sweeping reforms that include term limits for federal judges and Supreme Court justices, a part-time Congress, and laws criminalizing insider trading among legislators.

Quoting from the Bible, Perry said in his speech to workers at the Schebler Manufacturing Facility, "There is a time to plant and a time to uproot, there is a time to tear down and there is a time to build."

Amen on the uproot and tear down. We are completely tangled in an impenetrable jungle of legislature-made laws, executive-made regulations, lawyer-made lawsuits, and bureaucratic intransigence.

Everything we do, including breathing, is either illegal or sue-able. Everything the ruling class does (ie infinite theft and mass murder) is legal by definition and un-sue-able by definition. Except, of course, when the ruling class encourages "sweetheart suits" as a back-door technique to make new tyrannical rules without bothering with legislation.

However, the only correct term limit for Federal black-robed saboteurs is ZERO SECONDS, not 18 years. Eliminate the entire Fed court system, which is purely suicidal. Maybe establish a new "Interstate Mediation Service", paid equally by all states, to resolve disputes on jurisdiction and water rights. This service would then fulfill the sole purpose that the Constitution SPECIFIED for the Federal courts.

More broadly, we need to dislodge the one-way ratchet mentality that bureaucrats breed. Every problem requires a new agency, every day requires a thousand new regulations. This is not how real people, from engineers to programmers to businessmen to God, solve problems. Most problems are solved by simplification, subtraction and decoupling.

The ratchet effect is most dramatically visible right now in the EU, where the only correct solution is to eliminate the whole organization and return to normal nations. The people of Europe understand the correct solution, but the leaders can only add more agencies, more counterfeit Weimar money, more bailouts, more unification, more tightly-bound iron-handed control.
  ¶ 4:08 AM

  And in related news...
NRO notes that the biggest company in embryonic stem cells, Geron, has called it quits. No more ESC work.

Strongly parallel to the situation in "global warming".

In both cases the Establishment has been pushing a perfectly anti-scientific and perfectly genocidal theory. Why? Because the Wall Street Mafia saw a way to make trillions of dollars from the theory and because a conspiracy of politicians and scientists saw a way to derive power and glory from the theory.

In both cases an unEstablished set of dissidents has tried to dislodge the bad idea by using logic, morality, and goodness. Total failure. You can't persuade an all-powerful apocalyptic cult to give up its wacked-out beliefs.

In both cases a Suicide Pact of Western countries strongly favors the evil theory, and pours all the resources of the West into following the evil theory straight down into chaos and oblivion.

In both cases a set of sane non-Western countries, led by China, has been proceeding without the theory and prospering. China doesn't give a flying fuck about theories or religions or morality; China only cares about what works.

China uses coal and nuclear power because they work. China uses adult stem cells because they work. In other words, China has a perfectly scientific attitude, while the Western Suicide Pact is perfectly anti-scientific.

And finally:

In both cases the evil theory is now fading even inside the Western Suicide Pact, because we're dead broke. No more money for anything. The endless decades of self-flagellation, the long years of chopping ourselves to slivers in order to propitiate the Goddess of Death, have left us exhausted and penniless. Our Established Apocalyptic Genocidal Wackos still urgently need to sacrifice more of our own people to satisfy their infinite blood fetish, but BLESSEDLY they can't fucking afford it any more!

Whimper, not bang.

= = = = =

Moral of the story: Nature always wins. When you work WITH Nature, you're more likely to succeed.

In most cases the beliefs of old religions are closer to actual Nature than the new beliefs of egalitarians and "scientists". And in most cases the prescriptions of Islam are closer to real Nature than the prescriptions of Christianity.

This also applies to behavioral matters like crime and education and economics.

When you try to solve crime with psychological theories based on equality, you'll fail. When you observe what actually changes the behavior of the criminal type, you'll succeed.

When you try to educate all kids in the same way, you'll fail. When you categorize them accurately and observe what works with each category, you'll succeed.

When you run an economy to maximize arbitrary numbers, you'll fail. When you run an economy to give normal people a chance of living a normal life, you'll succeed.

Ignore all theories. Always do experiments. Always try things to see what works. Amazingly and surprisingly and contrary to all modern beliefs, when you do what works, you'll find that it works!
  ¶ 4:52 AM

  Invincible stupidity
From New Stalinist, of course:

A monster leap in carbon dioxide emissions in 2010 has dented but not destroyed optimism that we can avoid the worst effects of climate change.

More CO2 was emitted in 2010 than in previous years, according to the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Worse, emissions were 5.9 per cent higher than in 2009 - the biggest jump on record.

The rise follows falls in both the price of coal and average winter temperatures in the northern hemisphere. Both have encouraged leading economies to drop their green intentions, according to a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Okay.

In the diseased "minds" of the "scientists", why do we need to decrease evil Carbon? We need to decrease evil Carbon because evil Carbon makes the whole Planet Goddess get really really really really hot.

And what is the Planet actually doing while evil Carbon is going up and up and up? The NORTHERN HALF of the planet is getting cooler and the Southern half is getting warmer. (Actually the ups and downs are scattered and interspersed in complicated ways, but this is broadly true.)

Where is most of the evil Carbon being emitted? In the Northern half of the Planet, which is getting cooler. The Southern half, which is getting warmer, simply doesn't have a lot of land, let alone a lot of rich countries.

What would a REAL FUCKING SCIENTIST conclude from this? At the very least, a REAL FUCKING SCIENTIST would conclude that increasing the emission of evil Carbon has no effect on any fucking thing.

Needless to say, REAL FUCKING SCIENTISTS, ie scientists who are not paid to be scientists, have already reached this conclusion decisively and dispositively from all available evidence.

Unfortunately we only pay murderous psychopaths. We do not pay scientists.

Labels: Carbon Cult

  ¶ 3:32 AM

  Pointless bravado
News item:

Using some of his toughest language yet against China, Obama - a day after face-to-face talks with President Hu Jintao - demanded that China stop "gaming" the international economic system and create a level playing field for U.S. and other foreign businesses.

In the first place, Obama knows that China owns us, and China knows that China owns us. In such a relationship the absolute master can afford to let the miserable slave make empty complaints. Talk is cheap.

In the second place, it's not up to China to "create a level playing field". Before 1970 we didn't need to worry about the international playing field. Plenty of cheap labor was available elsewhere, as it has always been available. But before 1970 American corporations CHOSE NOT TO USE CHEAP FOREIGN LABOR.

We've always imported some raw materials when they weren't available here, and we've always exported some products when export was advantageous to America. But primarily we built things here and paid actual money to the workers who built things here. This allowed the workers who built things here to buy things here.

The problem now is entirely within America, not within China. "American" corporations have turned into treasonous traitorous disloyal motherfucking America-hating bastards, and the Gaian Occupation Government has supinely served their treason.

China wouldn't have become a problem if "American" corporations had remained loyal to America.
  ¶ 2:56 AM

  Accidentally tuned in
Got really bored yesterday, plugged in the TV and checked for local news. Unfortunately neither of the available stations had news at 5; one had football and the other had a Candidate Debate On Foreign Policy.

Watched the Candidate Debate On Foreign Policy for a while, and got totally puzzled.

These guys all have American-sounding names, but none of them were even mentioning the foreign policy interests of America. Instead, they were all running for President of Israel, all competing to see who could defend the interests and borders of Israel most ferociously. Romney clearly won the Idol voting with his rousing rendition of the old McCain number "Bomb-bomb-bomb-Iran".

Was this a satellite switching error? Why would an American network be carrying a debate among Israeli candidates? It's a mystery.
  ¶ 3:11 AM

  Offering thanks
Last night a serious windstorm hit Spokane, the first since early spring. Several trees dropped on houses and power lines around town.



Polistra and Happystar are offering up a prayer of thanks to St Gummarus, the patron of wood-cutters. [Sidenote: Gummarus... now there's a name that won't come back into style, even among serious Catholics!]

Since April, no more worry about a tree dropping on the house! Zero trees in yard means Zero Problems from trees.

And since September, no more worry about a falling fence. Not precisely Zero Problems in this case ... the only way to reach that point would be Zero Fences ... but this storm was as strong as any I can remember, and the newly braced fence is perfectly unaffected.

[Sidenote: There was evidence of the wind's ground-level turbulence in a neighbor's yard. She has a short tree-stump 'capped' by an upside-down heavy clay flowerpot. Not sure why the pot is there; maybe an attempt at decoration. The wind sucked the flowerpot off the stump!]
  ¶ 12:53 PM

  Logic doesn't apply.
It's a little sad to see objective and skeptical people still clinging to certain myths. McIntyre at WUWT calls out the now-fired PSU pres Spanier, noting that Spanier's coverup of the bad sex in the Football department was identical to Spanier's coverup of the bad science in the "Environmental" "Sciences" department. The author clearly hopes that with Spanier gone, things might change in other parts of the university as well.

Nope. I commented there, and repeat here: You can't impute any sort of morality, ethics or logic to corporate management. Big universities are indistinguishable from big corporations.

The problem in the football department was not bad sex. The problem was that the exposure of bad sex was guaranteed to cause a loss of MILLIONS IN ALUMNI CONTRIBUTIONS. That's why Paterno and Spanier had to go.

Bad science is not a problem, because bad science actually BRINGS IN MILLIONS IN GRANTS. In fact, within the realm of environment, good science is prohibited because nobody writes grants for good science.

It's all about the MILLIONS. Nothing else. Nothing else. Nothing else.

So Michael Mann's job is perfectly secure UNTIL the people who write the checks start to discredit bad science. And that's not going to happen in this universe.

What might happen in this universe is a destitute bankrupt government cutting off all support for research in all fields. But unless the bankruptcy happens suddenly and totally, you can be 100% certain that climate pseudoscience will be the last to go. Bad science is the established religion of the check-writing class.

Labels: Ethics

  ¶ 5:49 AM

  Seriously random thought
Polistra constantly hammers on the lost understanding of feedback and cycles. Modern "scientists" and "economists" always assume everything is either linear or exponential, rising infinitely or falling to zero. They never consider the possibility of waves or self-limiting or self-organizing systems. In their infantile egomaniacal "minds" everything in the universe is passive and inert, responding only to external commands by "scientists" or "economists".

The cause of this idiocy is puzzling. Most likely it comes from totally abstract education and loss of mechanical skills.

Here's a random and probably faulty thought: Did learning to write in cursive improve our understanding of cycles and limitations? Are modern kids, writing mainly with keyboards instead of pencils, less likely to comprehend waves and curves?

Muscle memory is far more powerful than abstract memory, and kids who learned cursive had to practice making loops and cusps. The practice was even more strenuous before 1950 when the Palmer method was dominant. My parents remembered spending hours and hours of "Up and down and round and round and up and down and round and round and up and down and round and round...."

Incidentally, the Wiki page linked above mentions an interesting revival of Palmer:

Students were taught to adopt a uniform system of cursive writing with rhythmic motions. ... Palmer's method involved 'muscle motion' in which the more proximal muscles of the arm were used for movement, rather than allowing the fingers to move in writing. ... Proponents of the Palmer Method emphasized its plainness and speed, that it was much faster than the laborious Spencerian Method, and allowed the writer to effectively compete with the typewriter. To educators, the Method's advocates emphasized regimentation, and that the Method would thus be useful in schools to increase discipline and character, and could even reform delinquents. ... The style is now experiencing renewed attention, from those working in facilitated communication for the disabled. Because the Palmer method has a focus on shoulder and arm movements, it is helpful for many with limited movement of the fingers.

  ¶ 5:44 AM

  Truly unprecedented
Penn State students riot against the firing of the coach and president.

Guarantee it's never happened before. Until now, every student riot in history has demanded the firing of the president or the coach.

I can understand the respect for Paterno. I worked at PSU for several years in the '80s and saw that his reputation for probity was real and hard-earned. Penn State was the only college in this whole unfortunate land where football players were expected to be better students than 'civilians'. Everywhere else, faculty were officially ordered to give football players automatic A's whether they showed up or not.

But that was 25 years ago, and it's clear that Paterno is no longer fully functional.

It's never smart to keep executives after they turn senile. Henry Ford was the perfect example. In his younger years he created America. It's that simple. If we'd only return to young Henry's principles, we could have America back again. But after he had a stroke he behaved stupidly and ruined his company. Nobody had the power to fire him, and the company didn't recover until after he died.

Same with Popes, Senators and federal "judges". All are allowed to stay in power after they're clearly senile or stroked out, and they ruin the church and the country. (Well, the "judges" are mostly wild-eyed genocidal psychopaths to begin with, so maybe they don't belong in the analogy.)
  ¶ 4:00 AM

  Rumors of intelligent life? EDIT: No.
From UK Guardian:

Fears that Europe's sovereign debt crisis was spiralling out of control have intensified as political chaos in Athens and Rome, and looming recession, created panic on world markets.

Reports emerging from Brussels said that Germany and France had begun preliminary talks on a break-up of the eurozone, amid fears that Italy will be too big to rescue.

Well now! First sign of intelligent life on Earth since 1989.

Never thought it would happen, but if it does I'll be deliriously happy to eat several thousand words, seasoned with crow, in a hat sandwich!

= = = = =

Later: Nope, rumor proved unfounded. Instead of breaking up or decoupling, EU has consolidated its tyranny as always. Only one direction is possible. No error correction, no reverse gear, no brakes. Only continue accelerating ever faster into Hell.

Specifically, Italy and Greece have been blackmailed into taking "economists" as their Herods. "Economists" are consiglieri who abjectly and meekly serve the Goldman Mafia.

So I won't need to eat my words, crow or hat, but that's only a microscopic consolation as the Goldman tyranny continues to gobble up Western civilization without hindrance or pause.

The only saving grace is that other parts of the world have retained or regained their sanity. EU and Anglosphere commit grim suicide while Russia, India, Brazil, and China hold onto their rational self-interest, and the Arab world relearns the skills of sovereign and decoupled nationality.
  ¶ 5:33 PM

  Well, that's reassuring.
The 'nationwide test' of the Custody Dispute Alert System (EAS) just concluded. If I hadn't been ready for it, I would have panicked. The voice part was almost totally garbled, covered up by several different tones, constant static, and several other people talking excitedly. It was like DXing an obscure shortwave station during a rare sunspot skip event.

"Garble garble Emergency Alert garble!!!!! If you scratch scratch garble garble, nationwide cooperation with garble authorities!!!! This garble scratch a test!!!!"

Did he say only a test or not a test? Can't tell.

Comforting to know that ultramodern information technology is beginning to approach the sound quality of Alex Bell's first call to Mr Watson.

It's also comforting to know that the one time we really needed the EAS, in Sept 2001, it wasn't even set up to work nationally. Now they tell us.

EBS, the predecessor in the '70s and '80s, was nationally organized, clear and unambiguous. You always knew what was happening (or not happening).

Roaring backwards at warp speed as usual. We're fucked.
  ¶ 11:02 AM

  Not ironic or paradoxical
CBS report on results of Tuesday's election:

For all the frustration surrounding the economy, voters refused to throw incumbent parties out of governors' and most big-city mayors' offices, and they turned back an Ohio law that aimed to ease grinding budget problems by restricting the union rights of public employees.

Makes perfect sense. Most governors are doing a competent job in a tough time. They may not be taking actions that everyone likes, but they are working to serve the interests of their states, clearly trying to do good and sometimes even succeeding.

As for the union stuff, maybe Americans are regaining their earlier correct understanding of the value of human capital, no longer accepting the economic theory-shit about "creative destruction" and "free trade".

States are not the problem. DC is the problem. Congress has been completely non-functional for several decades, doing only evil. "Courts" have been in Soviet hands for several decades, doing only grave evil. The executive branch has been murderous and tyrannical for several decades, killing people by the thousands and destroying everything it encounters.

No amount of voting and protesting will make any difference in DC.

Only one thing will cure DC and save America: Mass secession by the sane states, forming a new confederation.
  ¶ 4:34 AM

  Oh, so that's why.
Listening to an interview with Nicole Gelinas about the changing habits of various generations. She's pretty sure that the era of flipping and HELOCs, the era of treating a house as a source of imaginary value, is finished. Safe prediction.**

That was never a conceivable option for me. A house was never a source of value or credit or profit, never a tax deduction. The sole purpose of ownership was to have a secure place to live, a place that can't be taken away. If nominal "value" goes up, it only means higher property taxes, so I prefer a lower nominal "value". My only goal was to pay off the mortgage so I'd never have to worry again about missing payments, never worry about the landlord's knock at the door. I reached that payoff in 2006, and it has been every bit as satisfying as I hoped it would be!

More broadly, the notion of selling a thing after you acquire it seems strange and even abhorrent, and I've only done it a few times with bicycles and cars. Never made a profit that way.

Thinking back, I realized: Selling things was an act of desperation in the '70s when I was unemployed and completely broke. The bad taste continued through the years, even after I'd forgotten the original reason for the negativity.

= = = = =

** Footnote on 'safe prediction': The end of flipping is true nationally, but it doesn't apply in this part of Spokane. During the national boom years everything was sliding downward here, very little activity. Right now, just within my daily 5-block walk, I count 3 flips, 3 existing-owner remodels, and one brand new house under construction. As mentioned before, something positive is happening quietly around here.

Probably no way to pin down the cause, but the area of newness appears to be 'propagating' from Wellesley, which was beautifully repaved and residewalked last year. This quarter of town has received lots of repaving and other attention during Verner's term as mayor. Before she took office the city mostly ignored the NW; now we have a number of fresh improvements, which may have spread the 'delta' of improvement to homeowners including me. (Something like the opposite of the Broken Window Effect.)

Unfortunately Verner lost yesterday's election to a mindless Repooflican ZERO TAX hack named Condon.

So here's another safe prediction: Under Repooflican ZERO TAX hack Condon the city will go back to its old ways, pouring millions into the areas where rich dickheads build their McMansions and letting working-class areas rot. This is a sad day for most of Spokane.
  ¶ 2:52 PM

  Can you retire a word?
If so, then "cute" can retire now, and all further attempts at cuteness can relax.

Smile-Chobin is the dispositive and final cute. No way to exceed it, ever.
  ¶ 2:09 PM

  Obvious solution!
NPR reports that NASA is running out of money to buy plutonium for its miniature nuclear power plants in spacecraft.

Well, they should follow the same rules that they force on us.

Switch to wind turbines, which were a NASA development in the first place!

Wind would make more sense ... or less nonsense ... in the vacuum of space than it does on land.

Wind turbines on earth are net consumers of power. Their sole function is to provide subsidies for favored corporations, and to provide pretty shiny Oh-Wow things for hippie-shits to look at.

In space, wind turbines wouldn't produce energy either, but at least they wouldn't kill birds and bats, and they wouldn't require a coal-powered supplementary generator to justify their subsidy.

= = = = =

Slightly more seriously, I've always wondered why NASA didn't make more use of solar wind, the strong stream of waves coming at all times from the sun. It's powerful enough to turn this gadget after passing through earth's atmosphere.




  ¶ 6:35 AM

  Local election
The local Satanist-Leninist Poison Vendors still haven't adjusted to voting by mail, though it's been standard here since 2006, and standard across the state since 2010. Just now one of the radio stations said "It's Election Day! Make it count!"

Well, if you haven't already sent in your ballot, your vote doesn't count. So the exhortation is completely meaningless.

Voting no longer has any effect in national-level elections, which are completely rigged and predetermined. Goldman owns DC. Period.

But voting still occasionally makes a marginal difference with city and state candidates, and has real influence through initiatives and referenda. A referendum is direct legislation, and (at least here in Wash) the state gov't actually tries to obey it for a while. Thus you can alter the behavior of the rulers for a couple years by enacting a referendum.

Replacing one legislator by another is totally pointless. A candidate capable of changing things rarely makes it to the ballot, and even if he gets elected he will be instantly neutered and 'crazified' by the establishment.

Only one of the local contests is important this time: the mass-murdering Stalinist cadre is trying to enact their animal "rights" insanity yet again. They've pared it down some, so it's not quite up to Bolivian standards, but it would still create massive chaos and civic bankruptcy if enacted.
  ¶ 5:06 AM

  Finally measuring right!
For some unknown reason the Census Bureau has finally adopted the meaningful measure of poverty that non-Commies have been advocating for a long time. Until now the bureau measured only taxable income, which meant that welfare recipients with two new cars and plasma televisions and free health care counted as poor, while non-welfare folks who were struggling to eat counted as middle class.

Now they've included all the gov't welfare programs, both cash and non-cash; and they're also adjusting for cost of living in different cities.

The results are especially interesting when applied backward to previous years, as in this graph supplied by the UK Guardian. I've marked presidential terms.


You can tell immediately which presidents helped poor people and which hurt.

Nixon and Ford were sort of neutral. Carter, Bush The Father, Bush The Son, and Obama were bad for the poor. Reagan and Clinton were good for the poor.

Eat that, you partisan assholes.
  ¶ 4:35 AM

  "Denying" Laplace
Famously and perhaps legendarily, Pierre Laplace developed a complete mathematical model of the movement of the planets. When he presented his work to the emperor, Napoleon supposedly complained:

"How can this be! You made the system of the world, you explain the laws of all creation, but in all your book you speak not once of the existence of God!"

And Laplace replied: "I did not need such a hypothesis."

In the two centuries since then, anti-theists and "scientists" have been following Laplace with a vengeance, roasting and Inquisiting anyone who dares to think about or speak about the existence of a god.

Now one of their own has tried to set up a mathematical model of evolution. Trouble is, his model does need such a hypothesis to make it work!

Via Uncommon Descent:

Of necessity, this “toy model” of evolution is extremely unrealistic. For example, in Chaitin’s toy model, life itself isn’t even embodied (it’s purely software), there’s no population, there’s only one organism and there’s no sex. As a mathematician, Chaitin believes that if you try to make his toy model much more realistic and true to life, you won’t be able to prove anything with it, mathematically, so there’s a trade-off.

Even Chaitin’s toy model requires something called a Turing oracle to make evolution work. A Turing oracle means that the model is being directed by an outside intelligent source answering Yes-No questions which enable the model to proceed.

I suppose calling the god a Turing Oracle makes it acceptable in the mind of a modern leftist, for obvious reasons.

The weirdest part: Chaitin's model God is more primitive and dictatorial than the God assumed by most modern Muslims, Jews and Christians. Sophisticated theists generally see their God as a top-level executive who knows how to delegate authority. God designs the pattern for life, breathes it into being, and then sits back and watches. He only intervenes when we fuck up massively. Sophisticated theists pray often, but not to receive immediate Yes-No decisions on every little action of their cells; only to stay in harmony (or in phase) with God.

Or in tech talk: Sophisticated theists understand God's best inventions, negative feedback and subsidiarity. They understand that life has the ability to adjust itself to environment and conditions at every level from mitochondria to planets, and they understand that the multiple levels allow each bit of life to carry on independently without constant supervision from upper levels.

Chaitin, being a leftist thinker, assumes everything is dead and passive. He assumes that no aspect of life can take care of itself, and assumes that everything must be locked into one unlayered system.

Same suicidal assumptions that keep the Euro idiots locked into the EU.

Labels: Grand Blueprint

  ¶ 3:35 AM

  Smart move, stupid reason
The Dutch government is about to approve a ban on both kosher and halal meat in Holland. Apparently the pressure for this move comes from two fronts: Populists and animal "rights" loonies.

= = = = =

The Populists are on the right track. Religious tolerance and multiculturalism seemed like good ideas, but in practice have turned out to be suicidal. A single nation works best when it contains a single culture. Minor variations are OK, but we've learned from deadly experience that you can't force highly dissimilar groups to work together.

Stalin understood the point first, and used it for his own evil purposes. He kept Russia under his thumb by physically transporting one ethnic group into the middle of a dissonant group, generating disorder that required a brutal government to keep calm.

Stalin's successors and infiltrators in the West (eg Comrade MLK Boulevard and Comrade Betty Friedan) carried out a softer version of the same policy with similar results.

Muslim countries, generally saner than post-Christian countries, are currently acting in a positive way on this basic fact. They are trying to eliminate foreign influences and foreign religions.

Some Euro countries are just beginning to act on this understanding, including Holland.

= = = = =

As for the animal "rights" loonies, they have no case. First of all, the whole concept of "rights" is insane. Our creator endowed us with a whole lot of amazing stuff, beginning with negative feedback and subsidiarity, and building from there to cells, organs, bones and a brain of infinite power. All of those miraculous things are observable.

But if these "rights" are also endowed to each human at conception, where are they? In the mitochondria? In the breastbone? Distributed down the spine, with one "right" packaged in each vertebra? Are the left-wing "rights" like abortion and fag marriage contained in the left lung? Are the right-wing "rights" like guns and religion contained in the right kidney?

Or maybe the "rights" are software, hard-wired into the brain. If that's the case, how come nobody noticed them until around 1750 in England? And how come new "rights" can only be discovered by Soviet saboteurs wearing black robes? When Comrade Harry Blackmun discovered a new "right" to kill your own children, did that "right" magically become part of the bones or software in each child born after the date of Roe v Wade? Or did it get transported via time machine all the way back to the first Homo Sapiens and then re-endowed through each birth?

And if all non-human animals also have these "rights", where are they contained in a mouse? In a cockroach? How about a jellyfish, which has no brain and none of the same organs as a mammal? Did the newly discovered "right" to kill your children also become part of the innate equipment of every cow and jellyfish and bacterium?

No, that's crazy. We've been basing our entire system of political thought on a completely delusional demented theory. No wonder we're fucked.

More practically, the animal "rights" loonies appear to believe that kosher and halal slaughter techniques produce excessive pain for a few seconds before death. Totally absurd. Directly parallel to the worry about "cruel and unusual" methods of execution for humans. If you're going to die immediately after the suffering, you won't have any memory of the suffering by definition, so it doesn't matter.

I'll go along with the animal "rights" loonies when they protest feedlots and factory chicken farms. Those modern inventions provide an excessively painful and nasty life to conscious animals who deserve better. It would be worth paying more for meat to eliminate or moderate those practices.
  ¶ 4:38 AM

  Real discussion, real idea!
This hour-long discussion on Wash state's equivalent of C-Span shows that real and productive talks can still happen between the two political sides. Nothing remotely similar ever happens in DC or on the commercial "news" networks.

The leaders of the state's business and labor organizations agree, with some appropriate reservations, on most important truths.

Contrast with national public figures, who agree quietly on a whole batch of suicidal lies, while disagreeing LOUDLY about utter and absolute trivia like tax rates.

The labor leader is pushing an interesting idea: use a bond issue to set up a short-term state WPA to rebuild infrastructure. Since real interest rates are negative, the bonds can be redeemed at a slight profit.
  ¶ 5:10 PM

  More hidden variables
The worst thing about our total reliance on abstract theories is the constant use of Hidden Variables.

Like the Hidden Global Warmth that keeps rising and rising while actual temperatures drop into the ice age, or the Hidden Sea Level Rise that keeps rising and rising while actual sea level drops, or the Hidden Wage Differential that remains 72 cents on the dollar while actual women earn more than actual men, or the Hidden Equality Of All Children that will magically appear when we spend enough on school administrators, or the Core Inflation that remains zero while actual prices rise by 12%, or the Dark Matter that fills the universe even though we never detect it.

These are, of course, direct violations of old Bill Ockham's rule. He's usually misquoted as saying "Keep it simple."

Wrong. He specifically said "Don't assume extra entities unless you need them." These Hidden Variables are the precise modern equivalent of the multitudes of angels imagined by the medieval scholars Bill was criticizing.

A new example of a Hidden Variable appears in the idiotic discussion of the current Euro crisis. The hidden quantity in the minds of our rulers is a "Robust Recovery." Ordinary people can't see the Robust Recovery; only the Aristocratic Initiates can see it. The minds of ordinary people are clouded by "insubstantial externals" such as starvation, energy shortage, permanent joblessness, and bankruptcy. But in the Realm Of The Multitudinous Angels, we are in Robust Recovery, therefore we need to pour trillions and trillions and trillions and trillions and trillions and trillions into the pockets of the Jewish Mafia to forestall a horrifying "double-dip recession" that would stop the Robust Recovery. (This is, of course, a repeat performance of the 2008 blackmail that created TARP; only the terminology is slightly different this time.)
  ¶ 4:33 AM

  Another must read
Niall Ferguson picks up Orlov's theme of collapse. Excellent writing, correct and accurate about every subject, sharp and comprehensible.

I can only quibble with one bit of his software metaphor, but the quibble actually improves his own argument:

What we need to do is to delete the viruses that have crept into our system: the anticompetitive quasi monopolies that blight everything from banking to public education; the politically correct pseudosciences and soft subjects that deflect good students away from hard science; the lobbyists who subvert the rule of law for the sake of the special interests they represent—to say nothing of our crazily dysfunctional system of health care, our overleveraged personal finances, and our newfound unemployment ethic.

Then we need to download the updates that are running more successfully in other countries, from Finland to New Zealand, from Denmark to Hong Kong, from Singapore to Sweden.

And finally we need to reboot our whole system.

I refuse to accept that Western civilization is like some hopeless old version of Microsoft DOS, doomed to freeze, then crash.

Well, actually DOS was stable. It's Windows 7 that freezes and crashes every day. Which bolsters Ferguson's point: the modern American version of everything is fucked, including operating systems.
  ¶ 6:56 AM

  The more alert students
Sort of annoying to see the Carbon Cultists and the realists constantly bickering over the statistical methods used in averaging and adjusting a figure called the Global Temperature.

Before you start arguing about the best way to form this Global Temperature, you have to ask whether it's valid to form a Global Temperature. Validity is not an assumption you can take as given; it's a hypothesis you need to prove first.

(Of course the Carbon Cult doesn't bother to ask any questions. They simply observe each instance of increase and declare with Prophetic Certainty; no evidence needed; that the increase is caused by Carbon. )

What struck me just now: Averaging temperatures at two locations to make a single temperature is a really basic statistical error that I learned about in junior high science class.

Remember this? The teacher turns on a cold faucet and a hot faucet; puts her right hand under the cold faucet and her left hand under the hot. Says "My right hand is at 40 degrees and my left hand is at 110 degrees. Therefore my average hand is at 75 degrees, which is Just Right!"



The more alert students get the point immediately and laugh.

= = = = =

The only valid thing you can do is to examine the trends of the various locations. If all trends run up and down together, then you can start asking questions about some influence that might affect all of them. And when you ask those questions, you'll find sunspots.

But that is NOT what we have on this particular planet in this particular century. What we have is unconnected trends. (You can use this useful NOAA graphing tool to examine those trends for yourself.) Some areas show a fairly steady upward trend over the century, some areas show a fairly steady downward trend. From this real situation you can't draw any conclusions about the whole globe. You can only say that different patterns are affecting different areas. Most of those patterns may be tied to sunspots, maybe some relate to soot, some are urban heat islands, some relate to ocean currents, etc, etc.

When you start with the assumption that there is an Average Global Temperature affected by some universal global influence, you're committing the sin of circular reasoning. The assumption is not automatic. It needs to be justified independently before you try to form a number that supposedly represents all changes on the globe at once. Any "conclusion" that follows from a circular start is prima facie invalid.

= = = = =

Sidenote: Even aside from this specific piece of illogic, the arithmetic mean is very rarely an appropriate way to form a typical value. For money (income, house values) the median is best. For numbers that relate to human perception (light intensity, sound intensity) a geometric average or RMS is best.

Labels: Blinded by Stats, Carbon Cult

  ¶ 5:29 PM