LSU Obliterates Auburn -&- "Election"

The #19 team in the nation, the Auburn Tigers, came to Baton Rouge with hopes of upsetting the BCS #1 ranked LSU football team. Auburn did manage to put points on the board, somehow. This is the second time this season LSU has defeated a long time SEC opponent by the largest margin of victory in the history of their meetings. The score was 45-10. Alabama poses a real challenge on November 5th in a game that's sure to be a nailbiter, but right now the LSU Tigers seem like Roman's going into battle against Celts. They have continued to devastate opponents. They are a convincing top ranked team, to say the least.

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Louisiana had elections today. Before they started it was crystal clear nothing would change in this district. Groovenor Gin Doll has the big race sewed up, even with 9 people running against him (in fact he won very big). I refused to pick a different candidate because none of them really worked to win the office. They certainly did not tour Baton Rouge's inner city, and that shows how little they care. Jindal could never get my vote while remaining a member of the Glorious Oligarchy Party; the GOP has led the middle class to the brink of destruction. Gotta work hard to remember Louisiana kicks ass, otherwise some of the minor black marks against it will make the whole place seem like a detestable, poverty stricken third world country again.

A Table:

Election WinnerGovernor JindlBy a mileNo competition What election? Sad, really. Sorry, activists.


A Colored box:



With elections like the one we had yesterday it's easy to understand why some people give up on the entire process, thinking it meaningless. If everyone in Tiger Stadium, Death Valley that is, had actively voiced support for change and voted to make it happen, the outcome may have been different. That's more difficult than drinking beer and watching LSU make grown men cry, however. Voter apathy may have had less to do with this election than football, to be honest.
[Another meaningless comment.]


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Have been reading Templesmith's Gentleman Corpse series. It's a great little work of dark comedy. No comic book has been this enjoyable in so many years I can't remember. It follows the adventures of a corpse possessing maggot named Wormwood. The very polite and refined maggot solves ghastly crimes. Highly recommended.

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How does someone miss a spelling error in their title? Finally noticed 2 weeks later.

Louisiana ~Bans Cash

The state of Louisiana banned the use of cash in the purchase and sale of secondhand items. Antique stores, pawnshops, flea markets and yard sales will all be prohibited from using legal United States tender when doing business. Individuals engaged in commerce involving anything besides brand new goods will be forced to use credit cards, checks or money orders.

Louisiana House Bill 195 was passed and signed into law by Governor Bobby Jindal. We are now our own country. United States money is no good here. The law was passed and signed without any significant media coverage.

Legislators who support the law claim it targets criminals, and that banning cash transactions will help combat the sale of stolen property. It sounds an awful lot like treating a symptom rather than curing a problem. The sale of stolen goods could not possibly account for even an entire percentage of cash sales in the state. The legitimate 99+% will now suffer because of extremely shoddy legislation. The law is unconstitutional, idiotic and shameful. Un-be-fucking-lievable.

Glorious Oligarchy Party Declaration: All your tender is belong to us!

When entering the Republic of Louisiana, please present your papers, and while traveling remember to keep your face exposed at all red light cameras. It's for your own safety. The Party knows best. There will be no anonymity in commercial matters. "Protection over privacy." So say the elite, so must you all say.

Review-a-thon, or Not

Stumbled across perhaps the most epic music share session of all time. Considered reviewing a bunch of the albums and posting the links myself, but decided it would be a humongous undertaking. Instead decided to forward the entire spectacle and leave the burden of fair use reviews to the reader.

United States law: You can download an album. After that you have 24 hours to review the album and post your review somewhere. After that you must delete the album from your hard drive in order to remain compliant with United States copyright laws. The artists often very much appreciate the attention and the review. If you do a good job, then instead of breaking the law you have contributed to the prosperity of the musicians. It's good sportsmanship to review imports as well, even though you do not run the risk of legal action for not doing so.

God Tier Share Thread

Get out there and force a bunch of takedown letters to [file hosting service]. If nobody complains, then the musicians aren't getting any attention. Show the music industry some love.

More Fun from Wall Street


Don't feel remorse if you don't think you can handle this sort of scene. On the other hand, if civil disobedience and good clean police conflict is your idea of a good time, then Occupy Wall Street has what you're looking for. Having a clean record helps at bail hearings. Remember, it's not what you did or didn't do that determines how you'll be treated by the authorities, its whether or not you make them angry.

Gratis Iranian Pointers

Some of those attending the International Atomic Energy Agency General Convention received free laser pointers from Iran. The laser pointers are shaped like little centrifuges.


The laser pointers come with the slogan "Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapon for None." So, Iran refuses to have only one nuclear weapon, eh? Ahmadinejad will stop at nothing! Presumably it was just poor English usage, but one can never tell. From Arms Control Wonk.

Knocked Out

Some guy at Occupy Wall Street got his clock cleaned by a NYPD white shirt. It plays the scene twice just in case you missed it. One can only wonder what the guy wearing the green shirt said, because it is clear that it happened because of something he vocalized. Some of us were just born with the skill it takes to make somebody that angry using only words. O, also, "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" & "Holy sh**!"



Chris Hedges wrote a fantastic piece about "progressive and liberal" orgs, and labor organizations, trying to ride OWS coat tails. Hedges very accurately described how those organizations failed voters and supporters and now look to people actually getting things done to stay in the spotlight (MoveOn's 2008 approach already showed their total irrelevance). It was a great article to wake up to and to help wake one up, in case you missed it, and that only means from sleep, not some implied haze of civil indifference.

Unrelated:
The Yellow Sea is still coming to mind two days later. It failed to overtake Old Boy for best fight sequence of all time, but it came damn close. The escape sequences are believable and two of them dragged me to my feet. It was just that intense. Hong-jin Na directed the movie, and another well worth watching called The Chaser. "Never work for the mafia. They'll never let you go."

FoundThings

While the rest of the LSU faithful were traveling to the Tennessee game and back I traveled back home to Tiger country. Now that the weekend is over I'm about to head back to the land of the Volunteers. While here I went through a lot of material, audio, written, video. I hadn't been able to do the fun thing in a long time. Inevitably I go too far, and so I stopped listing before I got to the hardcore Asian cinema (the good stuff, for the totally jaded). That will come up another time. This is just some of it. Here it is:

Japanther, Defiance Ohio, Trainwreck Riders, nonsenose (whaaa?), Turnout (Cockney fux need subtitles tho'), My Little Pony (so you can all get cancer and then give it to everyone else - I wouldn't watch it for a case of yellow cake, a truckload of C4 and a detonator, well, maybe for that), DJ Zo and Dumbfoundead, Why aren't you at OccupyWallSt protest right now? (I've got a cold, my iPod is broken, wifi in the park is bottlenecked, summer ended, the dog ate my "I Give A Fuck" badge, there's no money in it [that we can talk about], it's hipper to write about OWS than be there, dude, it's outside, and, also, there is no Occupy Small Town [I already regret writing that, but it was going around, albeit not entirely spoken, in a massive fashion last week]), keaton henson - you don't know how lucky you are, Last Life in the Universe - a movie with Tadanobu Asano (he played Kakihara, {enuff Kakihara to strangle a mofo} the stand-in boss who made "Icchi" as great as it was); this movie is too deep to relate, he plays a guy who lives, has a relationship. and finally, awesome for Ubuntu desktop.

Can contain it no longer: The Yellow Sea has mind boggling action. Asian cinema at its very best. Just a top notch wrecking ball driven storyline.

Conserveral

Thank goodness this web log is run by a pro-life Catholic with strong conservative slants in many areas. If the author passionately pursued left wing ideals and accepted purely liberal values, then the political action motivation writing could significantly weaken many core values on the periphery of our society. Those areas need a strong platform of moral stability more than anywhere else. Liberal humanism has little to do with politics and everything to do with day to day interaction and work. People who have seen the most grueling and difficult conditions in our nation can accept human behavior at levels that did not exist when bastions of political conservatism were young, and yet still cling solidly to their own old fashioned backgrounds. No conflict exists between those schools of thought, merely expanded levels of tolerance among younger people, and note that younger does not mean young.

Citizens who have reached rock bottom would find little comfort in changing governmental regulations and representation, even if they are the object of the endeavors. For example, someone who has contracted HIV through heterosexual sex or drug use may not even have known they were at risk and will be reeling from the diagnosis. They will need well established guidelines for finding care beyond diagnosis. They could very well need substance abuse treatment or shelter from domestic abuse, in the case of prostitutes will eventually find nothing but anger when they can no longer return to their "partner" with money. Liberal thinkers show great strength of character and tenacity in the face of adversity when confronting the realities of those nightmare situations alongside the people trapped in them Social workers and institutional intermediaries by category of their education demonstrate liberal understanding and knowledge, and that has nothing to do with their core values. Those living through the hardship must regain acceptance in their community, at least in their own minds, even if on the surface private matters never revealed the ostracism. In those matters they turn to churches, they turn to the solid foundations, they go back to the standards they know will not be abandoned and where they will not find themselves facing their problems alone. That's just an example. There are a myriad of ways in which liberal thought and conservative values must be inseparable to be effective.

The man who owns these written words never abandoned the old fashioned beliefs and sentiments. Yarns and stories about our nation the way it was before the cities grew and swallowed the countryside in state after state, handed down by our elders, always carry with them a special appeal and allure. That country has not been forgotten, nor have our traditions and doctrines been altered by the passage of time. The images and music of the past have a place, but nothing brings the antique back to life and makes it new again besides the power of our language. Therein true magic resides.

Make no mistake, though much fun can be had ruffling the feathers of those unaccustomed to the depths to which our society has plunged in places their faith and their ideals is never a genuine target of criticism or demands. Those depths of modern human behavior make myopic puns humorous through their intentional ignorance of context and insert the mirth into drawn conclusions that are feigned and incorrect, because by comparison the trickery of ruse gaffes and crude jabs is totally harmless and entertaining. In the end faith based works win out every time, and sincerity will always be victorious over falsehood. The commentary here can be viewed as a diversion for a lazy afternoon or held up with deadly seriousness. There's nothing that can be done about that once the words have been written and presented, but again and again clarification rescues intentions and revealed circumstances lighten heavy moral burdens. Sometimes it is difficult to reign in the zealous feeling of comaraderie with idealists of the past, but respecting the feelings and the honor of the people of the present means more than all the ideology in a stack of textbooks. And the teachings of the Jesus Christ and the words handed down through the ages in Christianity, and other wise religious paths, mean more than all this gobbledygook ever will; those ways save lives.

It is time to give this a rest. The typographical errors and more serious mistakes likely here bring a shudder to the nerves. If only the words were visible without so much effort... I claim ownership of them for the pleasure of giving them to you.

[Is there nobody to shut me up late at night? Oh, this one. Too sappy. Too explanatory. Too nice. Yuck. Wonder what I should do with it...[edits never happened, and may never]]

I'll Just Put Some Words Here

Further notes:
=::+ openSuSE- is nearly perfect, but some knuckleheads at KDE tampered with Configure Desktop. KDE's normally quick, easy and centrally located tweak zone for all things desktop appearance related got busted into two locations and over-simplified. Icons now can't be substituted individually (sometimes they could before, sometimes not, no biggie). There was a rendering conflict bleeding into the visible range in the window decorations, but downplaying all the desktop effects, which came ENABLED out of the box (yuck) fixed the mess. Still, there was no reason for them to change anything, except somebody needed a paycheck. I have to respect their tenacity in holding onto their positions no matter what they had to do during these rough financial times. They made some improvements- They stayed on the team when in the past the developers would have been cut - an improvement over losing them.

=::+ Happy as can be with new OS version, and finally made it sleek and stable. Akregator is loaded and everything is in there without a bottleneck during feed fetches. System is optimized for dynamic educational and political writing at a frenetic pace. It's cherry as can be. :)

=::+ bTW- Mitt Romnrey is not a member of a cult, per se, or at all really. He's a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Mormon Church. It's way too big to be a cult, sort of like OWS. It's a denomination! [I know big words] The nastiest things I write I do so with dry humor in my heart and mind. Folks may think it's all serious. It's all comedy from where I'm sitting.

=::+ Fate/Stay Night - Saber was a woman, and Shirou fell in love with her. But then she won the Holy Grail War and became King Arthur, and he was dreaming of his love with Shirou. Also, Ep. 23 -"Fiend! You got him with your gay bulge!" Srsly? It happened. That was a twist. Personally I prefer Shyamalan's twists over "the gay bulge," but I didn't ask for the twist, I didn't see the twist coming, that's why it's a twist, etc. So, Guinevere goes to throw Caliburn in the lake and Arthur(ia) reclines and thinks fondly of the Holy Grail War, and then fuckin' dies. Sigh. I lost a night of sleep to finish watching that...

In all fairness, the entire lengthy series Arturia's voiceover is a tenor soprano woman and she's Shirou's servant. She calls him master. He occasionally walks in on her in the shower bath, finds her very sexually appealing and falls in love with her. I get the sense that there's an uncut Fate/Stay Night out there, the director's secret stash under the floorboards maybe, that shows her buxom nude body in one of the many scenes where it would be possible. It's not like there's anything even remotely ambisexual about their attraction. As far as abnormality goes there is only the master-servant relationship, which wasn't abnormal or far out there for thousands of years from place to place.

The weird gender bending scene, if I inte5rpreted it correctly and if it was translated properly, seemed to be an afterthought. In fact, it may very well be an error in the subs. Regardless, it's minor as hell. The series wasn't fantastic, but it also didn't feature abnormal sexuality at all.

The following wraps up my thoughts on this series. Look up "Fate/Stay Night gay bulge" on YouTube if you want to check that out. It's a weird thing to say in the middle of a battle.

Germany Laments Russia Failure

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet with Dmitri Medvedev during his last visit before Vladimir Putin returns to the helm of Russia as their President. Medvedev will step down and assume a role as Russia's Prime Minister. The widespread hope that modernization of the Russian economy would lead to democratization and improved human rights has been all but extinguished. Germany lent massive support to a Russian capitalism conversion only to see little real change in the area of government.

European nations, and Germany in particular, bestowed limited aid and political favors with an eye on trade rather than real reforms. Western nations failed to approach the issues of judiciary independence and free speech. At the same time Russia looked at the resource and trade needs of Europe as a check against the bargaining power of those nations toward bringing the superpower in line with modern human values.

The past saw Germany and greater Europe forgo the use of soft power in trade as a means to urge that Russia work on legal improvements, that they reign in organized crime and separate the court systems from administrative micromanagement, among other things. Besides human rights violations Russia often ignores international accords on the environment in practice. The ruling structure remains solidly intact and notably remiss in spending money on the nation's physical needs. Roads, buildings, schools and hospitals crumble while money continues to flow into national coffers, but, more so, corruptly into private bank accounts and the pockets of politicians. The needs of the people are only slightly less ignored than the country's ecosystems.

Medvedev did nothing that would have diminished the role of senior government officials, in any sector, nor anything that would have impacted the earnings of the aristocracy. He functioned with minimal autonomy from former President Putin, who stepped aside from running Russia in title only. In the strictest sense Putin relinquished governance while Medvedev served, but very shortly Putin will take on full leadership in every way once more, not just as the man with all the strings.

The Russian military never suffered any lack of attention in Putin's absence, and the issue of nuclear weapons regulation also gave Europe nothing to find positive. Nuclear weapons wrangling will return to familiar patterns with Putin once again bearing the title of President. Those negotiations mostly take place with the United States, with Europe sitting idly and nervously on the sidelines. The U.S. and NATO's anti-ballistic missile defense system, planned with illegal nuclear weapons programs in the Arab world in mind, drew firm opposition from Russia. The Europeans divided on the issue depending on their interpretation of Russia's response and their trade status with the neighboring superpower.

Another situation that Europe hoped would gain steps to resolution was the Transnitria desire for independence from Moldova, a 20 year old affair. Europe hoped to establish a European Union-Russian Political and Security Committee to address civil and military matters with crises in mind, and believed membership in such an organization would be attractive enough to use as leverage on Transnitria. Mrs. Merkel proposed the initiative, but it accomplished nothing.

Even though nothing firmly progressive ever transpired during Medvedev's term he had, at least, a somewhat more open mind. Vlad is coming back, and all the hopes for change have vanished. Instead of Westernization analysts expect agitation over NATO and the small struggles for autonomy in the tiny former states of the USSR. Putin desires the exact opposite of what Germany and Europe wanted. He wants to expand his style of government further west, and develop the Eurasian Union from the European model. To the east of Europe leaders do not see the bright illumined faces accompanying a Russian Renaissance. Times are murky and gray as clouds roll back in, accompanying Vladimir Putin back to the peak of the Kremlin and Moscow.

[worst error score in ages]

Deaf, Blind and Soulless


No matter how many times we change our representation and exercise our rights as voters the ruling elite in Washington DC ignore voter demands and stifle all change. No matter how clear we state our grievance, that the system as it stands dooms the people to economic hardship, Congress and the White House refuse to seriously address the problem, and business continues as though nothing at all has transpired. When will our so-called leaders get the message, from all of us, that change is not about rhetoric, it's about action? This year? Right after the next election? That sounds so familiar. One must wonder about the holdup, and not just the holdup in which the wealthiest portion of our country took money from the rest of us to stay at the top.

When will elections stop being contests to see who can most magnificently deceive the voters into believing action will be taken and start being milestones of reform? The answer could be revealed to be never and it would surprise so few. What percentage of struggling voters does it take for the struggle to become the number one issue and not a statistic at the end of a pointer? 50 percent? 65%? Does the term "all of us" mean anything to politicians, or have they become so blinded by power that words have lost all meaning? All equates to "in totality," but that would be technically incorrect, as there is that little percentage that owns almost everything.

Most politicians aren't even part of the 1%. Some are like pets of the obscenely rich. When it gets cold outside the fat cats can yawn at the windows, at us, as we clamor to be let into the system that is now based on exclusion and predation rather than inclusion and benefaction. If they start to become self aware, corporate headquarters can always dispense tasty treats and scratch their backs. Meanwhile, we might as well fall for the trick where the door is held open briefly but is only a trap. Sometimes we get hit on top of the head with an anvil, other times a skillet hidden in the snow brains the hasty.

Wait! There's a telegram! It's from Acme! It says, "You're too late to duck." Boof! A sledgehammer to the solar plexus just knocked the wind out of somebody. When will we ever learn? If only it was as easy to recover in real life as it is in the cartoons. In real life we freeze to death in the cold. The safe bet is those protests will end soon. It gets cold outside, without homes, without jobs. without real hope. Actually, it gets cold anyway, but you get my drift.

99.9% Horrific

Not many people in that single percent at the top who own almost everything have had to bite the bullet, literally, and pull out a jaw tooth with a pair of pliers because they didn't have the money to go to a dentist. Maybe none of them have ever had to consider doing such a thing. The back tooth at the top on the right side was intact enough for the pliers to clamp down, although it had broken twice in a month and the exposed surface had rapidly dwindled during that time. Every time it was jarred for any reason a mind altering, sharp explosion of pain caused me to gasp and clench my eyes and fists shut. During the worst part of the initial economic crisis of 2009 I lost my job and had no income whatsoever. On top of that I was in a part of the United States where the concept of a charity hospital was alien and unexplored, and even in Baton Rouge, where there is a charity hospital, getting a spot of dental work has been described to me as nearly impossible.

So there I was with a broken tooth in the back of my mouth, at the top, that made eating akin to torture. Drinking water a slightly different temperature than my mouth could set off shock inducing waves of agony. I forgot and drank something cold and screamed for a couple of minutes, but I only did that once. I made the decision to take the matter into my own hands for fear of losing my mind.

I gripped my only pair of pliers and attempted to squeeze the engagement jaws on the tooth. That firm pressure caused waves of light to radiate in my eyes themselves, with or without my eyes closed, and dragged a low moan from my throat. I took a large mouthful of whiskey and held it, which burned and had it's own pain signature, but which was unquestionably necessary. The second and third attempts fared no better. I did not have the cold blooded tenacity to move the tooth, until I decided the whiskey was my savior and finished off a pint as though it were a shot. One minute and a half later I grabbed the tooth between the jaws of the pliers and wrestled with it, though I squealed, my features contorted and my awareness was consumed entirely by consideration of the tooth and the tool.

I managed to tear that tooth out of my mouth before my motor functions degenerated beyond functionality. The bleeding was significant but nothing like I thought it would be. I immediately felt relief from the nerve that had taken control of my life for over ten days. Fearing a dry socket I jabbed an Exacto knife a short way into the gums surrounding the prior location of the tooth, but as soon as I struck the devil nerve that still sent out signals from that location I desisted. I packed it with a couple of cotton balls soaked in whiskey, thankful to God there had been money enough to purchase the alcohol.

The ordeal ended that night. The next day I was able to eat cautiously and within a couple of days the socket had healed. There's still nothing in that spot far in the back of my mouth. I never forgot about that. I had never wished for the money to see a dentist so hard in my life. In the end, thanks to economic realities, I was forced to handle it myself, with what I had at my disposal.

I wonder how Meg Whitman would fare in such a situation. The top executives at Morgan Stanley might pay to see someone stuck in such a predicament. The nation's most successful investment bankers make it no secret that they have the killer instinct when it comes to human interaction. Many of them would toss a young man or woman to the wolves in a heartbeat, literally, to be torn to shreds by teeth and claws, and in the past would have had no qualms about standing up for that ideology. Many have spoken of being ruthless with pride, although at this stage in American history even the most dilettante veteran of hostile takeovers and obscene derivative profit taking might defer such pronouncements, and the savvy would definitely demure for the time being. Such discussion could prolong the little commotion called Occupy Wall Street.

I have complete awareness and understanding of the alpha male, warrior businessperson mentality, the outlook that deems climbing over the bodies of broken competitors the mark of a great person, a success story. Of course my "complete awareness and understanding" comes only from what I've read in books and is really laughable considering my background. I have a familiarity with the way some business philosophy has been described, would be a better way to put it. The entire myth was created to lead such people down a path littered with material reward, but mostly to make the authors of such philosophies a small heap of their own money. Nevertheless, the philosophy exists and the path is real. That path is not something I know about, nor would I want to.

I am thankful that compassion makes up a large share of my character. I would not wish the pains I have felt on the greediest, most corrupt men, and women, in this nation. They don't deserve the wisdom I have gleaned from my experiences. That tooth ache was nothing compared to the pain so many have felt when they lost everything because of the corrupt practices of those "warrior businesspeople." My pain was caused by nature, but every day during economic crises somebody loses everything they have worked for their entire lives. That pain builds from and on deep emptiness, from complete lack, from a vacuum of capital ability. That pain is deep and wide and the men and few women who value financial success and the accompanying power of it are responsible in a huge number of cases. Those responsible parties in such cases can be like participants in an economic genocide, and that philosophy is built on reasoning very closely akin to the war crimes of ethnic cleansing: The strong should thrive and eliminate the weak, the loathsome, who are merely objects on the path to the glory of the chosen few.

Philosophies touting social natural selection can be very serious, very dark and disturbing, just like all the indicators of our day and age that point to the chances the masses have of ever getting ahead. Many of us are the victims of class destruction. In the long run the reduction of oneself to just being a part of nearly everyone actually hinders empowerment, one might think.

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[The errors were particularly painful. Failed to proof first]
Almost permanently deleted this... have a blinding migraine.

On Plutocracy Panic

In his New York Times op/ed Paul Krugman detailed the whining and the screeching of the GOP political elite as they flail about knowing that Occupy Wall Street has got their number. He pointed out one of the funnier reactions:
My favorite, however, is Senator Rand Paul, who for some reason worries that the protesters will start seizing iPads, because they believe rich people don’t deserve to have them.
It's only funny if one suspends for a moment the knowledge that Senator Paul is serious. Rand Paul likely does believe that the protesters may commence physical assaults, or robbery, as he is describing, and humor does not mesh with that notion.

Pretending, for a moment, that Senator Paul made his remarks out of a sense of good sportsmanship, then let us by all means play along. It's time to seize iPads. For poor people those devices aren't as useful as knee pads, but since we wouldn't be getting elbow pads at the same time anyway, to greatly lessen the discomfort of taking it from the wealthy on all fours, we might as well settle for the Apple gadgets. Some of us have no use for knee pads alone, anyway. Those of us who don't lend our mouths to the whims of the 1% for the sake of lining our pockets won't be able to stop the reaming, but we sure as hell don't have to be on our knees. We are forced to bend to pick our lives up from the dirt every time the top tier reaps too many digits of capital from derivatives, but we aren't obliged to pay lip service to the lofty aristocrats who bought representatives of the people body and soul. We owe no obeisance.

Senator Rand Paul should probably guard against the watchful eye of real conscience instead of feigning concern for items he likely doesn't even use. Every moment Eric Cantor barks complaints about all the complaints, another moment that could have been spent drafting real compromise and real solutions has passed by and disappeared. His party's warfare against civil liberties, common sense and decency in government obligations has been far more like true combat than the last ditch effort of everyday folk to save the dying American dream.

There can be no class warfare against the 1% at the top. Not only aren't there enough of them to count as a class, but there is no way to wage such a struggle. The infinitely privileged have purchased all the seats to the event, and the chairs sit empty. They have written all the rules requisite for participation, and refuse to even let them be read. They put a fence around the battlefield, and unless you're THIS tall you can't even get in. The warfare was over before it became a concept.

Krugman has a keen way of stating the painfully obvious. It would be a great Christmas present to wake up one year and find a piece by Krugman that lights up the room and the reader's thoughts. What a present if Krugman focused on the unbearable surplus of jobs, the overflowing ranks of the middle class, the staggering optimism of the masses and the undying spirit of friendship between the wealthy and the wealthier in this nation, and the other three people about to be empowered enough to reach that state as well. I can dream. I have hope, and it's not something from a speech. Of course I'm not stupid either, I just like to believe we as a people can pull off the impossible, if we 100% set our minds to it.

Sunday Morning: Better

Coming Soon

Chapter 17: Smudge on a Clean Slate
October 12, 2011

  • NY Times article pointed out by Matthew Yglesias says that the Pearson Foundation has been funding international trips for education commissioners for what they call strictly educational purposes - to give the commissioners ideas for improving their schools from schooling models in other countries. The Pearson Foundation may have a generous streak a mile wide in its charter, but they surely want to sell books. At the very least they are counting on the recipients of their good will to drum up positive word of mouth for their company. It's a shame that the microscope for this sort of practice has to be on an educational company considering the vast world of lobbying sleaze out there. Possible that Pearson Foundation's travel agent got scooped by one of their competitors- En garde! Have at thee with this negative publicity!

  • The largest European hacker club, the Chaos Computer Club, claims to have discovered and analyzed a piece of malware written and used by German police. It's the typical Big Brother program for a totally invasive breach of privacy. The German government spyware intercepts data used on Internet telephony. It has no protections against being hijacked however, and can easily be used by a third party to have it do whatever they like: turn on and use webcams, or connected microphones, and easily capture screenshots of browsing and emails. German officials voiced denial. They couldn't be proud that not only does the malware have morally and legally corrupt implications, it's a shoddy piece of work as well, since anyone can use it

  • The Value Voters Summit straw poll contained an error in one of the multiple choice questions. The question asked which issue was the most important to the voter in deciding who to support. One of the answers was "Protecting one man one women marriage." Rick Perry gained the assistance of Robert Jeffress in spotlighting Mitt Romney's cultist religious beliefs, that church physically linked to the Utah badlands and canyon country and forever associated with polygamy in the minds of any who have learned about the sect. "One man one women marriage:" Legalizing polygamy once again could be part of a hidden agenda at Mitt Romney headquarters, where jealousy fans the flames of anti-Chinese sentiment. Romney: "So many Chinese women, so only one marriage, so not available."



  • Not long ago Ars Technica ran a story enunciating a heap of very bad things about RSS, but the specifics weren't quite as large as the story. At the end the biggest definite negative was that RSS interrupts normal work flow. Updating feeds draw your attention away from a task at hand, and it can take up to fifteen minutes to fully resume the interrupted state of complete attentiveness. There was a brief section concerning the feeling that one is shirking work when confronted with the number of unread items at the top of an RSS reader, a number which never, ever goes down at any rate even close to the speed at which it goes up. The sense of an unmet obligation nags at the edges of one's awareness, and that can cause a slowdown in normal productivity.

    Speaking of RSS, the front page link to Ars' RSS feeds is broken right now, which is why this story emerged here. This while Ars tries to sell personalized RSS feeds. 2011. Personalized RSS feed. 2D dating. Anti-depressant sales up. Topics relative to each other.

  • Right wing conservative talk about the end of the era of constant scientific progress means little as the progress rolls on. New chips: 20 times faster than DDR2, less volatile due to decreased electrical demand, more stable than NAND flash memory. Out soon.

    Mozilla Firefox will be updated silently. Users will have to understand that consent for update is given when they begin using Firefox. User input actually drove the decision. People have wearied of constant update announcements regarding their browser. The move to silent upgrades won't happen until 2012.

  • Andrew Sullivan pays homage to some opinions found in the National Review Online, a piece written by Peter Thiel. Thiel hypothesizes that technological breakthroughs have come to an end and that our economic outlook has shifted accordingly. Facts have muffled the pomp and circumstance surrounding a move to green technology. The glorification of solar energy, environmentally friendly solutions to energy problems and all things green is a portrait of loss. The movement has failed. Futuristic agriculture isn't solving hunger. According to Thiel we have reached the end of progress and buzz now surrounds negative news rather than a slowdown in positive news. Economic news has returned to strictly economic trends as scientific discussion fades into obscurity.

    "National Review Online" article, negativity, overweight Fertile Crescent descended marginally taboo sexual deviant - all factors that point to a yawn inducing Sunday afternoon non-news event. The Luddites in the GOP got an early Christmas present. It's an article saying their dreams have come true, that the development of new technology has ceased. Never mind Thiel created the story just to be contrary. Scientists, programmers, engineers and businessmen have never been hotter to make breakthroughs happen than they are right now, which is a constant state of deep seated yearning to make history and have a name that lives forever. Thiel, however, should be commended for bringing peace to some troubled oldsters afraid of a mandatory conversion kit that would sodomize their Studebakers, having them run on squeezed out Church's chicken napkins instead of good old fashioned liver friendly gasoline (gasoline is just for drinkin' now that cars run on stove drippings!).

    I wrote what follows, but I respect Andrew Sullivan immensely. His posting of the material without a countering argument got on my nerves. This ad hominem response was uncalled for, and not my style.
    Andrew Sullivan probably wanted to share a story about how long he gazed wistfully at a picture of Peter Thiel wearing a baby blue polyester sport coat in a speaking engagement for The League of Thermodynamics Deniers. It's difficult for Sullivan to be honest on a normal human level, however, so he brought us the uplifting words that our forward motion as a scientific culture has halted. So we are to go back to basket weaving in between gathering berries for the life prolonging paste our women will pound out. Hey, at least it wasn't Sullivan's NRO article.


  • Learn how to make Matroska files just so there are no lingering questions about Matroska in one's mind: Matroskatoolnix. Also, that way mkv can be demuxed and the audio chopped up for personal use, in chunks small enough to escape the ire of any person or agency. A person created the software. His name: Bunkus. His real name. Fun stuff. What a start...
  • Kaiji is available in a batch, it's just not public. It's the Triad subs. That oh-so-popular private dowhatchit has it courtesy of elshaitan. [Your topic may set off alarm bells in your own head if it contains references to an imaginary terrorist and fringe software that many people fail to understand legally- but seriously, it's a cartoon. K?]
  • This life is out there. Life on the edge wears on the human mind after a while. Difficult: Presenting one's self as subsisting on the edge of society as a loner and a qualified judge of social extremes while living in a house with multiple kids and their mother, who all have or have access to video games, computers, HD cable with premium channels, dvd's, cars, music, plentiful food, stocked liquor cabinet, multiple full bathrooms, comfortable beds, pets of multiple species and square footage enough to always have personal space. I will not pretend I'm not here, nor will I pretend to be a permanent fixture in this demographic. I have to say, "One day I'm here, baby, and then I'm gone."

    This beautiful life is not of my creation, nor can I truly say that it is my own. I'm just passing through on my way to my own beautiful life. It is beautiful, though. I can find no rational criticism for the comfort filled existence that includes all of the commercial trappings so clamored for by both the haves and the have nots, except maybe to urge saving money over spending it, and trimming the excess whenever possible. Even that criticism can't find a foothold here, where the family budget is never in the red and there are always desires that aren't being fulfilled. The home is comfortable, but it is not hedonistic or excessive.

    In my own truly spectacular existence, as all life should be considered when we are blessed enough to wake up on God's green earth, or even in the sky or below the ground, I depend on open spaces, cleanliness, simplicity and intellectual sanctuary: the cultural comfort of books and art. The difficulties of poverty are something I imposed upon myself long ago with a religious decision I took very seriously. Spirituality and meditation take the place of television. I refuse to drive, instead choosing to savor the feel of nature on my skin and the sounds of the open world in my ears. I prefer to total the tea instead of dull the senses, although imbibed spirits have their uses in certain places and times. Experiencing what mainstream America considers the good life has not swayed me from my belief that the good life doesn't depend on things. Wellness comes from the inside, not from the outside. To have it is to never be a have not.

  • Questioning the value of attempting visual appeal to both genders: Today I posted sexually suggestive pictures of both a woman and a man. I wonder if the pictures influence a surfer at all. The presence of a photographed nude male may provoke a negative response more than anything. I decided it likely detracted more than adding promotional benefits. I forgot it was there, even though I put it up early this afternoon. When I saw a naked male ass I was taken aback. Then I remembered, I did it to lure in a woman casually flipping through websites. One can speculate it would appeal to the homosexual male, but heterosexual women might find it notably out of place to see a nude male on a man's website. Some would jump to conclusions, others may be more inclined to take a look inside. It's not the normal thing, and that appeals to me, but not enough to make it a permanent feature.
  • Posting inside of a morning post now considered a failed experiment. Nobody is checking here without electronic prompting. So, you know who you are, if you feel spammed because of the number of RSS stories from here, then unsubscribe. I won't even know you're gone. I don't pay extra for that information. :) Starting tomorrow every blurb will be published separately, like every other site does, unless it is part of a feature that offers multiple news items at one time.

MST3K Candidacies

  • Rule 1: Prime numbers do not exist without a witnessing consciousness and are not independent of human awareness; no numbers are.
    Rule 2: Talk about Horrible Subs as though Tyler Durden's life depended on it.
    Rule 3: There are no rules.

  • Emerging Saturday theme: "This is not what it is."

    Alexandra Petrie refers to Occupy Wall Street protesters as these people, criticizes everything she can, refers to them as "us" and "we." She attempts to ride the coattails of the movement for any success she can get while at the same time demonstrating the incredible wit with which she can dispatch the ignorance of the protesters to futility. Her column picks at every dangling thread of Occupy Wall Street using language that pretends she empathizes, or is even a part of the movement, Ms. Petrie, how hip art thou?

    In Mitt Romney's campaign platform dealing with foreign affairs, the plan proposed with regard to China is not to build an anti-Chinese coalition, but rather "to strengthen cooperation among countries with which we share a concern about" that country. As Daniel Larison points out, Romney proposes to do all the same things as Obama with less tact and more antagonistically. It's not anti-Chinese, it's pro-weapons buildup, to be used against China, in case.

    Laura Ingraham refers to herself as being together with the rest of us "who yearned for history" in the election of a black man to the presidency. Right after that she goes on to discuss how Herman Cain would really be the first black President, because Obama is mixed race. Ms. Ingraham has worked out the race thing for everyone, and we should be thankful. We might have thought Barack Obama was a black man if it weren't for her. What a classy dame.

    These re the things that are what they are, not that aren't what they are, even if the author tells us that they are most definitely not what they are. Then there are industry shills masquerading as pundits who don't even bother to pretend they aren't what they are. Neil Stevens speaks out against Net Neutrality without any backing argument. He should have just said, "I'm against everything I am paid to be against. Down with the FCC and the law, especially Net Neutrality, because.. down with Net Neutrality!" Here's a gem, however: Obama himself is manipulating numbers on behalf of the FCC in order to steal from normal Americans. I knew it!

    Dishonesty is beginning to ramp up. Attacks lacking context but long on criticism are on the uptick. It's a big election year coming. For many of these writers the facts aren't nearly as important as influence. But don't ask them. They'll answer that the facts are not what they "look more like." How does one do look more like? It doesn't make sense, correct? Neither do a lot of Republican statements as of late. [1:20 P.M.]

  • Encountered graphs and charts showing just how royally we, the 99% of the people who own the tiniest fraction of wealth, have been getting screwed for decades. It would be easy to cart them over here with a little of the old copypasta action, and that may still happen later. For now here's a link to the very depressing numbers and the glaring reality of how the wealthy have been sticking it to us.
  • Mystery Science Theater Three Thousand has always been one of those things I wish I had gotten the idea for first, like Technologic by Daft Punk. It's so simple, but ground shaking in the way it affects some people's thoughts. I have no desire to do the same thing as MST3K, as far as movies go. There are a number of animated features and series that cry out for mockery, however. Some of them almost mock themselves and just need a little help.

Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head, somebody spoke, went in two, a scream, red: the news, blew whistle, stopped possible copyright infringement like a boss -- DoJ law-yer - more up when I get up (I despise having a Beatles song in my head - busted lyrics are an attempt to get it out. Humming B. Spears works sometimes). At least I beat noon with something. I know what to do - tell the truth. What I meant:

Fair Use- Ta Da!
Mekong Delta - Mekong Delta : tech/prog thrash ::

[Required = you have 24 hours to listen to that, and you must review it. Delete afterward, and don't come here looking for material. It's not here, and the link'll be gone later.]

Spasiboputinuzaeto? {shrug}

  • The 3 A.M. Test: Rick Santorum cheats. Rather thank waking up to find out what emergency faces the United States at three o'clock in the morning, Rick Santorum will be wide awake and waiting for the call. "I will be up and ready ... I will know what's going on in the world around us." Part of that matter is that late night at the White House proves the only time sex games are possible, and more Presidents have been up and bushy-tailed at that hour than some voters might think. Santorum wouldn't be able to put on his furry costume if he didn't stay up late. Steve Benen said that it often sounds as though Santorum is in the middle of a conversation with himself. Now we know why.
  • The award for Unspoken Fact with Biggest Impact in a Blog Post Title goes to Morgan Fox for "Department of Justice Takes Steps to Subsidize California Gangs; Threatens to Shut Down Medical Marijuana Dispensaries." It also wins runner up for longest title of a post of all time. Shorter: Feds Go After Medical Marijuana. Gangs are not mentioned in the short piece. I was very disappointed. I wanted to know which gangs would be most lucrative to join from a federal funding standpoint. [8:33 P.M.]
    .
  • Rick Perry spoke at a Value Voters Summit today in Washington D.C. A charismatic Baptist from one of the nation's megachurches introduced him. Robert Jeffress took aim at one of the people standing between Perry and the Republican nomination, Mitt Romney. Jeffress repeatedly commented on Mitt Romney's belief in Mormonism saying that no devout Christian would vote for a Mormon. Jeffress called Mormonism a cult; Mitt Romney, cult member - the Jefress target message. White Christians are still welcome to support Rick Perry, unless they have ever spoken with a brown person. It is hoped that new supporters will be protestant, but nobody is saying it quite that way.

    While at the summit Rick Perry declared that "every human being is entitled to life." He presumably meant that in a ramp up to a vociferous anti-abortion advocacy. He definitely did not mean that people like Troy Davis should be allowed to live. That position would be open to an examination of real evidence, and would be too easily manipulated in front of voters, who often only get a sound bite of information about a candidate before they make up their minds. Human being, it should also be noted, in Rick Perry's mind may not apply to people outside his demographic.h/t NRO

  • Nate Silver threw up some data on Occupy Wall Street news coverage. Every time the police do something to the protesters coverage goes up. In a very real sense if the police left protesters completely alone the interest in the story would have withered and died. Without conflict and excitement there would have been nothing to sell the story for this length of time. That simplification of the 538 article removes a lot of information - the corners have been rounded down until all that's left here is a little pink crazy ball (sniff). Nate's analysis, it appears, has been moved, and now takes place under the New York Times umbrella. [3:15 P.M.]

  • People are waking up to the fact that the 99% who have very little in the way of wealth is ALL OF US. We are the megamajority. The tiny, tiny percent at the top counts on bilking us to remain super, super wealthy, and as long as we don't empower ourselves they can do so. There will be no class war in a true American awakening, because we're very nearly EVERYONE. We are the 99%.

  • Driftglass and Blue Gal have a new podcast called The Professional Left. It's really a breath of fresh air. The got a great new thing going, and I found out about buzzsprout. It's 100% win. [5:15 P.M.]
    The sad: OpenLeft is closing down. Bowers and Stoller were still there. David Sirota departed two years ago or so. I do not want to belittle anyone who wrote at that great site. OpenLeft will be missed. A lot of times when a fresh outlook was needed I could find there. I don't know a silver lining tothis as I just found out. I hope there is one. Goodbye, OpenLeft. [9:20 P.M.]

  • The Russian President has a birthday. Followers and detractors alike decided to thank him, for everything. The weather has been nice. Thank you, Putin, for everything. The hospital saved my life after I was stabbed in the leg by syndicate members. Thank you, Putin! Twitter was inundated with birthday wishes for President Putin: Spasiboputinuzaeto. They used an exclamation point, but it's just not that exciting here. The translation is so simple, but it can't be done using public translation software. The mystery of what the word on Twitter meant was solved as soon as someone asked a Russian speaker.
  • Inside Scientology's Super Power Building... where worshippers of the controversial religion will be told they can become superhuman. Don't believe everything you hear. The place resembles the set of a game show, one that has an extra helping of futuristic gimmicks. Scientology preaches that the Earth is the target of an invasion by aliens, who are likely already here. That hostile race of extraterrestrials is responsible for a wide range of the problems faced by humanity. Luckily Scientology will be so busy cranking out superhumans the rest of us will easily be saved. On the day when Scientology ubermensches save us we will all owe L. Ron Hubbard our undying gratitude, in some of our cases right after an apology for referring to the religion as sheer lunacy.
  • Soundtrack: Stein's;Gate Future Gadget - "Butterfly Effect" - Abo Takeshi and Murakami Jun composed a lot of the music. The soundtrack provides a depth to the audio experience that can easily be missed while watching the show. There's so much going on emotionally in the video that some of the finer aspects of the experience almost get lost. Conjecture: Some people watched the show and didn't think of changing their own world at all. I pondered having a moe scene in the unlikeliest of all places - never gonna happen, not even with a dozen D-Mails to Stan Lee after Akira came out. [12:25 P.M.]
  • "Jenkins, front and center!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    "What's going on with you? You used to be our go-to guy for the... for this... has something been bothering you Jenkins?"

    "I'm not sure I understand you, sir."

    "Blue Team is kicking our ass all of a sudden. We're only down by an average of fifty points every week. We traced all the numbers, and it turns out what we're missing is your fifty point a week consolation prize."

    Jenkins face turned red. "I'd prefer not to discuss that, sir."

    "I understand it's private, private, but you're used to going through that every week. As long as they're giving out fifty points to accompany the embarrassment, we'd like you to go ahead and do your 'hand race,' as the GI Janes call it. It's for the good of the unit."

    "I feel very uncomfortable with that request, sir. There's a girl that I'm interested in. The only reason I was doing it was because of how long I had been single."

    "Well, then, consider it an order instead of a request."

    "Are you ordering me to -cough- choke my chicken?"

    "It's for the good of the unit."

    "What unit? Do you mean the platoon or... I don't even feel comfortable with this conversation."

    "Dammit, soldier, we haven't won the week in 3 weeks, and all because you like a girl. You ned to get back into the saddle when you get back into that bunk of yours at night and win the prize for most pathetic soldier again. We need that fifty points!"

    "What about Woodson or Luc Dong? They're pretty pathetic. One of them is probably on the verge of winning that prize already."

    "Jenkins, you have demonstrated that you know the competition to get this fifty points like the back of your hand. Don't let us down, son. And that girl will never find out, I promise you. Nobody outside of our barracks will ever know what you do in there at night."

    "I'm going to request a transfer."

    "That's fine soldier. Glad to hear it. Now run along. And don't forget to do us proud tonight!"
    [noon]



[Late start... got lost in the middle of the night, seriously. That doesn't happen very often. There's a first time for everything.]

Mail Rules on Appeal, Protesters Beaten

  • Cory Maples, on death row in Alabama, may not even be able to tell somebody about the shameful state of his legal representation during the appeals process. He did not have any attorneys to inform him of the lack of an attorney. Tuesday morning Justices Scalia and Kennedy both took note of the lack of normal justice in Maples case. The local judge assumed Maples would not appeal, even though that meant death. Maples attorneys in New York quit, but the notice got mixed up in the mail. Maples missed a deadline, and therefore his right to appeal. A local attorney was in name only, which provided no legal help to Maples of any kind. Even if in name only, shouldn't there be something that accompanies an attorney's name? A bare sliver of human compassion? Perhaps not.

    It's off to the execution for the convicted double murderer, once a drunk, an addict and mentally unstable. Nobody needs to tell Mr. Maples they can only kill him once. He can rest assured that the position of executioner never fails to be filled when it is time for the job to be done.

    There is no new information nor any real opinion in this reference to the story. The stark lack of defense for Mr. Maple at this stage peaked a morbid interest. Here's a man waiting to die while law school alumni pass in and out of his case with no interest and without doing any work on his behalf. It could be said that Mr. Maples fell through the cracks of the appeals process, which is odd considering there aren't normally any cracks in the appeals process to fall through. At least he gets fed while he waits for his appointment with state sponsored vengeance. It could be worse. He could be the victim of starvation torture while he waits (the bright side).

  • Police began beating people with batons last night. Things began to get ugly after dark. There are two diaries at the Moulitsas Zuniga site to take a look at: Arrests/Kettling and Video of Baton Beatings. Both entries have video. There's nothing like starting the morning off with news of police violence, including video, to remind a person just how nasty law enforcement can become if crossed. It's a good idea to avoid spitting on sidewalks, looking nervous, looking too suave, avoid eye contact, make eye contact, wear sunglasses, and many other things if those things help prevent one from being beaten with baton(s). Some of us hear the word and think of home, so this is great news. PTSD: It's not just for Baton Rouge anymore.

  • Akregator in use for first time since 2009. 150+ feeds to be employed again (sheer tedium putting them all back together - now in day two {I forgot how many tech feeds I had}); cross linked Twitter feed imminent Blahg blah blah - lots of work for only the satisfaction of maybe influencing someone, hopefully teaching someone something. It's what there is that I can do to help change the world for the better.

  • Tor with polipo and vidalia: Just under a meg of language and syntax that means so much. Inevitably someone will say, "What do you have to hide?" The question really should be: Why would it be considered problematic to remain anonymous while visiting places like Facebook and Google? Do we wear nametags everywhere we go in public? Not wearing them is approximately the same thing as using a proxy online. The anonymizing programs work great on this Deutschland Linux operating system as well.

    Spraycan terrorism - so vile!

    Did someone out there think Nazi when they read Deutschland? I couldn't type this fast enough to prevent myself from thinking someone would think it (en bee fore). New association: Proxy = Nazi. It even rhymes. It is totally meaningless, except that it is dictatorial at a level reminiscent of the Nazis to seriously consider banning proxies, a discussion that took place in the US House of Representatives under our 43rd President. [5 A.M. the 6th] [Und vee just vant dem to produce silence nao - no moar demands, just the mt mediocrity of failed problem solving, becuz is less dangerous.]

  • Unpacked this afternoon. Like, ker-azy, cats. Wiped out from lack of sleeping while adjusting to new surroundings. Sharing space with a young lady. She has many ferocious stuffed animals. It was pretty wrecked and now it's as clean and tight as a well oiled machine. The old biomachine needs rack time, tho'. Fading fast... [6 p.m.]

  • I have to say, that is one gorgeous paint job. I label such things to the extreme because early in my political writing career I was lambasted for supporting graffiti, and graffiti artists in some cases. A few people at Daily Kos handed me my ass on a platter for saying that graffiti can improve the value of a property and that it's over sensationalized as a crime. From their reactions one might have thought I referred to Christianity as "that hoax" and boasted of definitive proof of Jesus' homosexual promiscuity (crosses self).

    I could do stupider things. I could promote this website to high school girls in person, but I don't really like the idea of dying from an extended swirly because I forgot about the sexual content and some dad got the wrong idea. That might be bad.

  • And now, her (one of those Suicide Girls):
    "Ultra sonic sound comin' out your speaker."

  • The crowd chants, "Maiden! Maiden!" Chico begins to think he made a big mistake. He can still taste the cabinet below the kitchen sink. A feeling of love attempted to spread throughout his midsection, but the intro to "Two Minutes to Midnight" hits the auditorium with such a fearsome roar the feeling turns first to nausea and then an overwhelming urge to touch people, hard.

    Chico starts a mosh pit during one of the technical solos. People in the immediate vicinity are embarrassed for him and others want him gone. He flings one of his elbows just a little too far and a 52 year old heavy metal fan knocks him clean-the-fuck-out. It turns out ecstasy is no defense against somebody who really knows how to throw a punch. Chico wakes up a few minutes later in the dumpster outside. The good news was that he was still rolling. The bad news was only getting started...

Murky: It Really Isn't

  • "I hired Sarah Palin because she was hot and got ratings." No, that quote has nothing to do with Senator John McCain, but anyone who knows their civics would already know that. In McCain's case it was why she was chosen. The quote is from Roger Ailes, Fox News Chairman, who actually hired her.

    Regardless of what one may think about the former Alaska Governor. she understands money. She understands that money is something she receives for saying things and looking good. Considering what she has to say, looking good has more to do with the money than the quality of her opinions. One can only wonder if contemplation of the aging process and its detrimental effects on appearance worries Mrs. Palin. I won't tell her about it if you don't. [2:48 P.M.]

  • Local divorcé and housewife experiences massive bout of anxiety at prospect of no longer being the center of attention, hatches plan to remain in spotlight. Friends and relatives fail to notice the twelve point plan and any and all effects. They go on with their lives as if nothing happened and do not understand any questions involving the experience due to their complete lack of involvement and awareness of it. Taaka racks up another sale of a fifth. [1:17 P.M.]

  • Senator Jeff Merkley on attending an Occupy Wall Street protest in Portland: "It's worth exploring." They aren't all bad. Still, don't expect to see him.

  • The first episode of Fate/Zero just came out. The anime series is a prequel to Fate/Stay Night. For discussion nothing beats watching the action on a week to week basis, as it comes out. There are people who can't stand waiting a week between episodes. For normal people Fate/Zero is at ground floor. [4:10 P.M.]

    Clarifications: Very picky about animation - no One Piece, Naruto, Pokemon, Dragonball, Inuyasha or anything mech oriented. Time is too valuable, and the rare occasion I have the time to enjoy other people's work does not get wasted. I can not recommend or denounce Fate/Zero or its predecessor, as I do not know anything about it; I noted it's arrival. Do highly recommend Stein's Gate.[7:30 P.M.]

  • Taking down operating system for three hours for a kernel and version upgrade. The new version has gotten the best reviews the SuSE team has enjoyed in years so I feel confident the upgrade will be pleasant and totally unsurprising. Before moving my Linux was up 5 days with absolutely no grumbling, despite the use of almost every application during that period - not a record, but quite satisfying. I was loathe to shut down considering how smooth it was going, but I definitely wasn't moving without it. [9:00 P.M.]

  • Computer scribbling -- Eleven (point) four is noticeably improved. The German Linux developers really have outdone themselves with this utilitarian beauty. It's not Gentoo. Deutschland's Suser Jengelh has konsole every fucking where too, though, or xfce or IceWM or FluxxyBoxxy, or whatever, if you feel using anything besides Vim is corruption of master race masterpiece. Some of us don't need the 3% boost in performance from hardware specific compiles. It does everything Gentoo can do, and anybody with up-to-date hardware doesn't need the optimization of a portage build.
    - Note for the interested- Right now CustomizeGoogle is missing from FF add-ons; it is currently listed under OptimizeGoogle now (and I tried spacing variants - perhaps a temporary glitch?). That add-on, which makes it to my desktop every version upgrade, is notable for blocking Google analytics and rewriting links to point to Google cache to improve anonymity. Maybe zee Goodle's gots to dem.
    - Power management under KDE drew a red flag from SuSE, something it has done with me for 3 versions. Easier to disable. Previously ridonkulous number of steps down to a couple. The laptop friendly feature went too far, steps to debug and improve it apparent.
    - Build Service vendor packaging is reminiscent of late night off the air television screen. To each his own. Quickly chucked.
    - Icon changes in corner very much an improvement, for those who keep factory.
    - VLC apparently deprecated, twisty considering embedded Firefox player was once very handy during the days of divergent flash forks.
    - Install and update extremely fast and easy.
    - How could anyone use something lesser than SuSE, Debian or Gentoo with KDE? No, seriously, how? I understand some people make their money keeping office cube computer stations too simple to damage, but all of that can be done with an advanced build like this.
    [11:45 P.M.]

  • "You get what you pay for" and "Money talks:" I have not finished a new chapter for Mist yet. For one thing I'm adjusting to new living accommodations. For another the fact that every single thing I've ever written has been provided free of charge to interested readers proved a sore subject in financial discussions recently. I can't imagine how giving away my new novel could be used against me, but other people can. I have been urged never to give one away again, and also to really make a promotional impact when releasing the installments for this one. So, to promote the release of the next chapter... Chapter Seventeen: Smudge on a Clean Slate. To do this properly I should have that set aside, like above this somewhere, and with a date next to it, perhaps. Okay, now it is that way. [8ish pm]

  • sitting up = a huge amount of pain [late]

Weigh-in: Neo-Feudalism, Baby Factory X

  • The goldfish Wilbur passed away today. I did not know Wilbur, but I am told he was an exemplary resident of the tank. that he was a good fish. He will be missed, but has left this plane for the never ending space and safety of the great goldfish beyond, where swim all the most graceful, attractive, contemplative and interesting pet fish of all time. God speed, Wilbur, and hail! [a dark 9:40 P.M. - dead fish more interesting than news]

  • Members of the U.S. House of Representatives Republican Goon Squad have locked Title X in their crosshairs and desire to slash funding for federal family planning grants that include birth control and preventive health care. A typical Title X patient costs about $257 a year; a birth averages $12,613. The Catholic and ultra-conservative line on birth control is that it should never be used. House Republicans can deny that religious beliefs have anything to do with their intentions, and instead can shake their fists at an imaginary leviathan government they insist needs to be smaller and less functional. To recap, in order to save money the GOP thinks patients should get pregnant and hand the country $3.4 billion a year in costs instead of having family planning for a fraction of the cost. Like everything else from the Party of No, it makes perfect sense to drunkards and Alzheimer's victims in the severe stages (so beloved because of dearly departed Great Leader, Bedtime for Bonzo's Reagan, The Man). - 6:30 P.M.

    [Here's to adult abstinence among single couples - a dinosaur belief. How will the woman get the man married if she puts out early? Do you want your daughter single and sexually active? Some of you understand this... This is failed humor, and in poor taste at that. Some of us feel that way about the old fashioned beliefs described - no sex until marriage. Some of us are offended that they are old fashioned now. The thing is, the religious subjugation of women has been a minority practice my entire life, in my little part of the world.

    Since I threw up this waste of space Mitt Romney checked with a woman's husband to see if it was okay to put his arm around her -- same school of belief. A woman is less than a free individual in the conservative religious world. A married woman belongs to her husband. Daughters reach adulthood and escape parental ownership, but never lose dad's guardianship. This is a non-issue, thankfully, so there's nothing to defuse or continue explaining.]

  • By far one urgent complaint among working class people here in the United States involves the evaporation of the middle class. In places like Norfolk-Virginia Beach, so desirable a place to live to so many, six and seven day work weeks are common. The critical problem is that generations of workers do not have anything left over after rent, utilities, transportation expenses and food. Many men and women are faced with either working without earning any long term gains of any kind, or leaving the place where they live in favor of a location where rent and other costs are significantly cheaper.

    The situation in modern America in many ways resembles a very real neo-feudalism ruled by corporations. Families are separated due to inescapable economic facts. The working class spends a large portion of their lives as slaves due to numbers that have been shrunk down until they fit individuals like a glove: One person can survive on this dollar figure, therefore they equal this number in value. Included in that survival... survival only. Proactive wellness and stability only exist for those people lucky enough to live in the economic tiers above workaday.

  • Paragraph rules be damned!

    An unwritten rule here para mas o menos trece años has been to temper negativity after a period of time to keep posts from being needlessly gloomy and dark. I have no problem admitting to being one of the people skewed enough to have stumbled into that weird corner of the interwebs where admission of knowledge found there brings frowns to the faces of the very staid and narrow minded. That huge disapproval probably exists because the hyper-conservative don't realize that often the worst of the worst of what they will normally find in those channels comes from children left to roam the Internet without any sort of parental control at all. Setting all that aside, the point was that the current correct term for a person who surfs imageboards is an @channeler. The narrow view puts a number in front, incorrectly, as @channelers don't have the attention span required to remain loyal to only one imageboard, and very often visit imageboards in other languages. It all started because of 2. 2, not 4. And the most embarrassing thing about being associated with 2 is not the pornography (it's called a human body, some of us have seen one without clothes on it), it's the fact that visiting admits a bare minimum of tolerance of ignorance. In our defense, as there must be somebody out there who also needs this verbalized, there are stupid people everywhere. We all have seen a curse word or racial slur written somewhere on private property. That doesn't mean we do anything but register the existence of such a thing, nor that we could make it impossible for ignorant, stupid people to stop writing such things. As a matter of fact, a lot of the pornographic photos (which only seldom get posted, hence the calls for more) are refreshing and socially beneficial. One can only wonder if Google even now conducts an all encompassing study gauging the proportions of socially unacceptable material to, at the least, harmless conversations and at best positive material. Gloom gone yet? Have some pics.

  • From the arena of ideas surrounding Occupy Wall Street a member of the Daily Kos community voiced that which is required to stop the nation's unemployment crisis: A massive government jobs program with a $5 trillion dollar budget. That could first be seen at the link as part of a graphic that addresses specifics in providing populist solutions regarding Wall Street and the out of control profiteering in the finance industry. Also on tap - instead of even contemplating a return to the already inadequate Glass-Steagall style regulations, nationalize the banking industry and entirely eliminate earnings from speculation on subprime mortgages and the high risk credit industry.

    Pensador continued to call for prosecution of the people who walked away with millions and tens of millions of dollars during the government bailout, and further back. There was a nod to shutting down the incessant broken record calling for public austerity measures that real people do not actually want. It's too bad Occupy Wall Street did not write something similar to what this Kossack did and then release that, instead of the statement that did come out.


Gone with the Win

  • RvB - "Red vs. Blue" - reportedly put out a new episode tonight, from Season 9, although acquisition of the short proved daunting. The comedic machinima derived from Halo gameplay has a cult following and easily surpassed all expectations of even the loyal with its longevity and success. The addictive nature of the miniature episodes can hook even casual gamers with the greatest of ease. It's impossible to describe the improbably high entertainment value of the vignettes. It's a b-yoob-tube phenomena.

  • Hank Williams Jr. destroyed too many brain cells during his long life. He had to be taken off the air for comparing the President of the United States to Hitler. The comparison just doesn't make any sense. A month ago a comparison to Nero would have been so much more rational, and it's batshit insane. One could still make a reach, consider the jobs bill a violin and struggle to make that comparison work, except the jobs bill won't soothe a savage beast and the political cacophony is horribly displeasing to the ear compared to a well played violin. It will do one thing: Create jobs. "I'm not crazy, you're the one who's crazy -- institutionalized."

  • Cynicism does not translate into print or your author's written opinions on GOP policy regarding federal action on the economy would drip with metal melting acid. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor rejected Obama's jobs bill outright with the expected, usual and customary pointless Republican obstructionism. Cantor takes his party line in insisting our government must not spend money to help the people who are hurting so badly because of unemployment and monetary hardship. The Obama Administration has promised to push back by courting voters to a Democratic victory. The Democrats had the entire government handed to them on a silver platter in 2008 and failed to act decisively and strongly enough to prevent back-to-back recessions. Maybe, just maybe, with a second term mandate and a massive GOP meltdown voters will get what they voted for. One can always dream that cows jump over the moon.

  • Anyone interested in a creeper anime hit should check out Stein's Gate. The series becomes intense and gripping, although it's grasp does not firmly close until one third of the series has elapsed. Once you've ventured into the storyline there's no doubt at all one will be compelled to watch the entire run. An underage self-described mad scientist discovers a process to send messages to the past from the present. Every message changes the world in some way, until the butterfly effect becomes a seven headed dragon. The ensemble of young lab members set out to change their lives for the better, but the process has consequences. It would take a human being made of stone to stop watching after the halfway point.

  • Some people like to hunt. Rick Perry has an affinity for hunting. He joined a hunting camp in West Texas. Perry paid for the right to hunt at Camp Niggerhead. No doubt the hunting camp provides access to world class game, because Mr. Perry joined even though it was called Camp Niggerhead. It could have been worse. It could have been named Camp Niggerdick or Camp Niggerass, or any number of other combinations of the word nigger and something else offensive, something as offensive as Rick Perry.

    The name was changed after Perry proudly joined the racist hunting club. It wouldn't do to have a membership in a hunting camp that still contained the word nigger in the name even after he joined. Oddly, though Perry is now a member and though the name would have fit perfectly, the name of the camp was not changed to Camp Detestable Rich White Scumbag.

  • Hundreds of protesters trapped on a bridge by "security forces" were handcuffed and carted away over the weekend. The scene was not from Egypt, nor did it have anything to do with the Arab Spring. It was a continued protest in New York set off by the out of control finance industry and the very wealthy who make money off of money itself. A big slice of the United States population is now made up of people disillusioned by the failure of the American dream and the complete lack of real action by their elected representatives, especially President Obama who many people considered a great source of hope in the midst of financial woe.

    hawt occu-pie, er


    Occupy Wall Street released a statement which outlined grievances very effectively, and proved they could make a statement. They made a statement, but they provided no solutions, no course of action. The protests are laudable. They are also highly reactionary. A lack of a message of positive radical change in the statement unfortunately undermines the impact of the live action. If action only solved problems what is becoming seen as a movement would be much more successful.

    Think Progress compared the protests to the original Boston Tea Party, a comparison that very accurately describes what the political Tea Party has failed to achieve. If a revolution were only possible with our current choices in the political arena the protests would be scuttling a real enemy. As it stands they are little more than a symbol of frustration.


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