This youtube video link should make you ask the question: "Can I really live without that?"
Sunday, October 5, 2014
I'm Still Laughing
I stopped over at The Porch, like I do every day, and found this one post that really kicked over my giggle box.
Of course, what made the whole thing even funnier is that I am sure that no leftist troll would ever understand why this is so funny.
I started chuckling at "spaghetti." Then I laughed out loud at "genetic."
Here is Tam's post:
Once upon a time...
But Tamara's final observation nearly made me fall out of my chair. "Too late," Holy $ith, Batman! I'll laugh every time I think of that for the rest of the week. I suppose because it got me trying to imagine what an actual genetic bullet puller would look like, and even worse how it would operate.
Of course, what made the whole thing even funnier is that I am sure that no leftist troll would ever understand why this is so funny.
I started chuckling at "spaghetti." Then I laughed out loud at "genetic."
Here is Tam's post:
Once upon a time...
...in a gun shop long ago and far away, there was a bunch of that Indian surplus .303 for sale. Tamara and A Gunsmith Who Shall Remain Nameless were standing behind the counter when a man came in and began looking over the merchandise.
The man saw the Indian ammunition and shook his head and said "You know, this stuff ain't even got gunpowder in it. It's all full of this stuff that looks like spaghetti. I took some apart with a genetic bullet puller." And then he left.
"He needed a genetic bullet puller," said Gunsmith Name Redacted To Protect The Innocent.
"Too late," said Tamara, "There was a kid in the car."
The End.
The man saw the Indian ammunition and shook his head and said "You know, this stuff ain't even got gunpowder in it. It's all full of this stuff that looks like spaghetti. I took some apart with a genetic bullet puller." And then he left.
"He needed a genetic bullet puller," said Gunsmith Name Redacted To Protect The Innocent.
"Too late," said Tamara, "There was a kid in the car."
The End.
But Tamara's final observation nearly made me fall out of my chair. "Too late," Holy $ith, Batman! I'll laugh every time I think of that for the rest of the week. I suppose because it got me trying to imagine what an actual genetic bullet puller would look like, and even worse how it would operate.
You'd have to be somebody who has done at least a little reloading. Some people might be able to figure it out after clicking on the pink-lettered html links. At least, I hope so.
Thank you, Tamara. That's why I am a faithful fan.
Prophetic Warning
Prophecy is not the same thing as fortune telling.
I dare say that most people don't realize that. They tend to conflate the two things more than not.
Fortune telling is like telling someone things in advance that the seer just really has no earthly way to know in advance.
But in most cases you can be prophetic just by paying attention to the details, using history and logic as a guide.
I suggest you go read the whole post that tells more about these two photos:
An excerpt from the site:
In 1860, he was living in Norborne. He wrote to Lincoln and received an appointment as Republican Precinct Committee Man. He placed Lincoln’s name on the 1860 ballot. All of Natty’s neighbors were Southern sympathizers. He had been talking about electing Lincoln for president in town. One morning at about 2 or 3 a.m. a neighbor rode up and told Natty not to light any lights. The neighbor wanted to warn him that his neighbors were planning to murder him and if he wanted to live he should be on his way.
On another side of the above pictured headstone, he wanted to leave behind an enduring message:
Hat tip to Morgan at House of Eratosthenes.
I dare say that most people don't realize that. They tend to conflate the two things more than not.
Fortune telling is like telling someone things in advance that the seer just really has no earthly way to know in advance.
But in most cases you can be prophetic just by paying attention to the details, using history and logic as a guide.
I suggest you go read the whole post that tells more about these two photos:
An excerpt from the site:
In 1860, he was living in Norborne. He wrote to Lincoln and received an appointment as Republican Precinct Committee Man. He placed Lincoln’s name on the 1860 ballot. All of Natty’s neighbors were Southern sympathizers. He had been talking about electing Lincoln for president in town. One morning at about 2 or 3 a.m. a neighbor rode up and told Natty not to light any lights. The neighbor wanted to warn him that his neighbors were planning to murder him and if he wanted to live he should be on his way.
On another side of the above pictured headstone, he wanted to leave behind an enduring message:
Hat tip to Morgan at House of Eratosthenes.
Saturday, October 4, 2014
No Panic Here
A lot of experience has taught me that when it comes to the so-called "news," the stuff that seems to get people in some kind of uproar, be it outrage, morbid curiosity, or panic, is usually a distraction.
Take the Ebola thing.
I've read comments at various sites regarding the people in Dallas who have had relatively close contact with the victims, how the vomit was handled, etc. A lot of the comments reflect fear and panic. While a healthy respect for danger is a good thing, panic never accomplishes anything, and sometimes it just gets you dead more quickly. Experienced pilots know this. Survivalists know this.
The equatorial and tropical regions of Africa are not known for education or intelligence. This has nothing to do with bigotry, it's just fact. Just as you are not likely to find to many people with I.Q.s over 65 in most trailer parks in the U.S., even if you only surveyed people with lily white skin.
Viruses and bacteria are very different biologically, but there are certain things that microscopic biological entities share, at least in the category of those that threaten human life. They tend to be susceptible to at least three things: Ultra-Violet light (Sunshine), Ozone (a very reactive triplet oxygen molecule), and extreme ranges of Ph (alkaline or acid).
I've spent more than a couple of decades being an amateur practitioner of holistic and natural medicine. Not quackery or old wives tales, but the stuff of double-blind studies, real science, and understanding how and why biological systems work at the microscopic level.
So, before I began to wonder if I should run around screaming like Chicken Little, I thought it might be a good idea to scrounge around for some solid facts and study the situation. First, I wanted to know how fast or slow this "epidemic" was moving along. So I looked at a few timelines. Here is just one timeline you can look at. Combined with what we can know about the lifestyles of the people involved, the timeline tells me Ebola just plain doesn't move that fast because it just isn't all that robust.
The fact that it has an incubation period of between 2 and 21 days tells me that an individual's immune system is a huge determining factor on the infection and possible mortality rate. That and about a dozen other facts by this doctor are enough for me to know that this Ebola "outbreak" is nothing for me to get all gunched up over. Read the whole article carefully.
I am a hundred thousand times more afraid of having an immunization shot forced on me, than I would be at finding out there are 50 cases of Ebola in the state where I live.
Take a look at this table of causes of death to help you put this Ebola scare into perspective.
Then if you want some really interesting information on Ebola, take the time to search through related articles at Jon Rappaport's site.
Take the Ebola thing.
I've read comments at various sites regarding the people in Dallas who have had relatively close contact with the victims, how the vomit was handled, etc. A lot of the comments reflect fear and panic. While a healthy respect for danger is a good thing, panic never accomplishes anything, and sometimes it just gets you dead more quickly. Experienced pilots know this. Survivalists know this.
The equatorial and tropical regions of Africa are not known for education or intelligence. This has nothing to do with bigotry, it's just fact. Just as you are not likely to find to many people with I.Q.s over 65 in most trailer parks in the U.S., even if you only surveyed people with lily white skin.Viruses and bacteria are very different biologically, but there are certain things that microscopic biological entities share, at least in the category of those that threaten human life. They tend to be susceptible to at least three things: Ultra-Violet light (Sunshine), Ozone (a very reactive triplet oxygen molecule), and extreme ranges of Ph (alkaline or acid).
I've spent more than a couple of decades being an amateur practitioner of holistic and natural medicine. Not quackery or old wives tales, but the stuff of double-blind studies, real science, and understanding how and why biological systems work at the microscopic level.
So, before I began to wonder if I should run around screaming like Chicken Little, I thought it might be a good idea to scrounge around for some solid facts and study the situation. First, I wanted to know how fast or slow this "epidemic" was moving along. So I looked at a few timelines. Here is just one timeline you can look at. Combined with what we can know about the lifestyles of the people involved, the timeline tells me Ebola just plain doesn't move that fast because it just isn't all that robust. The fact that it has an incubation period of between 2 and 21 days tells me that an individual's immune system is a huge determining factor on the infection and possible mortality rate. That and about a dozen other facts by this doctor are enough for me to know that this Ebola "outbreak" is nothing for me to get all gunched up over. Read the whole article carefully.
I am a hundred thousand times more afraid of having an immunization shot forced on me, than I would be at finding out there are 50 cases of Ebola in the state where I live. Take a look at this table of causes of death to help you put this Ebola scare into perspective.
Then if you want some really interesting information on Ebola, take the time to search through related articles at Jon Rappaport's site.
Facts, Feelings, Thoughts, Opinions
While visiting Joe Huffman's blog, I lifted this excerpt because I felt it deserved more comment.
"While I think there is a fair amount of lying going on they don’t think of it as lying. They just don’t understand facts are independent of their feelings. If they feel something then, in their view of reality, it is true. I’ve had people flat out tell me this. I would point out that what someone was saying was in direct contradiction to verifiable facts. And I would get a response of something to the effect, “Well, it’s true to them and that is what matters.” -- Joe Huffman
There is also a very telling anecdote about liberal “research” in this same article:
The article quoted above can be found at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/frankminiter/2014/09/25/how-bloombergs-million-dollar-desire-for-gun-control-is-backfiring/
What is so revealing in that last statement by the unnamed liberal author is how he thinks about research. To him, research isn't about gathering facts and using logic to come to a realistic and logical conclusion on a matter. To him, research is only necessary to confirm what he already thinks, or more specifically, his opinion. And because he feels he is a member of the anointed visionary class, he owes it to the unwashed masses (which really means anyone who doesn't already think the way he does), to share his enlightened opinion.
Too much about living in 21st century America allows for this kind of lack of rational thought. Many decades ago when there were no "social safety nets," failure to think logically and act accordingly could get you killed or end up suffering very bad consequences.
Now the modern world is populated by too many people (dare I say about half of the population) who have raised the right to an opinion to some kind of sacrosanct status.
Oh, but wait! That's not entirely true when I really think about it. On closer examination, only opinions that are politically fashionable to the left that are respected, or damn near worshipped. I use the phrase politically fashionable because there isn't a damn thing correct about "political correctness." Political Correctness, in all it's verbal forms, is Orwellian newspeak for the highly intolerant soft tyranny of the statists.
Very soon, the unsustainable economic situation in this country is going to collapse, and when it does, modern liberal thinkers will be forced, dragged kicking and screaming, to the reality that all of their wishful but totally incorrect feelings, thoughts, and opinions on how to create a utopian society is all just crap.
That degree in political science, women's studies, international relations, art history, public administration, urban and regional planning, environmental studies or applied sociology, is going to be about as useful to you as a degree in typewriter repair. It is not going to help you know how to grow or preserve food, to hunt and field dress an animal, take care of domestic animals, make fire without a lighter or matches, find or purify water, or build a shelter.
The last thing to note about the liberal author's final statement above is the subtle arrogance. An arrogance that even he doesn't seem to recognize. "I mean, I already know what I think,” pretty much tells you that he doesn't think that any more thought needs to be given to the subject. For a leftist who has made up his mind, facts are inconvenient and sometimes downright confusing. I guess you could also attribute his statement to over-confidence.
"While I think there is a fair amount of lying going on they don’t think of it as lying. They just don’t understand facts are independent of their feelings. If they feel something then, in their view of reality, it is true. I’ve had people flat out tell me this. I would point out that what someone was saying was in direct contradiction to verifiable facts. And I would get a response of something to the effect, “Well, it’s true to them and that is what matters.” -- Joe Huffman
There is also a very telling anecdote about liberal “research” in this same article:
In 2006 I was at a cocktail party in Arlington, VA, talking to a liberal journalist about his soon-to-be-released book on Iraq when John Lott joined us. John listened for a moment and then said to the author,
“I’m curious. You say you just finished a book on the Iraq war. I always find it so hard to finish a book. I get so deep into the research I have a hard time stopping to write. I’m guessing you had a hard time leaving Iraq. There is so much to investigate and understand.”
The author said, “I didn’t go to Iraq.”
John paused with this quizzical look on his face before asking, “Oh, how did you do your research?”
The author said, “I didn’t have to do much. I mean, I already know what I think.”Feelings versus facts. It’s a type of mental disorder.—Joe]
The article quoted above can be found at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/frankminiter/2014/09/25/how-bloombergs-million-dollar-desire-for-gun-control-is-backfiring/
What is so revealing in that last statement by the unnamed liberal author is how he thinks about research. To him, research isn't about gathering facts and using logic to come to a realistic and logical conclusion on a matter. To him, research is only necessary to confirm what he already thinks, or more specifically, his opinion. And because he feels he is a member of the anointed visionary class, he owes it to the unwashed masses (which really means anyone who doesn't already think the way he does), to share his enlightened opinion.
Too much about living in 21st century America allows for this kind of lack of rational thought. Many decades ago when there were no "social safety nets," failure to think logically and act accordingly could get you killed or end up suffering very bad consequences.
Now the modern world is populated by too many people (dare I say about half of the population) who have raised the right to an opinion to some kind of sacrosanct status.
Oh, but wait! That's not entirely true when I really think about it. On closer examination, only opinions that are politically fashionable to the left that are respected, or damn near worshipped. I use the phrase politically fashionable because there isn't a damn thing correct about "political correctness." Political Correctness, in all it's verbal forms, is Orwellian newspeak for the highly intolerant soft tyranny of the statists.
Very soon, the unsustainable economic situation in this country is going to collapse, and when it does, modern liberal thinkers will be forced, dragged kicking and screaming, to the reality that all of their wishful but totally incorrect feelings, thoughts, and opinions on how to create a utopian society is all just crap.
That degree in political science, women's studies, international relations, art history, public administration, urban and regional planning, environmental studies or applied sociology, is going to be about as useful to you as a degree in typewriter repair. It is not going to help you know how to grow or preserve food, to hunt and field dress an animal, take care of domestic animals, make fire without a lighter or matches, find or purify water, or build a shelter.
The last thing to note about the liberal author's final statement above is the subtle arrogance. An arrogance that even he doesn't seem to recognize. "I mean, I already know what I think,” pretty much tells you that he doesn't think that any more thought needs to be given to the subject. For a leftist who has made up his mind, facts are inconvenient and sometimes downright confusing. I guess you could also attribute his statement to over-confidence.
The low-or-no-information voter never wants to be bothered with questions of epistemology. The next time a leftist is defending a socialist idea or attacking a tried-and-true conservative one, just ask the question: "What if you're totally wrong?"
Remember the pseudo-genius evil character from Princess Bride? You'll probably hear the answer: "Inconceivable!"
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
What Time Is It?
[note: There is more I need to add to this post, and I hopefully will this weekend.]
Everything happens for a reason.
I don't care if you believe that or not. You can move on to the next blog or whatever. I've got decades of experience that has cemented that concept in my soul.
I had a good friend that I knew from High School. Where he is now I have no idea. He visited me once in the 90's when he was a high ranking member on the team of the United States Air Force Thunderbirds. That's all I will disclose.
He asked me lots of questions about God and the Bible. He was searching something fierce. He'd ask questions that I'd heard and answered before and he actually had many books in his library by well known Christian apologists. But it didn't matter.
He would ask me a question. Having experienced the question and having done the research before, I would proceed to deal with the question behind the question. I would work to the heart of what was bothering him.
He didn't like that.
He once told me that I was like the character in a story where a man asks what time it is and instead of just saying what time it is, I explain how to make a clock.
For years I have let that bother me. Now that I am older and I see where our society and world are going due to ignorance and stupidity, I will never feel a shred of shame again. I'm not the one who is trying to be ignorant.
If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.
The more I questioned my friend about what he believed or "knew" the more I began to understand that he had been conditioned to just accept the pronouncements of "experts." Don't question. Just rely on credentials that "everyone" accepts.
I did my best to not just tell my friend why he should believe the things I had come to believe. I tried to tell my friend all the facts and how I came to believe what I believed. I wanted my friend to come to his own conclusions based on the truth.
I approached my friend as if I was the defense attorney, dealing with all of his claims.
What say you?
Everything happens for a reason.
I don't care if you believe that or not. You can move on to the next blog or whatever. I've got decades of experience that has cemented that concept in my soul.
I had a good friend that I knew from High School. Where he is now I have no idea. He visited me once in the 90's when he was a high ranking member on the team of the United States Air Force Thunderbirds. That's all I will disclose.
He asked me lots of questions about God and the Bible. He was searching something fierce. He'd ask questions that I'd heard and answered before and he actually had many books in his library by well known Christian apologists. But it didn't matter.
He would ask me a question. Having experienced the question and having done the research before, I would proceed to deal with the question behind the question. I would work to the heart of what was bothering him.
He didn't like that.
He once told me that I was like the character in a story where a man asks what time it is and instead of just saying what time it is, I explain how to make a clock.
For years I have let that bother me. Now that I am older and I see where our society and world are going due to ignorance and stupidity, I will never feel a shred of shame again. I'm not the one who is trying to be ignorant.
If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.
The more I questioned my friend about what he believed or "knew" the more I began to understand that he had been conditioned to just accept the pronouncements of "experts." Don't question. Just rely on credentials that "everyone" accepts.
I did my best to not just tell my friend why he should believe the things I had come to believe. I tried to tell my friend all the facts and how I came to believe what I believed. I wanted my friend to come to his own conclusions based on the truth.
I approached my friend as if I was the defense attorney, dealing with all of his claims.
What say you?
Imagine This . . .
Imagine that you get hired to do a job. Any job.
Might be as low as being a garbage collector, oops, excuse me, a sanitation worker.
I understand that expectations in such a job may not be very high by the worker. It's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it and it doesn't pay very much.
Do I really need to tell you all the things that suck about being someone who collects garbage?
Sucky job. Bet you want to work your way up into a better job. But at the same time you are glad as can be that there are people who need a job and need to start out by being garbage collectors until they work their way up the system.
I want you to think about how many jobs you have ever had where you could miss four out of ten days of work over a one year period and still expect to get paid for your so-called job.
Anybody?
Yeah. I didn't think so.
Now, that's just talking about any old body who misses work. Imagine yourself a "rich" person who owns a McDonald's franchise and you employ 30 or 40 people. You work on a budget that allows for about a 6% profit. How many people can you afford to hire who just show up to clock in and then spend 60% of their time doing nothing but personal stuff. Golfing, laundry, emailing friends, whatever.
You wouldn't tolerate it for several reasons. First, you can't afford to. One employee goofing off half the time would eat up most of your slim profit margin. If you tolerate it with one employee, pretty soon other employees will be doing it as well, and then you would be going bankrupt. It wouldn't be fair to the employees who do their jobs and they would get frustrated and quit to work someplace else.
Now imagine that it wasn't just an employee, but the manager you hired to run the place. How do you think that would work out? What if your manager never showed up for half of the planning meetings that were scheduled as a necessary part of running the business?
So, we have this story: http://www.infowars.com/report-obama-has-missed-over-half-his-second-term-daily-intel-briefings/
A new Government Accountability Institute (GAI)report reveals that President Barack Obama has attended only 42.1% of his daily intelligence briefings (known officially as the Presidential Daily Brief, or PDB) in the 2,079 days of his presidency through September 29, 2014. The GAI report also included a breakdown of Obama’s PDB attendance record between terms; he attended 42.4% of his PDBs in his first term and 41.3% in his second. The GAI’s alarming findings come on the heels of Obama’s 60 Minutes comments on Sunday, wherein the president laid the blame for the Islamic State’s (ISIS) rapid rise squarely at the feet of his Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. “I think our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has acknowledged that I think they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria,” said Obama.Who is really running the show? Who is making decisions about the stuff in those intelligence briefings? Just thought I'd ask.
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